Safety First: Training with GENMA in South America

I'm Nicolas, a GENMA service engineer and training facilitator based in South America. My job is to help customer operations and maintenance teams truly understand their equipment — and use it safely and efficiently.

Latin America is vast and culturally diverse. Workers at terminals come from different backgrounds, and operating habits vary from site to site. That's why my training never happens behind a lectern. I work alongside the teams, using their everyday language to explain technical concepts — torque, limit switches, hydraulic pressure — and connect them directly to the work on site. 

Safety is always at the core.

I often tell trainees: If it's not safe, don't do it. Stop, think, proceed. It's better to think before you execute than to execute and then regret. Simple words, but on a busy terminal floor, they can change the way a person moves — and even save a life. I also introduce them to PDCA — Plan, Do, Check, Act — as a fundamental approach to achieving safe and effective objectives.

Then comes the equipment itself. I start with the big picture and work down to the details: which systems make up the machine, what each component does, how the control logic works, what the maintenance standards are, and which parameters are red lines. Classroom training is never enough. You have to bring people to the machine — let them operate it, observe it, and explain it back in their own words. The relationship between an operator and the equipment is more than pressing buttons. It's a partnership. Once that sense of connection is built, both efficiency and safety improve.

But training isn't only about teaching. It's also about listening.

After every session, I take what I've seen in the field back to GENMA: quality issues, safety concerns, service response, technical documentation, design feedback, new opportunities. This input helps us sharpen both the product and the next training. Personally, I'm always focused on one goal: helping customers raise their operational standards and performance indicators — with continuous improvement and safety as the foundation of everything we do.

The most rewarding moment isn't the applause at the end of a session. It's when a trainee realizes something important right there on the spot — when they stop mid-task and say, "Nicolas, I see now — I've been doing this wrong." And then they correct it immediately. That's when I know the objective is being met.

Here in Latin America, I've found that customers genuinely want to learn — and they also need to be understood. When trust is built and you become more than just a supplier, training stops being a task. It becomes shared growth. My responsibility is to turn GENMA's understanding of equipment and safety into daily habits on the job.

Safety first. Continuous improvement. Zero incidents. These aren't slogans. They're what we work toward together.