Hands On Training

摘要

It's hard to believe that only 17 years ago the weighing industry was still going through its mechanical to electronic transition. At that time there were many mechanical scale technicians who didn't know how to troubleshoot a load cell, configure an indicator or understand the different types of data carriers. That's why, in 1986, Rice Lake Weighing Systems (RLWS) started offering basic electronic classes to their customers to help scale technicians that were having a difficult time making that transition. "We developed a very basic electronics class that would assist technicians in the principles and theories of electronic weighing," said Paul Cernick, training coordinator. "We took a very generic approach to the class, not wanting it to be all about Rice Lake products. Instead, we wanted to give them a general education in electronics so when they went back to their companies, they could apply what they had learned to any electronic weighing device that they would encounter." RLWS first offered its classes at the Best Western Hotel in Rice Lake, Wisc. Designed initially as a customer service, the first year's response was overwhelming. They found a need in the educational segment of the industry and were determined to fill it as a service to their customers. Each year they increased the number of classes along with the different topics that were of most importance to dealers across the nation. The classes were then conducted at Turtleback Golf Club for several years, but due to the inconvenience of lugging equipment and material from the plant to a remote location, a training room was set up right in their plant. In the early '90s, Rice Lake's training services really started to grow and develop as they started offering more and more classes. Consequently, they outgrew the room that they were using. So when a new addition was built in 1993, an area was designated for a new training center, and they named it the Don Johnson Training Center in honor of RLWS' co-founder.