Vipal expands online training opportunities

Face-to-face training has been difficult at best and often impossible during the past year, and to accommodate this development Vipal Rubber bolstered its online training programme in 2020. Univipal, the retreading materials supplier’s corporate university and vocational training centre, has responded to an increased demand for virtual learning by developing a series of new resources, intensifying its online training and expanding content.

Through this expanded online learning portfolio, Vipal’s teams in international markets were given the opportunity to improve their knowledge on various topics, with over 160 class hours on offer. Vipal reports 30 employees gained further qualifications though these courses.

Overall, Univipal provided more than 220 hours of virtual training, 169 hours in the form of webinars – an entirely new method of teaching for the institution. A total of 3,287 students completed Univipal’s distance learning courses, 47.5 per cent more than in 2019. Face-to-face training still took place at its Nova Prata site in Brazil, albeit at lower levels than previously.

“In addition to improving and refreshing our team’s knowledge, we took the opportunity to better understand how to work with the technologies available and test the possibility of online tools in our market,” comments Andreia Peruzzo, coordinator of Univipal.

Topics that Univipal’s instructors shared include units on choosing patches, common occurrences with commercial tyres; how to reduce post-vulcanisation losses; frequently-occuring damage and wear on agricultural tyres, eco treads and tread testing methodologies.

Importance of increasing & sharing knowledge

Vipal says its team approved of this training: “The technical refresh course provided by Univipal during the pandemic period showed the importance that Vipal gives in keeping its collaborators up to date. It´s during times like this that I realise I am at the right company, at a winning company,” comments Fabricio Nedeff, commercial manager at Vipal Europe.

Paola Ferrada, general manager of Vipal Chile, also participated in the activities and has voiced her approval. “During these times in which we have experienced the normality of work with great difficulty, we realised that Vipal made sure to keep its team, customers and partners trained using Univipal´s virtual platform,” she says. Ferrada points out that it’s very important for employees to be able to participate in activities that increase professional knowledge and facilitate an exchange of experiences: “Our technicians saw Univipal’s distance learning courses as a good opportunity to be able to stay up to date on the conditions of the retreading industry, new technologies, product launches, appropriate uses and processes.”