Expertise Worth a Million Dollars

The print and media industry is facing enormous changes and challenges: customers with ever increasing demands, complex operating processes and technical innovations which transform solid cast-iron printing presses into state-of-the-art high-tech systems. New management strategies are therefore necessary.

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
This expression has long lost its validity. The half-life of knowledge is growing increasingly shorter and intellectual capacity dwindles noticeably if not continuously supplemented. But catchwords like "lifelong learning" and "human capital" remain that - mere catchwords - if they aren't filled with substance. More and more businesses are recognizing the value of solid professional training and further education in all areas, whether for technical fields or tasks at the leadership level.

This trend is strongest where innovation is highly valued and that includes the print media industry. In this branch, job descriptions, software and machines, as well as customer demands, are subject to a process of change that is growing ever faster. It is therefore a great challenge for print shops to keep up with the tempo of technical advances and react to innovations immediately. At the same time, new technology, when optimally employed, can lead directly to cost savings on the one hand and increased productivity on the other. In order for this to happen, however, one has to possess a solid understanding of how these kinds of technical innovations operate, as well as analyze their marketing possibilities and be able to calculate this out in real numbers.

"So that these challenges can be met, the Print Media Academy (PMA) of Heidelberg in Germany and at 15 further locations worldwide offers the possibility for further training which is comprehensive and, above all else, focused on practical experience from training on machines to management seminars," explains Bernd Schopp, director of the PMA, which opened in 2000. In Heidelberg alone, around 60,000 participants came to roughly 3,000 events last year. Included among the events were, for example, a good 1,000 pure product trainings, in other words training on the specific machines. These were also very well-attended with 11,000 participants. In addition, there were events by the PMA network which in the meantime has spread all over the globe.

International Management Strategy Camps.
"In today's dynamic markets, management, in particular, is required to continually keep themselves up to date on new developments and business strategies," says Schopp. For that reason, the Summer and Winter Universities were especially designed for executives from all over the world. The university program's subject matter roughly corresponds to that of an English-speaking business school, only compressed to five days and specially tailored for the needs of the print media branch. At ist core is practical management information covering the entire business spectrum - from the development of strategies to process and employee management, up to finances and financial controlling.

The Summer and Winter University differ in their content. The Summer University is an international management strategy camp, taking place yearly in Heidelberg. The winter events, on the other hand, take on topics such as new technologies, applications, workflow, and color management as well as marketing and financing. They are held at interesting international locations like Shanghai, Dubai or, in November 2007, for example, Cape Town. These are then easier to reach for Heidelberg customers from Asia or Africa and worth the trip for the European or American participants as well - also in order to get to know the markets there.