When Georgia Quick Start began training new employees for Rinnai America Corp., Bob Potts, director of continuous improvement, didn’t know what to expect.
He didn’t expect the new employees of the factory, which manufactures tankless water heaters, to exceed their first-day production targets.
“One of the ways I evaluate training,” he says, “is how do you do on your very first day?”
The targets were established by liaisons from Rinnai headquarters in Japan. Rinnai has its U.S. factory in Griffin, Ga.
“Our Japanese liaisons that had the experience are the ones that set the ramp up numbers for us, based on what their expectations were,” Potts says. “Rinnai employees were 240 percent above their production targets on day one. That just goes to show how well prepared and skilled our team was.”
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
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Southern Crescent Technical College
“Because of Quick Start training, we stopped training and actually worked on live production.”
— Bob Potts, Plant Manager for Rinnai America
Rinnai’s lineup of completed commercial and residential tankless water heaters.
A Quick Start instructor oversees trainees, which receive 96 hours of training before building a single unit.
Tankless water heaters differ from traditional water heaters by heating the water as it flows through the unit, providing what amounts to a ceaseless flow of hot water as well as cost savings.
Quick Start has supported Rinnai America Corp. with training since 2017.
The training partnership is continuing at Rinnai’s new 300,000-square-foot facility that opened in May 2022.
