AES Corporation Receives Workforce Training Fund Program State Grant
AES Corporation, a manufacturer of private wireless mesh alarm communication networks, was recently awarded a state grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the Workforce Training Fund Program (WTFP). The total investment between CommCorp and AES is over $400,000. In an effort to better serve our customers, AES is building upon business initiatives including this investment in employee training and LEAN practices across all departments company-wide. The term LEAN is defined as a systematic LEAN approach to identifying and eliminating waste or activities considered non-value added through continuous process improvement by flowing the product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection. This program will positively impact processes ranging from movement of product on the manufacturing floor, order fulfillment, technical support escalation process, invoicing, and product development while maintaining AES high quality service standards.
AES began rolling out the LEAN program on May 1, 2015 and has 14 training sessions scheduled over the next 24 months that will directly impact over 70% of all employees, all facilitated by professional trainers. Here is a short list of some programs being implemented at AES:
- Service Excellence;
- Connect Better with Customers (DISC);
- Effective Communication & Listening;
- Change Management; and
- Effective Problem Solving.
The AES employee training program started with putting 38% of employees through the first session on Service Excellence, with a focus on consistency and excelling in service for a positive customer experience resulting in overall satisfaction.
Bill Kieckhafer, president & COO of AES Corporation, has been leading LEAN-oriented companies for the past decade and has seen firsthand the positive impact it can have in all areas of the company from order entry to the shipping process and everything in between. AES will primarily use the 5-S (Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, Sustain) and Value Stream Mapping (VSM) tools to first define current state and secondly define future or desired state, then implement. The stakeholders of each process are directly involved as they are the ones who know best how the process works today and how it can work better in the future.
"This will have a dramatic impact in every function of AES and, ultimately, deliver higher value add to our customers and increase our competitiveness in the marketplace," said Kieckhafer.