Case StudyGlobal leader relies on IMC technology

CASE STUDY PALFINGER 2

Systematic learning with a strong partner

The Solution

Development of a modern and innovative training system to ensure and verify employees’ knowledge in sales and service areas, with IMC, as an ongoing partner, continuing to provide the necessary technology and administation of the system.

The Customer

▪ Palfinger is a global supplier of hydraulic lifting equip-ment and the global leader in hydraulic loading cranes

▪ The company employs 7,000 staff worldwide and has over 30 production locations as well as an additional sales and distribu-tion system (Palfinger partner) with about 4,000 subsidiaries in 140 countries around the world

▪ Turnover in 2013: € 980.7 million

The Advantages

▪ Reduction of the training costs through blended learning approach

▪ Blended learning allows for homogeneous groups in face-to-face training sessions

▪ IMC Learning Suite: highly functional application for a high number of participants

▪ Uniform database for all coun-tries through IMC Learning Suite

▪ Digital certification of staff and partners

The Challenges

▪ Large number of learners, totaling in the four-digit range

▪ Learners had differing levels of prior knowledge

▪ Different languages

▪ Different databases in dif-ferent countries

▪ Requirement for a uniform training system across all countries

CASE STUDY PALFINGER 3

LIFETIME EXCELLENCE is Palfiner AG’s motto. The company stands for top quality in the field of hydraulic lifting

and loading devices. The products of Palfinger AG are characterised by their longevity, their low downtime as well

as their extremely high resale value. Customers should not have to accept any compromises when it comes to

obtaining the most economical, innovative and reliable lifting solutions from a competent, network of service

partner.

Since 2010, the internationalisation strategy has been one of Palfinger AG’s most important strategic operations.

Thanks to the regional organisation structure as well as the autonomy of the business units outside of Europe, the

company meets the various requirements of the individual markets. In addition to the internationalisation, this set

up allows for greater attention to be placed on creating more flexible processes.

You can find more information about Palfinger AG at www.palfinger.com.

About Palfinger AG

CASE STUDY PALFINGER 4

Not every company has such a high standard for its

own products as Palfinger AG. The Austrian Corpo-

rate not only wants to be able to offer its customers

high quality products at all times, it is their goal to

develop solutions that provide excellent value for

money and therefore a great customer benefit.

In addition, the company‘s products should be so

technically advanced that they are treated as innova-

tions on the corresponding markets.

However, it is not so easy to always be at the

forefront when the company‘s own product portfo-

lio ranges from conventional loading cranes to

railway systems to offshore and marine cranes.

Nevertheless, the Salzburg-based hydraulic specialist

has been highly successful: With a 35 per cent

market share and 150 different products, Palfinger

has succeeded in positioning themselves at the top

of the market for hoisting cranes and loading

devices.

Brand values as customer promise

CASE STUDY PALFINGER 5

Those who, like Palfinger, are active in

such diverse markets like the European,

South American and Asian markets face

the major challenge of training their

staff and partners at all locations at an

equally high level. In particular, the

sales and service staff must always have

up-to-date product knowledge to be

able to meet the high demand of

customers.

This cannot be done with a short

training course in this case: The training

requirements of Palfinger’s partners

and staff in the different departments

are too numerous - all stakeholders

need to be regularly trained so as not

to fall behind in terms of product

expertise.

To make matters more complicated,

staff at different locations often have a

different background, which makes

customised offers necessary for each

learner within Palfinger AG and their

partners, which of course must also be

available in the different native lan-

guages of the employees. In addition, it

must be ensured that the learning

success of staff and partners is mean-

ingfully documented so that a state-

ment can be made regarding whether

the methods applied are efficient or

not.

In the past, each Palfinger location had

different databases, where training

activities are logged on-site. However,

the documentation was heterogeneous

and the separate database could only

be accessed in the respective country.

There was no transnational training

approach that included both the staff

as well as the partners of Palfinger.

An e-learning pioneer from day one

CASE STUDY PALFINGER 6

Palfinger AG requested a suitable tool for this

transnational training approach. With the introduc-

tion of IMC Learning Suite, an ideal learning man-

agement system has been found that meets all of

the requirements: A homogeneous database across

countries, administration of face-to-face training and

qualified reports about up-to-date competency

profiles as well as job profiles of staff.

IMC Learning Suite is used in order to train the

roughly 5,000 users at the individual locations of

Palfinger. After the rollout at the first location, 1,000

users were initially recorded in the Learning Suite

who access teaching materials, solve exercises or

interact with other users in discussion forums.

Due to the great interest and the sensational feed-

back from the first users, staff at additional locations

shall now gradually receive access to the system and

new clients will be set up in the Learning Suite

worldwide.

With IMC Learning Suite, training needs are moni-

tored in each individual market. Palfinger is now able

to evaluate what knowledge exists at which loca-

tions and, if necessary, can control and plan for

appropriate measures in due time. This is not only

important for the staff of Palfinger AG, but partners

are also trained about ongoing continuing education

measures. Together with IMC, a partner status

concept was initiated. Partners can obtain the status

of bronze, silver or gold after successfully complet-

ing activities.

This allows for a transparent qualification system

between Palfinger AG and its partners. A central

administration of the global training sessions is also

possible for the partners, whereby the training

administration also takes place directly at Palfinger.

IMC Learning Suite as a new training program

CASE STUDY PALFINGER 7

„The Learning Management System from IMC is the right tool for all of those who want to learn more and acquire know-ledge!“

Balthasar Gwechenberger, Head of Corporate Service Palfinger AG

It is one aspect of the news learning management

system, that Palfinger‘s staff appreciate in particular:

Learning can now take place at any place in the world

at any time. Thanks to the web-based intuitive interface

of Learning Suite, there are no longer any time or place

restrictions that discourage knowledge-hungry staff from

learning.

Palfinger staff can either continue their education in the

designated learning times or at leisure times. It turned

out that there is a great interest in continuing education

within the company, since, as Balthasar Gwechenberger

(e-learning manager at Palfinger AG) reports, that staff

also take advantage of the training offer during their

breaks. Above all, since the business world often proves

to be very stressful and there is not enough time to

continue your education during work hours, many staff

are extremely excited about the possibility of being able

to complete training sessions even after their working

hours.

Thanks to the web-based interface, staff of Palfinger AG

are trained in a more targeted and frequent manner,

whereby a significant increase in knowledge has been

recorded compared to previous training models. Perfectly

trained staff can be a decisive competitive advantage in

such a highly technologically developed market, as is the

case with Palfinger.

Web-based interface as competitive advantage

CASE STUDY PALFINGER 8

The excellent initial response by staff towards the e-learning offering

by IMC is another reason for Palfinger to expand the existing learning

and continuing education strategy towards new topics and business

areas.

The e-learning mix from IMC shall be used in the future for products

from the offshore and marine field. It is also planned to compre-

hensively prepare the system for multi-client use so that a variety of

different users can access the system independently of each other

depending on their individual needs.

In addition, Palfinger plans to pay more attention to mobile learning

and to integrate it into the learning strategy in the long term. Palfin-

ger also plans to give the go-ahead for new projects with IMC dealing

with talent management.

Outlook for other projects

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About IMC

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For 20 years we have been helping organisations to plan, develop and implement professional learning

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