The learning should never stop, even after you’ve started working. Find out how Tenaris University allows employees to continue developing their knowledge and skills throughout their careers
There is probably no better way to train and develop the careers of your employees than to keep them educated and well informed. This will always be a difficult task to work around the busy schedules of industry employees.
Perhaps the most effective way to ensure that your employees stay educated is to keep them in school.
For Tenaris, a steel-tube provider for the energy industry, this has meant sending employees to Tenaris University.
This corporate university is responsible for integrating, aligning and disseminating knowledge and expertise throughout the company.
This encompasses the entire corporate training process through a number of different schools for over 27,000 of Tenaris’ employees.
The Industrial school provides the training required for engineers to understand areas such as Steelmaking, Finishing, Industrial Management, Hot Rolling and Heat Treatment. It also covers areas dedicated to the invention and enhancement of Tenaris products such as Product Engineering and R&D.
From its Commercial School, School of Finance & Administration and School of Management, employees are able to learn about Supply Chain, Commercial Front End, Marketing and Procurement areas; financial management, accounting and public reporting; and management.
The Tenaris University also offers a School of Information Technology which coordinates Since its creation in 2005, TenarisUniversity has opened various learning centres including its global campus in Campana, Argentina, which houses an academic building and residence.
Additionally, other dedicated training facilities operate in Mexico, Italy and Brazil, according to the company’s website.
The centre is run by employees from within the company who serve as the main body of instructors. They are selected and specially trained in order to share their experience-based knowledge, but external instructors are also brought in to lead courses on management and other non-company specific topics.
“Ever since I joined, I have been encouraged and empowered to learn, to develop, and to grow as well,” says Tarek El Banna, an engineer who participated in the first annual edition of the TESA GT program in 2009.
The TESA or Technical Sales department Graduate Trainee programme, is a 2 year programme which was established specifically for the development of young engineers.
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“During the TESA GT programme, I was exposed to an unlimited wealth of knowledge, and the only limit was how much I could soak up each day,” says El Banna.
The TESA GT program is a prime example of the direct connection between training and career development opportunities.
It is designed to give trainees exposure to every aspect of the Oil Country Tubular Goods lifecycle, starting a mill production and all the way to rig site installation.
The programme involves regional induction in the Middle East commercial offices and in Tenaris’production facilities in Argentina, where the graduates are immersed in the manufacturing process ans the quality procedures.
The programme then moves to product engineering and research and development. By the end of the programme, the young engineers are given the opportunity to travel to Southern Argentina to be trained on a drilling rig with an oil operator so that they get a complete understanding of oil and gas operations.
“The experience on the rig in Comodoro was eye-opening, the intensity of the work and the value of time are unique. That understanding has made all the difference when approaching E&P operations,” he adds.
Mohamed Radi, a fellow participant of the TESA GT Program, 2009, would agree. “It was a hands-on experience both in the mill and at the rig,” he recalls.
“My experience with the research and development department as an integrated part of the TESA GT program was crucial to establish a strong technical knowledge base,” he adds.
“Throughout the TESA GT Program’s diverse stages, we al experienced great exposure and networking opportunities on a global level with Tenaris, and the time spent on the drilling and completion rigs provided me with the correct mind-set and terminology to interact on a high technical level with our customers,” says Radi.
