Mosca launches high-tech training academy

Print Solutions

Strapping specialist Mosca Direct has opened a new high-tech customer training facility, The Mosca UK Training Academy, as part of its recently completed refurbished head office in Cotgrave, Nottingham.

The £500,000 investment has created additional space in response to the company’s year on year success since it was established as a dedicated UK sales and service facility in 2000, and to allow for future growth. As part of this, it was imperative that the redeveloped site should include a modern training facility to further enhance Mosca’s service offering to customers as well as provide better capacity to train its own sales and engineering staff in new machine developments.

Mosca has offered customer training for many years at two levels – basic operator level, which covers the fundamentals of machine operation and daily/weekly housekeeping; and a second, more advanced engineer level, which teaches in-depth dismantling and reassembly of the strapping heads for fault finding, repairs, maintenance and cleaning.

The Mosca UK Training Academy consists of a classroom area with TV and white boards, plus a fully operational workshop which is home to several pieces of key training equipment. The training machines – a SoniXs standard strap way six test rig and head, a KSR test rig and head, SoniXs test rig and head, and a MCB head – have been specially commissioned for this purpose and are free from machine housing, allowing working mechanisms to be visible and accessible. This ensures that trainees gain an in-depth understanding of the four key procedures of a strapping machine – magazine, feed, retraction and tension, and cut and seal.

Julie Walton, engineering operations director at Mosca UK, says the new training facility is a significant development. ‘As a business, we constantly look at ways to maintain a level of service to our customers that is second to none and ensures that we stand out from our competitors,’ she explained. ‘We have always been able to offer operator and engineer level training, but previously it would have been carried out on-site at the customer’s location and required a machine to be taken out of production. This may have an impact on production schedules, and is often a very noisy and distracting environment for the trainee. With our new, purpose-built facility, we can offer training in perfect ‘off site’ conditions for effective learning that allows trainees to ask questions relevant to their business.’

In addition, the opening has enabled Mosca Direct to offer additional training options. The training academy can accommodate up to four people for a full day of training which can be tailored to whatever the customer needs, for example focusing more on the electrical or mechanical side.