Schotte Kunststoffen: Rapid Internal Training in a Complex Production Environment

Schotte Kunststoffen develops, produces, and prints plastic packaging for various sectors, ranging from food and chemicals to pharmaceuticals and automotive. The company primarily specializes in Extrusion Blow Moulding. A smaller portion of the packaging is made from PET. Schotte Kunststoffen has production sites in Ens (NL) and Rheine (DE).

The difficult search for the right people

The factory in Ens features more than thirty different machines that operate five days a week, 24 hours a day. The company employs approximately eighty people and is continuously expanding, but this is challenging due to labor market shortages. New employees, who are already difficult to find, often seek new challenges after a few years. Meanwhile, older employees are reaching retirement age.

Richard Zwaan, Technical Director at Schotte Kunststoffen: “Nowadays, people work somewhere for two years and then move on. Exactly at the moment they have mastered our process and you could really get off to a good start. Because what we do here isn’t something you learn from textbooks. We have to train you internally.”

“For us, it is important to get new personnel operational as quickly as possible.”

Add to that the fact that the production process is complex and quality standards are high. Onboarding takes a lot of time, while colleagues often don’t have the time for it. Additionally, new operators rely heavily on the most experienced staff when malfunctions or problems occur.

In short, Schotte Kunststoffen has a great need for an easy and fast way to train new employees from across Europe and to safeguard knowledge. To achieve this, the company enlisted ELICIT.

A multilingual solution

Knowledge Analyst Emiel Weijn from ELICIT began by developing a single knowledge file for three blow moulding machines of the same type. He did this by conducting interviews with Richard, experienced operators, and the quality department. Subsequently, he started on new knowledge files for PET machines and cooling installations, among others.

The captured knowledge is now available 24 hours a day on tablets in the factory. As a result, operators are no longer dependent on experienced colleagues when problems arise.
Richard is enthusiastic about the collaboration: “I saw how committed Emiel was and how much he enjoyed the investigation. You find each other in a shared passion. He did what he promised and also ensured that we carried out our actions.”

Schotte Kunststoffen is increasingly recruiting employees from Southern and Eastern Europe. Employees at Schotte Kunststoffen collectively speak more than ten different languages. ELICIT’s translation functionality provides a solution. “In our production hall, you work in 100dB. Explaining processes is already difficult then, let alone having to do it in another language,” says Richard. “Furthermore, not everyone speaks English.” In ELICIT, everyone can view instructions in their native language, from Portuguese to Hungarian.

Result: Valuable time better utilized

Schotte Kunststoffen has safeguarded the initial knowledge regarding the production process. Now, the goal is to encourage operators to consult ELICIT first before directing their questions to team leaders or the Technical Director.

In a year’s time, Richard hopes that a knowledge file will be available for every machine and that employees will be more self-reliant. Richard: “We still need to make that switch. But I am convinced that we will succeed.”

That is a matter of behavior and culture, says Richard. “It will save a lot of time if colleagues no longer waste valuable time looking for a colleague who can help them, but simply consult ELICIT instead.”

• Packaging and plastics
• Process and manufacturing industry
• Education & training
• Production
• Quality
• Faster training
• Imminent loss of knowledge due to turnover
• Insufficient employees with the right knowledge experience
• Unplanned downtime