The Problem Solvers
Quick Start teaches critical thinking, troubleshooting, on one-of-a-kind simulator at the Kia Georgia Training Center
Anybody who has worked in the real world for any length of time knows one thing is for sure: If something can go wrong, it will go wrong. In the training environment, however, malfunctions aren’t the problem. They are to be expected. The real problem is deciding what to do about them when they happen.
Critical thinking and troubleshooting are essential skills in all advanced manufacturing environments. At Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc.’s $1 billion automotive assembly facility in West Point, Ga., those skills are even more important due to the level of complexity involved in the integrated, computer-controlled, automated systems being installed there.
So, how do you train people to troubleshoot a complex system that hasn’t been built yet?
You ask Quick Start to help.
“We knew we had to develop the latest in training for a high-tech operation like Kia, so we were very thoughtful about what equipment to acquire and how best to utilize it,” says Vic Desmarais, Quick Start’s manager of advanced manufacturing training. “We interviewed experts from around the world.”
The solution: A fully customized Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) 200, a modular training system that simulates the control systems that will be at work on Kia’s assembly line.
“This trainer is the result of a full analysis we did of the training and technology needs of Kia,” Desmarais says. “We toured facilities in Korea and different training facilities around the country to benchmark the level of automation and key skills that would be needed. It was a three-year process from analysis through design and implementation.”
The FMS 200 was customized from modular stations built in Spain by SMC Corporation. To build the FMS 200 to simulate Kia’s manufacturing processes, Quick Start incorporated a six-axis robot, an Omron vision system, three different communications networks, and two different types of PLCs (programmable logic controllers).
The system fills a room at the Kia Georgia Training Center where Kia’s maintenance team members go through an 80-hour training program to learn how to troubleshoot the robotics, PLCs and communications networks that will control the production of up to 300,000 cars per year at peak capacity.
Training on the FMS 200 involves simulating a host of communications and operations malfunctions. The team members learn how to use critical thinking skills to rapidly isolate, identify and correct the situations, and keep the billion-dollar plant running smoothly.
“They’re training for real life here,” says Randy Jackson, director of human resources and administration for KMMG. “These are Kia’s top team members with some of the most critical jobs, and they’re getting the best training of any maintenance team working in automotive today, anywhere.”
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