The Manel Xifra Boada Technological Centre, Comexi CTec, has more than 1,500 students and continues to consolidate itself as one of the main centres for knowledge in the flexible packaging sector.
In 2016, the centre was visited by more than 200 companies in the sector and hosted more than 320 technical tests. Since the beginning of 2017, the Technological Centre's figures have continued growing and the forecast is to surpass last year's numbers.
The Manel Xifra Boada Technology Centre, located at the Comexi facilities in Riudellots de la Selva (Girona, Spain), hosts technical demonstrations, specialised training and technical advice with the aim of improving its customers' competitiveness. One of the central elements is its Demo Centre, which received more than 200 companies from around the world throughout last year, with more than 500 professional visitors. In addition, a total of 325 technical demonstrations were carried out during 2016, mainly with flexographic printers, and slitting and laminating machines.
Comexi CTec's activity in the Demo Centre has continued to grow this year and in the first half of 2017 there have been more technical demonstrations than in the same period last year, with an increase of more than 10%.
Comexi CTec's director David Centelles emphasised that "these figures and the constant growth in its activity show that the CTec is becoming a benchmark in the sector, working both in standard and more personalized demonstrations, adapted to the needs of Comexi customers and achieving good results in both cases". Centelles added that "the increase in demonstrations and more personalised technical sessions is a clear indication of the high level of knowledge of the centre's technicians, the good training provided by this centre and of how customers value our technicians' knowledge and experience more and more".
Advanced training
The Manel Xifra Boada Technology Centre also has a broad range of training possibilities, with an annual programme of over twenty courses. These training courses are aimed at Comexi's customers and focus on issues of interest related to the different phases of the flexible packaging conversion process in order to reinforce their knowledge and improve the competitiveness of their companies.
Since the inauguration of CTec, attendees from more than 200 companies have participated in some of these advanced theoretical-technical courses. The trend is for the number of participants in the training activities organised by the centre to continue growing throughout 2017. In fact, during the first half of this year about one hundred people have already participated in some of the courses, a figure much higher than in recent years.
As a new concept in this area, an advanced course in lamination has been offered in German in 2017 to great success, and has been highly rated by companies in the sector, so fulfilling an existing demand. At the same time, a new advanced course in cutting in English and new training in rotogravure in Spanish have also been programmed.
In addition to these new courses, the Comexi CTec also includes training in flexographic printing, maintenance, printing defect solutions and standardisation in flexography, as well as colour management. All courses are accredited by the University of Girona as a specialisation course. To date, all the training from the Manel Xifra Boada Technological Centre have been highly rated by the attendees, who rate the training received with an average grade of 5.2 out of 6.
Technical advisory services
Comexi CTec also offers technical advice to customers either in their plants or in the technology centre facilities. During the past year, Comexi technicians made a total of 34 visits to 24 different companies. Most of them focused on improving productivity in printing and providing support in colour management and control.
Since the beginning of the year, 17 technical consultancies have been offered to companies from Comexi CTec, an upward trend on previous years in this field. In addition, there has been an increase in the number of technical consultancies in rolling and cutting in 2017, a trend that is expected to continue growing in the coming months.
As a novelty, during the past year, the Manel Xifra Boada Technological Centre also incorporated the "projects in hand" consultancies, focussing on offering advice and training from the start of the process. These consultancies are aimed at companies that want to integrate packaging production for their own consumption, but do not have extensive knowledge of the flexible packaging production process.
At the same time, the Comexi CTec also offers customised machine operating training both in the centre's own facilities, in other companies or in its customers' plants with the aim of improving knowledge about the machines.
Attendee 1.500 award
To celebrate this milestone, Comexi CTec appreciated last Friday its 1.500 attendee. In particular, it was Andrey Zavgorodniy, worker in KubRotoPack, company based in Krasnodar (Russia) and specialized in gravure printing. KubRotoPack recently started with flexographic printing by purchasing a Comexi F2 MC-10 printer and a Comexi Dual laminator.
Zavgorodniy, attendee of the course of Practical Maintenance in Russian, received a commemorative gift.
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