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LOGIS and GLOBIS are located in Opglabbeek (Kempen, Belgium). LOGIS started its activities after the mines were closed. Because of that there was a need for new employment in this area. The government decided to give subsidies for new employment and training. This is the context in which LOGIS originated.

LOGIS is a training centre for warehouse functions. They give the following training courses for unemployed and employed: forklift driver, reach truck driver, roll bridge driver, truck driver, mobile crane driver, order pick truck driver, tower wagon driver etc. Most of the courses for warehouse functions consist of a 5 day course in an imitated warehouse. For employed this may be shorter (tailor made). It is mainly practice, but also theoretic lessons about technical understanding, safety and signs are given. The theoretic lessons for forklift driver and reach truck driver are also given by using a cd-rom. This cd-rom is called "veilig rijden met je heftruck". The translated title is "safe driving with your forklift". In November a DVD will replace the cd-rom. Logis is recognized as a training institute that is allowed to give official certificates for forklift truck driving.

In order to have a better understanding of the contents of warehouse functions, a project was started to determine function profiles. Partners were Logis, a consultancy and a number of companies. This project was co-financed by European funds. The project not only consisted of determining profiles, but also made a plan how to assess people to determine to what extent they "fit" in such a job. This plan consists of a design for a simulation room for order picking. This project served as a basis for GLOBIS. Using a mini-warehouse simulation room clarifies the potential of a candidate much better than only having a conversation. The "performance" in a conversation very much depends on oral presentation skills. However, this is not a good indication of the job performance. For example, ethnic minorities have problems expressing themselves correctly. An assessment also has the advantage that it gives the candidate a first insight in the job. A simulation is a good instrument to clarify their method of working and potential capabilities for the job. That was the reason why GLOBIS originated. It originated 3.5 years ago. GLOBIS has an assessment room for order pickers and team leaders and makes use of this warehouse simulation to assess people.

GLOBIS and LOGIS are closely connected. The institutes are located in the same town. Potential trainees for LOGIS can be trained and screened in GLOBIS's assessment room.

Available in the assessment room are: approximately eight warehouse scaffolds with various articles, four warehouse trolleys, a routing on the floor, a table with assembly articles, a place for damaged articles. The participants first receive an explanation about how to work in the warehouse. After that they receive an order list. They have to pick the orders. In the preparatory lesson they are warned that the warehouse system is not really waterproof.

The assessment in GLOBIS serves a number of target groups: workers and potential workers (unemployed), but also team leaders. Workers participate in the assessment to get a better understanding of their strong and weak points in their work. So for organisations it is a good way to improve the skills of the workers, because training and supervising can be targeted towards the weaker points. It is also possible that an organisation uses the assessment to see which candidate is the most suitable for a vacancy. If there is work in a warehouse it is important that the organisation knows that they get suitable workers who are interested in working in a warehouse. The assessment also serves the unemployed in guidance of finding a suitable job. A lot of unemployed do not exactly know what their interests are. The assessment room helps unemployed to make the right choice. If the unemployed does the assessment he has a better understanding whether he likes working in a warehouse. He becomes conscious about his personal job preferences. Moreover, the assessment is also used to find a suitable internship for LOGIS trainees. Because the assessment helps in finding weak and strong points, an internship in a company can be selected which best fits this profile. Finally the assessment also helps companies to select workers for promoting team leaders. They can send candidates to GLOBIS to specifically test for the potential of team leader.

When workers or potential workers are assessed, the assessors of GLOBIS will observe the participants. The participants are judged on a lot of aspects such as: mental power, decisiveness, personal behaviour (e.g. participant takes initiatives, works safely, works precisely, is able to adapt) and teamwork. How is this assessment for these aspects carried out? Some examples are the following:

• Mental power
  The order pick list states a routing. But this routing is not the most logic routing. The assessors will see if the participant is so clever to take the most logic routing.

• Decisiveness
  Has the participant enough courage to make his own decisions. Is the participant nervous, not concentrated? Does he see mistakes in the scaffolds?

• Personal behaviour
  Does the participant put his trolley out of the way when he is picking an order? Does the participant drive safely or bump into the trolley of another participant or into the scaffold? What does the participant do if he drops things on the ground?

• Team work
  Does the participant help the other participants when there is a problem, does he communicate with the others?

