Press simulators are being used in a much wider range of applications than to extend the experience of press operators, specialist developer Sinapse says.

After five years’ experience, Canadian contract newspaper printer Transcontinental is using the technology to train everyone from press operators to customer service representatives and salespeople to clients. It has even used them as a critical skill-evaluation tool in hiring and pay scale evaluations.

With expansion through acquisition and new construction in Azcapotzalco, Toluca, and Xochilmilco, Transcontinental Mexico now has 850 employees, but few education programmes offer in-depth graphic arts training.

Vice president of manufacturing and operations Francois Ouellet says that while plants in Canada are highly specialised, in Mexico, every plant runs a wide range of commercial work. “

With three shifts, and a lot of paper, ink, and fold changes in every shift, it is very hard for press operators to develop experience at any depth,” he says.

Simulators not only expose employees to situations it might take years before they experience on press, but have also been a powerful tool for bringing ‘first register’ employees – the equivalent of press helpers – to a level at which they can run the press.

Heatset simulators were used as a screening tool when Transcontinental Mexico installed the first Goss Sunday 2000 in Mexico.

A ‘train the trainer’ model sees employees from production, prepress, and human resources being sent to Montreal for a week with the Institute of Graphic Communications Canada. They learn to create their own press simulator exercises, and on their return, use that knowledge by developing exercises particularly suited to their local markets.

Transcontinental Mexico employees spend between 10-15 hours per month training in simulators, depending on the plant. In total, according to Ouellet, between 50-60 people have been through the training over the past four and a half years.

Transcontinental Mexico has also put many of its customer service, prepress, and salespeople through the training. This has increased their knowledge and sensitivity to press issues when talking with clients. Supervisors, who may come from other areas of the company and therefore may not have in-depth print production knowledge, train on the simulator as well.

Even clients are encouraged to go through a session on the simulator: “They quickly develop greater respect for the printing process and the requirements on press,” Ouellet says. “It often changes their relationship with us because they better understand the impact their files have on the process.”