North America
Following the new Online Instructor Led Training (OILT) dealer program that launched in April, Volvo Penta’s training team has reached two milestones this fall. Between the new program and new product update webinars, 1,000 technicians have been instructed to date, far exceeding the plans the team had set for in-person training sessions during this period. Capping this achievement, the team announced the graduation of its first dealer technician to officially certify online.
“This is a first for Volvo Penta globally,” said Tony Kelleher. “While we have offered online training for our dealer technicians, we have never before had the option for them to complete the certification courses using an online platform.”
To achieve certification, technicians must complete two-day, instructor-led classes, followed by an online test of 50 questions. The training system randomly assigns the questions, so that no test is exactly the same.
“The beauty of online training makes it easier for our partners, who will not need to reserve a full calendar week for in-person training,” said Magnus Gedda, Manager Product Training.
Fall training season is launched with new offerings to include 10 different two-day, online certification courses and two Vodia courses for the industrial and marine sectors. In addition, the training team is also continuing to provide new product updates with four webinars focused on recent product changes.
Collectively, this represents the largest fall training season ever with over 50 classes total. In addition, the training team is in the final stages of launching its spring season for 2021, initially as in-person classes.
“With so much online material prepared, we can at any point switch to online if needed and also use it as an additional option alongside our in-person classes,” Gedda said.