Offset Printing
Sinapse Web Press Simulator Technology In Action
Thursday 03. January 2008 - Heatset Simulator Levels the Field at Quebecor World
What do you do when switching from old coldset web offset technology to digitally controlled heatset and want to make employee competence evaluations as part of the transition in a unionised printing plant? This was the question posed by the management of Quebecor World Saint-Romuald to The Québec Institute of Graphic Communications (ICGQ) in Montréal. ICGQ’s answer? Use a heatset press simulator from Sinapse Graphic.
Not only are operators learning a new printing process, but they are interacting with the press in an entirely new way. Instead of changing press conditions by pushing buttons, they are diagnosing symptoms from a computer screen. How can you separate a pressman’s understanding of a printing process from their ability to adapt to reading a computerized console? Then there is the issue of luck. If you are conducting evaluations on a live press, certain issues may arise on one shift but not another. How can you ensure that everyone is working on a level playing field and that the evaluations are fair?
Creating a Level Playing Field
ICGQ has been using the Sinapse Graphic International Heatset simulator for two years and does employee evaluations with it as one of their services. The simulation resides on its server to allow multiple simulations for press operators. That speeds up the objective evaluation process and ensures that testing does not depend upon variable pressroom conditions.
At Quebecor World Saint-Romuald, 24 pressmen needed to be evaluated. Quebecor’s management wanted to establish its press team’s existing competence level to create a comprehensive on-going training initiative to improve their skills. The union was concerned that the testing would be fair to all concerned. In the end, both the management and union were strongly satisfied using the Sinapse Heatset simulator. It tested staff quickly and thoroughly and the union found that the playing field was much fairer than if the evaluations had been made on press.
The Evaluation Process
Evaluations were carried out over one week and required one trainer for two hours per pressman-one hour to teach them how to use the simulator and one hour to go through the test. Five exercises took the operators over the full range of the press and three were used in the final exam. In addition, pressmen also underwent the Munsell Hue Test for colour perception.
The entire team has been very impressed, not just with the realism of the Sinapse Heatset Simulator, but its training function, as well:
“Operators no longer go into the press units to make corrections. They simply pick up a signature, go to their control panel, and try to get the copy as close as possible to the proof,” says Michel Martineau, trainer for The Québec Institute of Graphic Communications. “Printers no longer see the inner workings of the press as much as they used to and the simulator helps them to develop their judgment by answering the question: ‘If I make this correction, will it correct the problem or should I stop the press and make adjustments?”
A secondary benefit has been to sensitise pressmen to the cost of errors. The simulator tracks, not just problem solving results, but the path and the number of steps it took to get there. The simulator then calculates the “cost” of the simulated production run.
Quebecor World Saint-Romuald is now considering the purchase of its own simulator because of its extremely positive experience. The union is lobbying to have the simulator involved in all future training, whether the site purchases its own simulator or not.