
A successful launch in 2020
Looking back on 2020, we remember the successful launch of the FRITSCH Academy. It enabled us to hold numerous online courses, to host individual and small group classes and to provide training locally at our customers’ premises. The current COVID-19 situation, with its unexpected surprises, has forced a rethink of all face-to-face training plans. So, the team at the FRITSCH Academy suggested imaginative new approaches, which brought about a great success for the team.
A multi-stage concept for online courses has been created for those sales training courses that were already planned, and the existing training documentation has been adapted for use in the virtual environment. Furthermore, the team has developed a course concept for technical training that will be put into practice starting in the new year.
Various workgroups among our customers, including maintenance technicians, heads of production, machine operators and cleaning staff, have already been given training in the World of Bakery as well as onsite in their respective production halls. “The WoB serves as an ideal training site for working with the lines practically, testing machine settings and gaining knowledge on how to control them. This serves as prior knowledge that makes the subsequent training and accompaniment of the first weeks of production at the customer’s a whole lot easier,” says Senior Dough Technologist Tim Beyer.
Noteworthy progress was achieved in the second half of the year with the provision of three of the five planned sales modules. In these modules, the MULTIVAC sales employees delve into the topics of dough technology, production processes and bakery production on the individual FRITSCH machines. A number of newly appointed MULTIVAC employees received individual training on the job at the FRITSCH World of Bakery, where they could gain technical knowledge as well as practical knowledge of the portfolio of machines and internal processes.
The anticipation is great
2021 is expected to be a unique year for the FRITSCH Academy, where the systematic expansion of the training programme is advancing with great strides for all three target groups: service technicians and sales representatives of the MULTIVAC Group as well as customers. For this, we are developing virtual LIVE sessions that will make use of the latest available technologies, such as data glasses. These are value-added alternatives that will benefit FRITSCH customers for a long time to come.
Additionally lined up are the introduction of the two remaining sales modules and the gradual increase in training staff. “A matter of importance for 2021 is also to offer internal training for the FRITSCH employees on the technical advancements and innovations. We already introduced a conceptual pilot project along with the market introduction of the product decoration unit, PDU, and we have gained valuable insights from this for the future training courses,” says Stefan Schmitt, Head of the FRITSCH Academy.
The FRITSCH Academy transfers application-oriented knowledge to three specific target groups: our customers, our colleagues in the MULTIVAC subsidiaries and our FRITSCH personnel. They are taught process-related, technical and product-specific content. As a decisive bonus, there is the FRITSCH World of Bakery as a training venue where one encounters dough technologists and the entire portfolio of machines. The people there are experts who not only know how to operate the machines and lines, but above all have mastered and love their baking craft. Every course participant can only benefit from their wealth of knowledge – which equally includes product development.
2021 should be marked by growth. “For 2021, I am most looking forward to continually increasing the course participants’ expertise. With regular refresher meetings, the entire training programme should become more routined, so that we strengthen the technical know-how of the MULTIVAC employees and prepare them fully for supporting our customers,” says Elke Döpfner, a trainer at the FRITSCH Academy, in anticipation of 2021.