ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. — A. O. Smith celebrated the grand opening of its renovated technical training facility located at its customer care facility in Ashland City. Renovations include upgrades to the on-site training classroom, hands-on training labs, video production studio, and A. O. Smith University’s online training offerings.

The on-site training facility will offer traditional classroom sessions, as well as real-world, hands-on training in A. O. Smith’s three fully functional residential, commercial, and tankless product labs. Participants are invited to interact with all A. O. Smith product lines and apply the skills they’ve learned in the classroom. Improvements made in this facility will allow an additional 500 contractors to attend on-site trainings this year.

The new video production studio will focus on providing A. O. Smith partners with more robust online, and on-demand training options, including online product workshops, factor certifications, and continuing education credits, as well as more than 100 hours of online content covering the entire line of A. O. Smith residential and commercial products.

With expanded capabilities in 3D animation, 360-degree cameras and virtual reality, the studio can now communicate concepts that previously would have been difficult or impossible even in an in-person classroom setting. These classes will be offered as live-streaming training events, which contractors can attend from the comfort of their homes or offices, but still interact and ask questions in real time.

“A. O. Smith is consistently focused on training and education for our valued partners,” said Jason Leonard, technical training manager for A. O. Smith. “The newly renovated technical training facility was designed to provide a more functional space allowing us to provide richer content, while also reducing the time and cost involved with creating it. Providing world class solutions and in-depth industry education continues to be a huge goal for our team, and this facility allows us to take that initiative to the next level."

More than 80,000 industry professionals attended A. O. Smith University training last year.

Publication date: 7/3/2019

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