Customer testimonial John Deere

IFC TRITECH customer testimonial – Guillaume Archambault, Training Director

98% of our customers are satisfied, as one of them can testify! Guillaume Archambault, Training Manager at John Deere, explains in this video how he was able to improve his training programmes with the support of our IFC TRITECH team.

How long have you worked for John Deere?

I’ve been in this job for about six years now, and I’ve been with John Deere for just over fifteen.

What are your training objectives?

Our aim is to train the dealer network. We have a network of distributors who sell, monitor and maintain the equipment. And my focus is on the technical side, making sure we have a training programme that teaches technicians how perform equipment diagnostics. There’s a big section on hardware, of course, but there’s also a whole section on customer relations and development. And how we ensure customer loyalty.

Do you train external people?

The focus is really on the dealer network. So in effect, these are people who are independent dealers, companies with whom we have a distribution contract. They are not employees of John Deere and they come to our training centre for training. John Deere employees can be trained, but they have their own training programme.

How can training courses be adapted to different levels?

We offer them training pathways, so that we can provide the right training content based on the person’s experience and level of qualification. The aim is to be able to take on someone regardless of their level of experience, but to ensure that they integrate a training programme with technical fundamentals: electrics, hydraulics, systems, and then to upgrade people’s skills in product specialisation.

Where do your training courses take place?

The vast majority of training takes place at the centre. We also have training courses that can be done at dealerships. This is also a popular choice. It can sometimes save a lot of travel and money. We can also offer training courses in the field for practical application. Here, we’re more concerned with setting up and optimising the machines. We sometimes also have European training courses that can take place abroad. We’re going to train people on a common theme.

How many people are trained each year?

On average 2,400 to 2,500 people. I’m now talking about more and more hours of training per year, because we also have distance learning. We have a volume of around 60,000 hours of training per year. A mix of face-to-face, distance learning and e-learning.

Did you say e-learning?

Yes, we’ve been doing distance learning for many years now. We’re speeding it up. Today, we’re using a slightly more hybrid formula. We want to make sure that when people come to us they can get some hands-on experience, so we’re starting to look at our training content more and more. The theoretical part is done upstream, remotely, and then people come to do the practical part, so they appreciate it because the training scheme is shorter, more impactful and really focused on practical activities in the workshop.

Does training with IFC TRITECH take place on site?

Right now, it’s all about on-site training. It’s a training programme that we want to ensure covers the basics, as well as being a development opportunity for both us and our technicians. Intake is essential as it allows us to fill gaps. We have young technicians who have just graduated and who sometimes lack knowledge of hydraulics. So we fill the gap on these basics and then we move on to an advanced level, still face-to-face, which once again allows us to develop and be even more specific in our interventions.

How do your IFC TRITECH training courses manage differences in trainee levels?

We’ve really worked on this to ensure that we have programmes that will enable us to bring people up to the same level and, above all, to help them progress. In the long term, we aim to find hybrid formats in the development and deployment of training courses.

What changes have you seen in recent years?

We now have this requirement and it’s really key for our dealers to be able to speak up and say when they need to do refreshers or go back over the basics. So we adjusted our programmes accordingly, working with IFC TRITECH. As machines evolve, we also need to be even more specific about hydraulics. And that’s something that works very well.

Are IFC TRITECH and John Deere a real collaboration in developing training content?

We came up with these two plans. One relates to the evolution of our machines; the other is a bit contextual. I really welcomed the collaboration because we came up with a set of specifications and were able to say, “here’s what we have today, but it doesn’t meet our expectations”. Groups have too many differences. We really need to be able to differentiate this, to have an approach by level and to be able to target it properly. We worked on this content, and it went well.

What are your expectations of working with IFC TRITECH?

What I expect from IFC TRITECH in the future is to continue as we have been doing. We’re changing it up, as you can see from our range of equipment. Machines are evolving. We’re currently working on the hydraulics aspect. I can see potential progression in electrics in the future, so that could be part of the developments. The hybrid part also involves working on formats, distance learning modules, what can help a technician today when they are in the process of self-training, what skills can be developed in both distance and face-to-face learning and then what can we learn from this; how can we move forward on the face-to-face part.