Special challenges for using Learning Toolbox (LTB) in a craft trade company
In my recent blogs on the fieldwork of our EU-funded Learning Layers (LL) project I have mostly reported on our pilot activities with the toolset “Learning Toolbox (LTB)” in the construction sector training centre Bau-ABC. Earlier this week the ITB project team visited a craft trade company in electrical engineering to discuss the use of LTB in the context of ‘real’ working life – not only from the perspective of apprentice training. Our counterpart was the founder of the company and an associate partner in the project – Meister Dieter as we know him of the user stories of the first year. We had maintained the contacts at different phases of the project but now we felt that there is a need to discuss the potential use of LTB as a toolset that is reaching a mature stage.
Of our earlier talks with Meister Dieter we knew that he is engaged in both ‘traditional’ and in extraordinary projects in electrical engineering. Therefore we could expect him to present different kinds of special challenges for companies like his own and to make some thoughts, how tools like LTB could be helpful. Below I summarise some points of our lively discussion after we had demonstrated the LTB and how it functions. I will mainly focus on the challenges he presented – not that much on the specific contribution of LTB:
- Changes in the plans during the construction work: Craft trade companies are used to the fact that when architects visit construction sites, they often make changes to their plans. These tend to have consequences to the workload and the costs for the craft trade company (that have to be renegotiated). From this perspective a tool like the LTB can facilitate real-time documentation and negotiation on such issues.
- Different versions electric installations to be considered during the work: Partly due to the above mentioned reasons and partly due the specific nature of constructions sites (renovation, modernisation), craftsmen in electrical engineering have to work with different versions of installations (and respective drawing). There might be a co-existence between older, intermediate and newer versions to deal with. Here again, a tool like the LTB might help to bring clarity to the situation.
- Management of flows of photos from construction sites: Currently a lot photos are being taken, forwarded and stored to keep up to date the information flow from construction site to the company. This is a challenge for the filing systems that may not be sufficiently specific about the context and the actuality of the photos. Here, we assume, the Stack File System of the LTB might help to maintain transparency regarding the contexts and the actuality of photos.
- Management of working interfaces between different trades: Sometimes in bigger or complex construction projects the management of working interfaces between different trades becomes very challenging (and requires special experts to take responsibility). Here, a tool like LTB might help craftsmen from different trades to adjust their work to the work of parallel trade to avoid complications and delays.
- Project work in very specific circumstances: In addition to the above mentioned issues Meister Dieter gave some examples of project work, such as testing of specific instruments in unusual geographic locations or in offshore contexts. Here the challenges are related both to the equipment (to be tested and eventually modified) as well as to the use of manpower (when is the term of electricians and how can they adjust their contributions to the others’). We took note of these examples to see, what solutions could be found in the further development process.
I guess this is enough for the moment. We had arranged these talks as a preparatory session for a forthcoming workshop with craft trade companies and LTB (to be organised in September). We will keep our preparations and our talks with partner enterprises going on in the meantime.
More blogs to come …
