Becoming a serviceman?

[Musketeer]

Hello everyone.

Our company wants to start focusing on importing and selling CTP machinery, Thus having a serviceman is mandatory. We tried to contact Heidelberg through the contact form in their website, didn't get a response.
So here's the question, what are the options when a operator wants to train as a serviceman? any related information on the subject would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Cheers

 

[Slammer]

Uff! How long is a piece of string? I started off as an operator who went tech, but that was in the wild-west frontier mentality of the early 90ties. Anybody who could find the business end of a screwdriver and had enough tech-fu to take a toaster to bits could become a tech. These days you need a degree in engineering to put a plug in a socket things and things are a bit more constricted (and if I may say, downright boring)
To get your operator trained as a tech (in Europe) would require him (or her) to have at least a background in advanced electronics and a MCSE as icing. Without somebody waving a degree you may have problems getting insurance or even manuals and spareparts from the manufacturer. In my opinion it would be best to employ an experienced tech and let the tech train your operator in the basics and take it from there.

 

[Musketeer]

Uff! How long is a piece of string? I started off as an operator who went tech, but that was in the wild-west frontier mentality of the early 90ties. Anybody who could find the business end of a screwdriver and had enough tech-fu to take a toaster to bits could become a tech. These days you need a degree in engineering to put a plug in a socket things and things are a bit more constricted (and if I may say, downright boring)
To get your operator trained as a tech (in Europe) would require him (or her) to have at least a background in advanced electronics and a MCSE as icing. Without somebody waving a degree you may have problems getting insurance or even manuals and spareparts from the manufacturer. In my opinion it would be best to employ an experienced tech and let the tech train your operator in the basics and take it from there.

Thank you dear Slammer.
I can't agree more about how frustrating things are getting...
However there are reasons we prefer to have a current operator trained; first of all we can't find anyone to hire! I personally know a good number of them, but it seems they prefer to work as freelancers. at least that's how it works around here.
We actually picked a guy who has experience operating several types of CTPs and can handle many things that usually would require a serviceman, and has a hardware engineering bachelor's degree. On the other hand knowing he won't ditch us around in the future is a real concern!
So, what are the courses? Where are they being held? Are there other companies that do these training courses other than Heidelberg itself?

 

[Slammer]

Thank you dear Slammer.
I can't agree more about how frustrating things are getting...
However there are reasons we prefer to have a current operator trained; first of all we can't find anyone to hire! I personally know a good number of them, but it seems they prefer to work as freelancers. at least that's how it works around here.
We actually picked a guy who has experience operating several types of CTPs and can handle many things that usually would require a serviceman, and has a hardware engineering bachelor's degree. On the other hand knowing he won't ditch us around in the future is a real concern!
So, what are the courses? Where are they being held? Are there other companies that do these training courses other than Heidelberg itself?

Each manufacturer will offer courses for each machine they produce, however they tend to take care of the machines in production, you won´t find Agfa offering courses on how to repair a Accuset and don´t forget it is not only the nuts and bolts of the machine that needs to be learned, you need all the software gubbins too, then you need to know the procedures for the spare parts and you need to have access to the drivers, tools, updates, etc. etc. and very much etc.
Why not hire one of these freelancers, offer an office, a base, work guarantees, offer a symbiosis of kinds. That is the way I would do this kind of thing but unless your guy is McGiver getting your generic run-of-the-mill operator up to speed in an economical way will be very, very difficult.