KBA Expands Web Press Training Programmes

KBA has further expanded the scope of its training activities to further enable efficient operation and maintenance of the ever more complex web press installations.

KBA has further expanded the scope of its training activities to further enable efficient operation and maintenance of the ever more complex web press installations.

The increased programme is designed to facilitate the mastering of new print technologies and to promote comprehensive understanding of not only presses, but also complete workflows, said the company.

The list of training options for users covers a series of basic and advanced courses, as well as special seminars pinpointing aspects of mechanical and electrical servicing, drive technology, automation and print applications for the whole spectrum of KBA web presses.

To that end, the new training centre that was inaugurated at the KBA works in Wurzburg (Germany) at the beginning of 2004, offers the latest technical equipment and an ideal environment for learning, believes the company.

"With a broad-based training concept and modern facilities, we are aiming to further improve the customer orientation, efficiency and quality of our training seminars," explained Bernhard Harant, divisional head for newspaper presses, whose responsibilities include customer training for commercial web and newspaper printers.

KBA conducts its training in small groups with a maximum of eight participants, and focuses on practical instruction directly on the press.

"One significant development," Harant continued, "is that the previously external seminars on the digital drive systems (INDRAMAT and AMK) and PLC control systems can in future be held in our new training centre in Wurzburg." Training manager Gerhard Knorz commented: "That brings considerable time savings and we can target the training contents much better to individual customer needs." Andrea Rothenbucher, responsible for coordination and organisation, agreed: "It used to get quite complicated, for example, to combine training arrangements for a group at Indramat (now Bosch-Rexroth) in Lohr, at KBA in Wurzburg and then also at AMK in Kirchheim/Teck," she recalled.

At the same time, many external courses remained rather general in nature, as they catered for participants from very different branches.

Even with the new facilities, however, customer-specific basic training and practical instruction on the press automation and workflow systems will still be conducted externally by the KBA automation partners EAE and ABB.

"We have also complemented our training programme with special seminars on the KBA Cortina, as a fundamental innovation for newspaper printing," added Harant.

Theoretical and practical courses acquaint Cortina press crews and pre-press operators with the capabilities of the waterless technology as the key to an efficient and cost-effective print process.

The demand for training has risen dramatically over the past few years, said the company.

In the first three months of 2004 alone, more than hundred employees and staff from KBA customers met in the classrooms of the new training centre.

"It is a noticeable trend that the customers themselves are attaching ever greater importance to training," as training manager Gerhard Knorz has observed.

"The continuing pressures of costs and competition are encouraging the customers buying our presses to pay ever more attention to optimum operating and maintenance practices, in order to be able to maximize net output and production reliability.

We are here to equip the customer's crews with the necessary know-how and skills," he explained.

Customers can make use of the KBA training services throughout the lifetime of an installation, with regular continuation courses or specific instruction in the case of upgrades, to ensure the efficiency, productivity and reliability of the press.

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