The global packaging company, Obeikan, has underwritten the installation of Flexo and Gravure simulators to complement the existing Sheetfed Simulator at the Riyadh Polytechnic Institute in Saudia Arabia. The company has done this because it sees that the success of its production operations depends on the skills of their staff.
 
The Printing and Packaging Department of the Riyadh Polytechnic Institute has adopted simulator training technology from Sinapse, the French company who is world leader in this application. Courses are designed to give new employees exposure to modern press technology and working habits before they go to live production jobs.
 
Many Saudi Arabian workers come from around the world and use English as their common language. Sinapse simulators are particularly appropriate to them because they are multi-lingual with a 'speech facility' that lets a user 'hear' the pronunciation of technical terms and phrases to perfect their English.
 
The Riyadh center started using simulators a year ago when they installed the same Sheetfed Simulator that was used in the WoldSkills 2011 competitions.  After mastering the tool, and finding the best ways of integrating simulation-based training into their two-year curriculum, the center then added Flexographic and Gravure packaging versions.  These were installed in mid-2012 accompanied by on-site training by Sinapse Production Manager, Thierry Mack.
 
Mr. Olivier Descatoire, the lead print instructor at the Riyadh Center recently passed the Sinapse Certified Trainer examination to join an exclusive group of international instructors. He says that "the center's training equipment is used machines which makes the simulators a perfect bridge for our students who will be working with the latest presses when they move to production. They accelerate the learning curve and show the trainees how newer machines work.  In addition, the virtual production cost that accompanies every action on the simulator makes them very cost conscious in their working methods and problem solving.  Of course it is better to run waste on a simulator than in production. This way our trainees can learn by making mistakes, but without doing it on a real press."
 
Sinapse Print Simulators is the world's leading supplier of training simulators for flexo, gravure and offset presses.
 
For more information on Sinapse Print Simulators visit www.sinapseprint.com  or contact Diane Delorme [email protected]