Is it possible to cut a training process that normally takes months down to just 14 days? The answer is yes, if you ask the iron foundry TASSO, based in Odense, Denmark. They are one of the first Danish iron foundries to work with the structured training system Training Within Industry, which helps ensure standardized working methods and ultimately minimizes the training time of new employees significantly. 

- Overall, it's about getting an overview and standardizing our processes so we can optimize from there. By breaking down all work processes into individual steps, we both articulate the tacit knowledge that especially the very experienced employees have about why we do things in a certain way, and we also create an understanding of what each step in the process means for the finished product, explains Annas Chaoui, Lean and Process Supporter at TASSO, and continues: 

- The thorough and systematic approach to our production processes has also enabled us to significantly optimize the training of new employees, which now takes just 14 days compared to several months previously. This means that new employees become self-sufficient faster and, of course, that they experience a well-organized training process.

Competition in the foundry industry is fierce, with aggressive foreign competitors taking a significant share of the pie. That's why it's crucial to be able to compete on quality:

- When we maintain stable, consistent and high quality throughout all our production processes, we can also ensure finished products of the highest quality. This is what our customers care about and therefore also a sales and growth parameter, explains Anders Schmidt Dideriksen, Production Manager at TASSO.

Although TASSO is among the very first to work with the Training Within Industry method in the Danish foundry industry, he would encourage his industry colleagues to consider whether the method could be useful for them too: 

- In productions where there are many similar processes leading up to the final result, this method will make a lot of sense and have a strong payoff but be prepared that it is a heavy and extensive process to start with. Every step of the process must be carefully documented and there is a lot of tacit knowledge that needs to be articulated. But even if the results don't show up for some time, it's worth it and benefits productivity, safety, quality and job satisfaction, he says.