Bringing Warehouse Training to Life
At Kenco, preparing associates for success starts long before they enter a live operation. Camp Kenco is an interactive training environment designed to help new team members build confidence, develop critical warehouse skills, and gain hands-on experience in a supportive setting. Through realistic exercises and job-specific scenarios, associates practice the processes they will encounter on the warehouse floor while receiving guidance from experienced trainers.
Rather than learning solely through observation, participants actively engage in tasks that mirror real operational challenges. This approach reinforces best practices, strengthens decision-making, and deepens understanding of safety, quality, and productivity expectations.
Most importantly, Camp Kenco provides a controlled environment where associates can learn, ask questions, and make correctable mistakes before those decisions affect coworkers, products, or customers. The result is a stronger onboarding experience, improved operational readiness, and a workforce better equipped to deliver the service and reliability customers expect.
Exploring Camp Kenco
Camp Kenco combines interactive learning, practical exercises, and real-world scenarios to help associates gain experience before entering live operations. Each training area focuses on a key aspect of warehouse performance, helping participants understand how their actions affect safety, quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
Safety School
Safety is the foundation of every successful warehouse operation, which is why Safety School is one of the first experiences associates encounter at Camp Kenco. The goal is to move beyond memorizing rules and help associates apply safe behaviors in everyday situations.
Through demonstrations and hands-on activities, participants learn how to recognize hazards, assess risks, and make informed decisions. Associates practice skills such as proper fire extinguisher usage, ergonomic lifting techniques, and identifying workplace distractions. Training also reinforces selecting the right tools for each task and knowing when to stop work and ask for assistance.
By placing associates in realistic situations, Safety School encourages critical thinking and reinforces that safety is everyone’s responsibility. The program helps participants develop safe habits and confidence before entering live operations.
Quality School
Quality School reinforces a simple message: quality is everyone’s responsibility.
The training helps associates understand how warehouse activities directly impact customers. Whether handling inventory, inspecting products, or preparing orders for shipment, participants learn how attention to detail helps prevent errors and protect customer satisfaction.
Associates practice identifying product damage, inspecting packaging, recognizing inventory issues, and documenting quality concerns. Exercises also introduce root-cause problem-solving, helping associates understand not only how to correct issues but also how to prevent them from recurring.
By emphasizing accountability and attention to detail, Quality School helps associates develop a quality-focused mindset from day one.
Hands-On Picking and Packing
One of the most engaging parts of Camp Kenco is the hands-on picking and packing experience. Through a simulated grocery shopping activity, associates are introduced to key warehouse processes in a practical and approachable way.
Participants learn how to follow location information, identify products, select the correct items, scan inventory, and verify order accuracy. They also gain experience preparing cartons, selecting packing materials, protecting products, and applying shipping labels.
Just as importantly, associates learn how to respond when something doesn’t look right. Damaged, missing, or misplaced items become opportunities to practice escalation procedures rather than workarounds. The exercise helps participants connect familiar shopping behaviors with the precision required in warehouse operations.
Continuous Improvement School
Continuous Improvement School introduces associates to the idea that operational excellence is built through small, consistent improvements over time.
Participants learn how improvement efforts influence safety, quality, delivery, productivity, cost, and morale. Through discussions and examples, associates see how identifying inefficiencies and solving recurring problems can strengthen overall performance.
Most importantly, associates learn that their ideas matter. Continuous Improvement School encourages employees to share observations, raise concerns, and contribute solutions, reinforcing a culture of engagement and ownership throughout the operation.
PIT Training
Powered Industrial Truck (PIT) training allows associates to become familiar with warehouse equipment in a controlled environment before operating in active production areas.
Training exercises include equipment controls, basic maneuvering, navigating warehouse lanes, handling pallets, and understanding different types of material-handling equipment. Throughout the process, instructors provide immediate feedback and coaching to help associates develop safe operating habits.
The controlled training environment allows associates to learn from mistakes without the pressures of live operations, helping build confidence and foundational skills before transitioning to the warehouse floor.
Connection Cabin: Helping Associates Navigate More Than Their Job
Successful onboarding involves more than learning operational processes. New associates also need to understand how to access resources and opportunities that support their success at Kenco.
The Connection Cabin serves as a resource center where associates can learn about workplace systems, pay and PTO information, benefits, tuition reimbursement, employee committees, recognition programs, and other support resources. It also provides a welcoming environment where associates can ask questions and seek guidance.
