• Preparations well underway for WorldSkills 2011 in London
• Europe's best up-and-coming printers and Germany's finalist Sascha Epp get into shape at the Heidelberg Print Media Center
• Training on a Speedmaster SM 52 for the final in London

From September 19 to 23, the best up-and-coming offset printers from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland are training at the Print Media Center run by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). The week is intended to help the next generation of expert press operators limber up for the WorldSkills 2011 vocational world championships in London at the beginning of October. Heidelberg employee Sascha Epp, who beat off competition from seven rivals in the German final, will also be there to represent Germany at the 41st WorldSkills competition from October 5 to 8.

The seven European finalists are being trained in the world's largest print media customer demonstration center, the Print Media Center at the Heidelberg site. "High-end printing is an important topic and will continue to be so in the future. Since highly qualified personnel are essential to the print media industry, we are only too happy to support WorldSkills once again this year," says Detlev Dierkes, head of Print Media Relations at Heidelberg, who will work with the finalists during their five-day course.

The intensive training will be on a Speedmaster SM 52. "The Speedmaster SM 52 is the perfect training press and is ideal for preparing these young people for the tough requirements of the competition. This small-format press is on a par with our large-format presses when it comes to technical equipment and automation," says Bernhard Nahm, a senior executive at the Print Media Center Heidelberg, who will assess the young printers' skills as a member of the judging panel in London.

Preparations for WorldSkills 2011 are being run in close cooperation with the Heidelberg sales team in the UK to create the ideal environment for the participants as they compete. Heidelberg is providing two Speedmaster SM 52 five-color presses for the competition in London.

The event in London has special significance for Germany, since it marks the start of preparations for WorldSkills 2013, which will see the vocational world championships held in Leipzig in two years' time. After a break of 40 years, the world's biggest training event will therefore be coming back to Germany.

Heidelberg is a founding member of the WorldSkills Germany e.V. initiative, which was set up in 2006 to raise awareness of the exceptional value that high-quality vocational training holds.