ABSTRACT
The project on which this case study is based was concerned with developing a scheme for supervising the training of mechanical fitters . The project was carried out at one of the sites of a large chemical company. Management at this site recognized a general problem, namely how to ensure that mechanical fitters undergoing apprenticeships or development on plant gained adequate experience of different types of work. The company considered that it was unreasonable for fitters to be trained on everything and wished to maximize the use of relevant opportunities occurring during operations to allow on-job training. New fitters were therefore moved around the site to gain experience. As they moved around the plant however, the foreman had no detailed record of what the fitter had already experienced. Without such a record indicating the kinds of experience the new fitter needed, there was always the temptation to let experienced fitters do the more complex jobs; new fitters often just carried out routine jobs that were already familiar to them.