For all these aspects the participant receives points. For example when the participant does not communicate with other participants he receives one point. If he communicates very much he gets the maximum of four points. Some of the scores partly depend on the way he deals with specific situations in the warehouse. Before the training started, the assessors warned the participants that the system in warehouse was not waterproof. The warehouse contains many mistakes and the assessor of GLOBIS will see what the participant is going to do. The following examples make clear how the participant could deal with mistakes he encounters in the warehouse.

Example 1

In a scaffold packages of paper in various colours are stored. The colour of the paper is printed on the packages. Each colour has its own place in the scaffold. But some packages are placed in the wrong part. What does the participant do?

1. He only looks at the colour on his order list and then takes the packages. So he takes a package with the wrong colour: 1 point.
2. He sees that there are packages placed in the wrong part of the scaffold. He only looks for the good packages. So he does not take the wrong colours: 2 points.
3. He sees that there are packages placed in the wrong part of the scaffold. He moves the packages to the right parts of the scaffold: 3 points.
4. He sees that there are packages placed in the wrong part of the scaffold. He moves the packages to the right parts of the scaffold. He communicates to the other participants that the papers in the scaffold are placed in the wrong place and that he will put them in order: 4 points.

Example 2

In a scaffold packages of playing cards are placed. The order list states that because of a production mistake most packages of playing cards have a lack of jokers. This is stated as a remark on the order list. The participants have to check the packages. What the participants don't know is that the jokers are placed on top of the scaffold. If the participants look around they can see them very easily.

What does the participant do?

1. He only looks at the amount of packages he needs, so he does not read the remarks and takes the packages: 1 point.
2. He reads the remarks and looks inside the packages of playing cards. He supposes that there are no jokers in the packages. He does not see the jokers on top of the scaffold: 2 points.
3. He reads the remarks and looks inside the packages of playing cards. He supposes that there are no jokers in the packages. He looks around and sees the jokers on top of the scaffold and puts them in the packages: 3 points.
4. He reads the remarks and looks inside the packages of playing cards. He supposes that there are no jokers in the packages. He looks around and sees the jokers on top of the scaffold and puts them in the packages. After that he communicates to the other participants that the jokers are placed on top of the scaffold: 4 points.

The more points the participant gets, the better suited he is supposed to be for the job of order picker. The relative scores on various issues also show what are his/her strong and weak points. After the assessment the results are discussed.

The assessment room is also suitable for the team leader or manager. The team leader has to manage the "warehouse". If a potential team leader is to be assessed, this assessment is combined with the assessment of workers or potential workers. The assessors of GLOBIS observe the team leaders and see what kinds of problems they have in their leadership. They are judged on skills such as: communicative skills, coaching skills, etc. After the assessment the results are also discussed.

Function profiles of the jobs have first been developed to serve as a sound base for the assessment. The profiles show what type of behaviour and competences are important for a warehouse worker. The assessment is organised in such a way that the potentials related to these key competences are tested. Assessors of GLOBIS observe the participants who are "working" in the assessment room. Does the participant keep to the safety rules and does he act according to the rules or instructions? Is the participant the right person to work in a team? Does the participant keep his working place clean? GLOBIS also screens team leaders on specific competences related to this position.

The costs of developing a suitable and realistic assessment room are very high. It takes a lot of time to develop underlying function profiles and arrange an assessment room accordingly. Therefore the subsidy for development was necessary. Now the assessment is developed, it can be exploited without subsidies. From the start GLOBIS realised that customers will only use the assessment, if the price was not too high. Therefore the assessment is limited to half a day.

GLOBIS has screened 170 order pickers and many team leaders each year. The feedback on the assessment is good. Participants usually recognise themselves in the outcomes of the assessment. Moreover, companies indicate that the predicting value of the assessment is very accurate. A lot about the participant becomes clear in a not very time-consuming assessment programme.

The assessment reveals a lot about the potentials and weak and strong points of unemployed, job applicants and workers for the functions of order picker and team leader. This assessment helps to determine the weaker points of trainees. Training plans can be adapted accordingly. Moreover it helps the unemployed to have a better understanding if this type of job is suitable for them. Finally it helps the training institute to select internships places, which best suit the unemployed being trained. This improves individual chances of finding a job in the company afterwards. The assessment is done in a simulation room, in which a number of order pick tasks are simulated. It is also possible to create such an assessment in the company itself. One company has done so and has its own assessors.