Star Refrigeration, a pioneer in the development of environmentally friendlier refrigeration products and technologies, has taken decisive action. Star has always been committed to staff development and technological innovation. Capitalising on over 35 years of experience, they have developed a world-class on-line engineering training solution with REDTRAY.


Maximising the wealth of knowledge already available within Star, the revolutionary eLearning portal currently provides the industry with fundamental knowledge for refrigeration and air conditioning. In due course, the content will be expanded to include heating and ventilation options.

The learning platform is built on REDTRAY's unique ALTO learning management platform which uses the web to deliver knowledge and interactive learning. This means students can learn on-line easily and conveniently from anywhere in the world.

Why the eLearning Route?

From the company's outset in 1970, Star has maintained a worldwide reputation built on quality, reliability and technical innovation. It is the UK's largest independent refrigeration engineering company and delivers its products and technology to customers in over 50 countries.

Training has always been critical to the company's success. Graham Stuart, Managing Director of Star Refrigeration Operations explains: "We have always invested in apprentice schemes and in-house training for all our staff, which now number over 250. However, as our business expands and regulatory compliance increases it becomes less viable to have engineers away from their workplace on necessary training courses. Other companies must be in the same situation and we identified an opportunity for an alternative."

Following some early development of on-line courses, Star took a more detailed look at the opportunities offered by eLearning. An in-depth study of the international HVACR industry showed that it had a clear need for more flexible learning options.


Graham adds: "The idea was to produce a collection of training courses using the same modern technology that other industries around the world are already employing. ELearning is particularly valuable because it's highly flexible and can be undertaken at a fraction of the cost of formal classroom courses."

"We selected REDTRAY because of their high quality standards and with such an extensive portfolio, they could provide us with a -˜one-stop-shop'. We supply the raw content and REDTRAY develops it into high quality eLearning modules."

The result was the launch of the www.elearning-training.com training solution. It was set up as a separate business unit of the Star Refrigeration Group to exploit an opportunity to offer training solutions that improve and make training easier, more effective, more convenient and affordable for both Star and the global HVACR market.

The strenght of ALTO


Courses are delivered using the ALTO interactive learning environment which allows users to build their skills in a convenient way. The key is to enable learners to control their own progress - they register on-line and receive a personal learning account with access to materials and reference sources based on their specific needs. The self-paced training is both fun and rigorous, with assessments and quizzes so learners can test their knowledge and repeat areas that require further work.

Graham expands: "The ALTO platform has been vital to our success and it is every bit as important as the content."

ALTO was customised to fit Star's unique requirements. Course administrators can create user groups, customise reports and communicate with users, thus enabling a training programme to be up and running in a matter of hours rather than days.

Graham sees ALTO as a powerful HR tool. "A vital tracking system is provided through ALTO's Pursuit module. Course administrators can access management reports on assessment scores and course progress and completion. This is supported by a unique facility which sends out automated emails to learners if they haven't studied the course in the allotted timeframe."

The ALTO Knowledge Portal also ensures that information is distributed only to users who require it. This reduces information overload and ensures users are limited to information that is relevant to them.

Where to Next?

With over 2,500 registered members, elearning-training.com is gaining increasing support. It recently won the prestigious Cooling Industry Training Initiative award for 2007, which was a considerable achievement for such a new innovation.


"Although eLearning is not a new concept, many in our industry are still unaware of its potential," says Graham. "In fact, some still don't see the need for training at all! But they can't hide away from it much longer - new European legislation is on the horizon and it requires formal certification for all engineers involved in the maintenance of refrigeration systems and in particular, the elimination of damaging refrigerant leakage. This new legislation will impose a requirement for all engineers to be assessed in order to demonstrate their competence."

Graham aims to integrate the elearning-training.com solution as an integral part of the knowledge element within the new legislation. "So when companies need to rapidly and regularly up-skill and re-skill staff, our courses will be ready and waiting. It will be a particularly attractive option since eLearning can cover in hours what might normally take days in a classroom.


For the employer, using elearning-training.com for the knowledge element will eliminate massive costs that would otherwise be incurred because their engineers are attending classroom courses away from their workplace."

Most recently, Star launched the world's first interactive CO2 Refrigeration course - a new and pioneering eLearning course in the use of CO2 in refrigeration systems. The course is proving very successful for retail operators who currently use it as their standard requirement for contractor training.

"The main benefit is that engineers get easier, faster and more convenient certification, prove that they have covered the basics" Graham adds. All of the available courses are CPD accredited by CIBSE and the Construction CPD Service.

The course is also being used as a benchmark for a Leonardo da Vinci project aiming to collect and organise fragmented knowledge in CO2 refrigeration and; Make it available to all Europeans through eLearning. This project is co-founded by the European Commission under its "Life Long Learning Programme" to help countries lagging behind in R744 research to benefit from the experience of partners with extensive knowledge in the field. Star agreed to lend its expertise and ground breaking eLearning modules on CO2 Refrigeration in order to contribute to the successful development of the project.

The company is now well advanced with its next stage of development, involving new content and new partnership arrangements in Australia, South Africa, Sweden and Turkey.

New features are also being introduced including an online Reference Library which will contain free and readily available quality information. It will cover: Fundamentals; Glossary; Health & Safety (Safety Bulletins, Risk Assessments, Toolbox Talks, COSSHH Statements); Tools and techniques (Essential tools, Purging air, Draining oil, Changing a gland seal, Charging refrigerant); Technical Papers; Technical Guides; Case Studies; Solved Exercises and quizzes; Latest news & Tricks; Software; Ask the expert; Suppliers Catalogues.

"ALTO has transformed the process of training, giving students the ability to learn anytime, anywhere - and master the core principles quickly and economically," concludes Graham.