Overcoming the lack of skilled workers in packaging manufacture industry – BOBST Meerbusch is introducing a new training concept for machine operators, technicians and managers

The offer ranges from process trainings for machine operators over training modules for machine maintenance (electrical and mechanical) through to management seminars for managers. Furthermore BOBST Meerbusch customers can book individual training programmes. These include VISION training sessions for newcomers without any foreknowledge, EXPERT training sessions for machine operators with basic knowledge and skills, MASTER training sessions for experienced machine operators, as well as exam preparations for apprentices. 

The education and training sessions taking place over a number of days cover printing and stamping lines, flat-bed die-cutters, folding carton gluing machines and inliners – also including training sessions specially tailored to the technology involved in flexographic printing during manufacture of packagings made out of corrugated cardboard. All education and training sessions are currently taking place on-site at customers’ premises – at fixed daily rates incl. travelling costs. Furthermore there will be trainings taking place in future at the BOBST Meerbusch campus on used flat-bed die-cutters and folding carton gluing machines. 

“The lack of skilled workers in our branch has reached critical proportions. For some of our customers this has, in the meantime, already led to a situation where the productivity and availability of our machines cannot be fully utilised and the cleaning and maintenance conditions are getting worse. Our new education and training offers come into play here in a targeted manner. We have developed them in close cooperation with our customers and the Folding Cartons Association FFI. That means that they meet concrete needs of the branch“, stated the BOBST Meerbusch Managing Director Dirk Corsten. 

The various education and training sessions are based on a comprehensive view of the production processes. They are intended to both increase the qualification of employees and also to standardise working processes and thereby to bring them up to a uniform level.  “Better qualified employees are generally more motivated and are more loyal to their employers. Systematised setting up and production processes are the key to higher productivity and machine availability. They also form the basis for manufacture of packagings with a consistently high quality. The same applies for perfectly serviced and maintained machines. Altogether our new education and training offers open up a multitude of options for our customers to concretely tackle process optimisations and therefore to improve their competitiveness“, declared Thomas Neumeister, Team Leader for Training, Process Optimisation and the BOBST Campus at BOBST Meerbusch. 

In practice we can see, taking the example of setting up times in the gluing shop, after a first training and then over a period of three months followed by a next training, that there was a drastic reduction in the times need – at the same time as there was a high operational performance of the folding cartons gluing machines. The productivity gains in the stamping process can be even clearer. Also use of the highest quality high performance tooling plays a decisive role here. 

Two management training programmes round off the new training offers from BOBST Meerbusch. There is a course for people entering into middle management, for example on shift management, and a “Train the Trainer“ seminar. Based on these, employees who have much production experience can become educators, trainers and coaches for their colleagues. 
 

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