By helping employees understand where to find information and who to turn to for assistance, the Connection Cabin ensures associates gain awareness of the resources, development opportunities, and support networks available throughout their careers at Kenco.
Leadership and Development Opportunities for Trainers
Camp Kenco creates valuable opportunities not only for new associates but also for the employees who help deliver the training. Serving as a trainer, advocate, or peer resource requires employees to explain processes, reinforce standards, coach new associates, and adapt to different learning styles.
Two associates helping shape the Camp Kenco experience are Ashley Newman, Safety Advocate and Training Coordinator, and Kadedra Marbury, Quality Assurance Coordinator.
As the creator and facilitator of the site’s Camp Kenco program, Ashley focused on building experiences that would leave a lasting impression. “Each section was intentionally designed to be interactive and hands-on because people retain what they experience far more than what they simply hear or read,” Ashley explained. “I wanted associates to leave training not only understanding our processes, but also understanding why those processes matter.”
That approach is particularly evident in the safety portion of the program. According to Ashley, “Safety is not a separate part of the job. It is part of every job.” Through interactive exercises and coaching, she helps associates understand how everyday decisions contribute to a safer workplace. Ashley also notes that creating and facilitating Camp Kenco has strengthened her own leadership skills through collaboration, problem-solving, and a deeper understanding of how adults learn.
For Kadedra, Camp Kenco provides an opportunity to reinforce the importance of quality from the beginning of an associate’s journey. “The most important lesson I want associates to take away is that quality is everyone’s responsibility,” she said. “The decisions we make each day directly impact our customers, our operations, and each other.”
The experience has also enhanced Kadedra’s professional growth. “Serving as a trainer has strengthened my communication and leadership skills,” she shared. “It has given me the opportunity to share knowledge, mentor others, and help new associates feel confident in their roles.”
Together, Ashley and Kadedra demonstrate that Camp Kenco is more than an onboarding program. It is an environment where learning, coaching, and leadership development go hand in hand.
Camp Kenco’s Broader Operational and Customer Impact
While Camp Kenco is designed to prepare associates for success, its impact extends far beyond onboarding. As Site General Manager David Bell explains, “Camp Kenco was created to bridge a critical gap between Kenco’s programs and the associates who use them every day. It makes expectations, tools, and resources easier to understand while creating a shared language and culture that supports quality, safety, and operational success.”
The program supports Kenco’s commitment to operational excellence by helping associates develop the knowledge, confidence, and decision-making skills needed to contribute from day one. Strong onboarding helps associates work safely, follow established processes, recognize quality concerns, communicate effectively, and escalate issues when necessary. As associates become productive more quickly and develop a clearer understanding of expectations, managers can spend less time correcting avoidable mistakes and more time focusing on continuous improvement.
Camp Kenco also reinforces Kenco’s culture of engagement. Through areas such as Continuous Improvement School and the Connection Cabin, associates learn that their ideas and feedback matter. This encourages participation in problem-solving while strengthening communication across the operation.
Beyond employee development, Camp Kenco reflects Kenco’s commitment to serving customers. By investing in practical training and developing experienced employees as peer leaders, Kenco helps create safer, more consistent, and more adaptable warehouse environments that support reliable service.
Perhaps most importantly, Camp Kenco demonstrates a flexible and scalable training model. While each operation has unique requirements, many of the program’s concepts can be adapted across facilities, customers, and workforce populations, creating a strong foundation for operational success.
Growing Talent, Driving Performance
Camp Kenco is a practical example of Kenco’s commitment to developing associates while strengthening operational performance. By combining interactive learning with real-world application, the program helps associates build the confidence, knowledge, and skills needed to succeed before entering live operations.
From Safety School and Quality School to hands-on picking and packing exercises, PIT training, the Connection Cabin, and Continuous Improvement School, Camp Kenco brings together the key elements of a successful operation. Associates gain experience with safety best practices, quality standards, operational processes, workplace resources, and problem-solving techniques, all within a controlled environment designed to support learning and development. The program also creates opportunities for experienced employees to serve as trainers and peer leaders, helping share knowledge while building their own leadership capabilities.
The result is a training experience that supports safer work, stronger engagement, greater consistency, and a culture of continuous improvement. By investing in both new associates and the employees who help train them, Kenco is building a workforce prepared to deliver reliable service and meet the evolving needs of customers.
Discover how Camp Kenco brings workforce development to life. Contact Kenco to learn more about our hands-on training approach or schedule a visit to the training environment.