SPECIFICALLY LEARNT, DONE QUICKLY
Technicians of Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong benefit from tailored training
It is precisely the knowledge for their own situation. That’s where you see the power of customisation, just as the technicians from Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong experienced. During a customer-specific training course by itsme, they learnt what they really wanted to learn. Focused on practicality, with insight and time savings as a result.
Leading the way requires a keen eye. To invest in knowledge and skills, to make machines that are considered the best of their kind. At Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong in Baarle-Nassau, they understand that all too well. There is a predominantly new machine park in the production halls of the printing house, including huge presses, sometimes only a few years old. They look powerful. Are robust. And therefore strong enough for the production of huge amounts of printed matter. The vast majority of customers are active in retail, whereby Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong does everything it can to meet the demand from home and abroad time and time again. “So view us primarily as a production company”, says Frank Jansen, technical services manager. “There is certainly room for the personal development of employees, but when it comes to us, it’s about delivering on time. That is paramount and we do everything to achieve that.”
“Delivering on time, we do everything to achieve that”
Timely delivery. It sounds so obvious, but just think as a printing house. Processes must be seamlessly coordinated with each other, no cog may be missing. Furthermore, most presses run non-stop here, 24 hours a day. That requires huge amounts of paper, Frank emphasises. “Just look at our latest machine. Around three thousand kilos of paper goes through it in about twenty minutes. Three thousand kilos - and I'm only talking about one of our machines.”
Focus on efficiency
So many customers, such a huge amount of printing. It demands a lot from the machines, which of course have to keep running. So proper maintenance is necessary, and it is up to Frank and his colleagues from the technical department to contribute to continuous production. “Our machinery is young, which means that it is not yet time to replace machines. Instead, we are now focussed on optimum efficiency and availability.”
The technical services department, therefore, wants to act in the best possible way in the event of a malfunction, should it occur unexpectedly. And that didn’t always appear to be easy with largely renewed machinery. For example, Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong has machinery from Manroland, incorporating the SINAMICS S120 and G120 frequency converters from Siemens for some time. They do their job well, Frank says, but just a little differently than what they had been used to in Baarle-Nassau for years. “So we wanted to gain more knowledge of those controllers. And know to what extent they correspond to what we already knew. What can you do with those controllers? How do you discover malfunctions? And how do you prevent those?”
Benefit in practice
The training courses of De Jong's technicians vary. Their technical background also differs. So Frank very consciously sought out a customised training, specifically for diagnosing malfunctions in Siemens controllers such as the ones Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong has. “This is how I ended up at itsme, which had been supplying parts for us for some time. I put our specific questions to itsme. Indicated that I was not concerned with in-depth technological details, but with a practical explanation.”
A customer-specific training by itsme followed. Given to six technicians from Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong, spread over four days. The training took place at itsme in Breda, where the participants made use of several test set-ups, among other things. And all focused on the needs of Drukkerij Em. de Jong, says Marcel Steijger, training manager at itsme. “We have linked our knowledge to the customer's questions. And in that way have responded to the need for tailor-made trainings, which I notice moreover, more and more companies are looking for. Rightly so, I think. With standard training alone, too many questions remain unanswered.”
“More and more companies are looking for customised training.”
It was important for Frank that his employees gain more insight into the control of the machine. “And they succeeded, as I’ve heard from what they told me. They simply see what happens sooner. We have become less dependent on external online support and can switch much faster. And that thanks to this training, in which trainer Patrick de Corte explicitly asked what we wanted to know. Patrick has a lot of experience and has given many trainings. That combination worked out well. Room for questions, the entire focus on our specific situation: it is precisely thanks to that customisation that we can move forward.”
Endless amounts of paperA visit to Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong in Baarle-Nassau starts by diving into the past. Because look, opposite the reception desk is the very first press it all started with. A nice contrast to what’s going on a little further down. Layout, printing, logistics: Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong offers the complete package. Janssen/Pers Rotatiedruk, Group Mercator Press, Dessain, Imprimerie Casterman are now part of the company. All of these printers together account for 300,000 tons of paper per year for around 60,000 print orders. And that number will undoubtedly increase, since Jungfer Druckerei und Verlag in Central Germany became part of the printing group several months ago. |
‘Driven and keen to learn’With a good start your halfway there. This was also noticed by trainer Patrick de Corte, who provided tailor-made training for Koninklijke Drukkerij Em. de Jong on behalf of itsme. “The technical services department had a clearly defined overview of wishes, including visual material. This provided a correct picture of what should be discussed during the training. I visited Baarle-Nassau prior to the lessons and was impressed by the complexity of the controls and their integration into the architecture. I also noticed how driven and keen to learn the technical services department is. All that formed a good basis for the training, which I thoroughly enjoyed giving.” |