PIA of the Mountain States, sheetfed offset, 2005

“The simulator will track the problem, how they [the trainees] corrected it, how long it took, and the presstime cost. We print out those reports and analyze them.”

RMIT Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 2004

“The possibilities to “look over the printer’s shoulder” via the internet, in combination with our expertise in simulator-based training, will give the RMIT a fantastic tool to help printers train their people.”

“they were fantastic training tools then, and they have become even better. They accelerate training and make it possible to give printers a range of experience that would take years to acquire any other way.”

ERA European Rotogravure Association

“Does for presses what a flight simulator does for airplanes, but it costs a lot less”

“Very few countries have schools that actually teach gravure printing. Most schools, at best, teach gravure as one of the print technologies - and almost none have a press. As apprenticeships decline in many regions, there is no longer any good way to train people without doing it on the press, on the job.”

“At ERA we feel strongly that the PackSim simulator will make it possible to reintroduce gravure intro print education.”

FTA Flexographic Technical Association

“Simulators are great for teaching people.” “What makes the simulator so useful is the thousands of variables and possible outcomes, all of which come from the data input from anilox, substrate, and ink suppliers, as well as printers and press manufacturers.”

“The object for printers is to improve the overall utilization of equipment, improve quality of the printed product and increase profitability through the enhanced skills of employees. Suppliers also benefit by the training of personnel who will interact in the pressroom of their customers.”

PIA- GATF Graphic Arts Technical Foundation

“These simulators are ideal for training pressroom staff in realistic situations without losing machinery production time and materials or jeopardizing safety.”

“Companies that have used simulators report dramatically increased confidence and skill levels of current personnel, decreased average makeready times and increased percentages of good copies in the pressruns.”

“Reproduces the most frequently experienced problems at a specific plant.”

“Allows printers to scan a specific print job and tailor the simulator to « print » the job before running it on press.”

“Enables educational institutions that have only small-format presses to offer « hands-on » press training on mid-size sheetfed offset and heatset web offset presses.”

Gravure Association of America

“So many printers rely on training their press operators by folklore. That makes for a variable quality of training. Having a simulator gives all of a company’s pressmen the opportunity to learn the same problem solving techniques. It takes that folklore out of it.”

“At one stroke, the simulator solves many of the fundamental challenges and guarantees that production need never be interrupted for training. It eliminates the waste of materials and the threat of damage to equipment. Trainees are allowed to try out every conceivable variation in press control, something that could never be tolerated on real production equipment.”

“Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen companies get caught off-guard by lack of training. « The retirement of the baby boomers, in particular, is one of those freight trains coming down the road. This makes simulators a very timely tool.”

Printing Industries of America

“A partial lifetime can go by before you have experienced the full range of problems that can arise on press. To have them all thrown at you in the same form takes an act of God - or a SHOTS simulator !”

“The range of problems is phenomenal. It’s not limited in any way. In fact, if you are committed to building your own exercises, which this software allows you to do, you can make it whatever you want it to be.”

Sydney Institute of Technology

“Press simulation software is the training tool of the future, with genuine ROI advantages for companies seeking to develop training programs.”

“The program doesn’t replace hands-on training. It is used to reinforce analytical skills and to show operators how to overcome problems on the press. It also gives them a management perspective on costs.”

“The initial cost of the program is outweighed by the reduction in waste as a result of employees understanding the problems they are encountering.”