Owens Corning elevates training with virtual reality
When it comes to training employees, it's hard to beat hands-on experience. However, virtual reality offers a unique opportunity to help workers get up to speed in a lifelike, low-stakes environment.
That is the concept behind a virtual reality training program sponsored by Owens Corning. It is aimed at insulation contractors and distributors who want to give new and existing employees an on-the-job, immersive experience with nine modules. These include safety, general insulation jobsite practices and even specialized spray foam installation guidance.
“This visually enhanced experience requires no laptop, just Wi-Fi and a headset,” said Derek Fowler, marketing & contractor training manager at Owens Corning. “What employer wouldn’t want to place his or her employees in a risk-free setting for learning on a virtual job?”
For example, employees can actually experience working in a spray foam rig as well as go inside a house to dial in proper foam ratios, diagnose off-ratio foam, and make temperature and pressure adjustments. Also, workers can experience operating and troubleshooting a loose-fill insulation truck and blowing machine, along with air sealing instruction. Another big factor for contractor trainees is safety, proper gear and equipment usage, which is also covered in the modules.
According to studies on labor management, Owens Corning says VR is supported by the numbers, citing the following figures:
- It's four times faster to train with VR rather than a classroom setting.
- VR boasts better knowledge retention levels after one year.
- Forty-three percent lower incidence of worker injuries.
- Eighty-two percent of companies say VR training "met or exceeded" expectations.
- Ninety-four percent of workers asked for more VR training.
Fowler says Owens Corning's VR training is a way to push the industry forward and support customers in achieving the company's quality and safety goals. “The VR training concept is geared to bring on new employees more quickly and efficiently, with this advanced form of training,” he said. “It can also help mitigate issues around labor and retention, which existed even years before the pandemic.
Learn more about VR training opportunities through Owens Corning here.
