Aviko is one of the largest European producers of fresh, frozen, and dried potato products and one of the four market leaders in this industry around the world. From sixteen production sites in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Poland, and China, they serve more than 16 million consumers in more than 110 countries every day. More than 500 people work at the Aviko Steenderen site, and over 1,700 are employed in the Netherlands overall. New employees start directly at the Aviko Academy. This is the in-house training center where they follow many role-specific training courses to prepare them to begin work. As well as properly onboarding staff, the Academy also supports employees and managers to develop their skills on the job with courses ranging from Excel to communications skills, machine skills, and food safety.

Martijn Bosman, Learning & Development Specialist at Aviko:

"For new hires who have to work with the production equipment, we have a program at the Academy that focuses on all the different activities that take place on the production floor. We structured learning goals an operator must achieve, and a workplace trainer guides them. The program consists of e-learning, various training courses, and so-called EPL's: One Point Lessons. These EPL's describe a single action with short, concise instructions and images. But that can be done more efficiently! We want to support our employees as best we can as they work when they work; that is also the biggest challenge of our Academy. Thus, we were looking for a way to make learning possible, especially in the workflow. Through one of our partners HiHaHo, an interactive video company, we heard about The 5 Moments of Need® methodology and were recommended to contact Xprtise. Learning more about it, we immediately saw how we could train innovatively and bring learning into the flow of work. Also for the roll-out of our new factory in Poperinge, Belgium, and the growth we are experiencing in China."

Martijn explains he had been working on workplace training and improving formal learning processes for a long time, but always experienced knowledge loss with new employees. As a result, the training was repeated regularly a year later. Repeating over and over costs the organization a lot; that's why he was looking for a new approach. What appealed about Xprtise is their experience with manufacturing companies; Xprtise also works with Colgate-Palmolive with this proven 5 Moments of Need® approach. "It's nice to see and it gives confidence if a new approach has already proven itself, aligns with what your activities are, and fits the people's needs and expectations."

Aviko’s question

Martijn: "Our question was specific: Can you develop a solution for the operators of one of our packing lines at our factory in Steenderen that will support our employees while they work?"

Aviko wants to employ innovative methods to learn in the workflow, which can also serve as a template for others. Martijn: "We want to help our operators in our potato factories carry out their work uniformly and reliably. We also want to train new employees quickly and efficiently during the onboarding process with the help of a workflow learning solution, especially with the setup of new factories."

Martijn had been convinced of the 5 Moments of Need® approach even before starting with Xprtise. "But after we designed and built the Proof of Concept (PoC) and rolled it out on a pilot project, it was great to see the operators embrace this approach and use the workflow learning solution, even more than we expected in advance."

"Using the 5 Moments of Need® approach, we developed a workflow learning solution that our operators embrace even more than we the learning function had anticipated."

Introducing the new workflow solution

Aviko decided to introduce the new workflow learning approach in a pilot on production line 17. When designing the solution, existing content was also reviewed and incorporated to optimize the investment already made in those resources.

The Xprtise approach consists of these activities:

  • A Workflow Analysis to map the current processes and organize the work into concrete tasks, processes, and steps
  • A Critical Task Analysis that looks at the roles and tasks of employees and determines what is critical and what knowledge is needed. The higher its criticality, the more attention the task is given in the workflow learning solution and the learning treatments, both formal and informal.
  • A Proof of  Concept where a key process and tasks are prepared in a working prototype of the workflow learning Performance Support solution. This gives Aviko a clear picture of the added value and applicability of the 5 Moments of Need® approach.
  • Further development of the solution to prepare it for a full pilot.
  • An on-site pilot in Steenderen for production line 17.
  • Staff evaluation of the pilot and determination of next steps.

Martijn says this about Aviko's collaboration with Xprtise: "What strikes me is that Xprtise employs authentic people. People who are passionate, who believe in their approach, and who come up with good examples and concrete advice. In the beginning, the consultants were tight and straightforward, which helped us a lot to get the innovation off the ground. It isn't easy to look at learning in a completely different way from your current thinking. Xprtise taught us to respectfully ‘kill our darlings.’ Of course, we have put a lot of effort into our current approach and still need to adjust it. Together with Xprtise, we will take on that challenge with conviction."

Martijn states that working with Xprtise is rewarding, whose consultants believe in this approach, their story is consistent, and they live through the methodology.

The result so far

The result of the pilot is a workflow learning solution that is appreciated by staff, both operators and production leaders, on the packing line. In addition, the reactions of Aviko employees to the workflow learning solution are very positive:

"At first, I was a bit hesitant about this medium because we already have e-learning. But it has added value! Especially for new hires."

"It is especially useful for our new colleagues. Operators coming in from another line find it very useful and clear to work this way."

"With this system, you also set a standard for your location. Very handy!"  (production manager)

"It's really easy to have a look at this if we can't work something out or if we haven't done it for a while."

"The result of the pilot is a workflow learning solution appreciated by both our operators and our production leaders."

The next steps

Aviko offers staff at the Aviko Academy an in-company 5 Moments of Need® Designer Certificate program. During this program, they learn how to design and build workflow learning solutions on their own. Martijn: "After completing their training, our staff is certified and can independently develop innovative workflow learning solutions based on the 5 Moments of Need® for our production lines, in which e-learning, classroom training, interactive video, Performance Support, and even other tools or resources come together. Because they are already working on various concrete projects during the 5 Moments of Need® Certificate program, we can take quick steps afterward."

In the short term, Aviko wants to expand and further develop the 5 Moments of Need® workflow learning solutions, hence the choice for an in-company 5 Moments of Need® Designer Certificate program. The wider roll-out will also remove the last resistance to the innovation, if any. Next, Aviko will also restructure their formal learning courses, and Xprtise will support them with this.

What about the long-term plans? According to Martijn, this will be: 5 Moments of Need® methodology-based workplace learning solutions offered hands-free! For example, with Realware glasses or other technologies that we may not even know about yet. "When I think about that future, even a tablet seems old-fashioned now. We hope Xprtise can be our partner in this. We are curious about their view on Augmented, Mixed & Virtual reality and also on new applications such as Realware glasses in the production environment."

And finally

What more does Martijn have to say? "Working with Xprtise on workflow learning solutions and the 5 Moments of Need® methodology yielded unexpected benefits. It gave us a lot of fresh energy to pro-actively work with colleagues on the floor on Learning & Development solutions. This approach helps our production leaders engage in discussions with teams about the content of the work. You determine how you want to do it. This is an unexpected and very welcome, additional benefit."

Are you getting started with The 5 Moments of Need®?

Are you an L&D professional, and do you, like Martijn Bosman of Aviko, want to innovate in the field of learning? Do you want to make the switch from classroom training to an approach where learning is focused on the tasks people do, where they learn just when they need it? Then this is your chance. On Tuesday, November 23, 2021, The 5 Moments of Need® Academy Europe kicks off again with the virtual 5 Moments of Need® Certificate program. Find out more about the program here.

Curious about the possibilities for your organization?

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