For over 25 years, the DMG MORI Academy has been imparting manufacturing knowhow at 13 locations worldwide. Modular training courses for customers and service technicians, professional qualifications and cooperations with educational institutions are all just as much a part of the offer as involvement in the WorldSkills competition and – as the latest addition – advice from the newly founded Additive Manufacturing Excellence Centre. Jan Möllenhoff, Managing Director of the DMG MORI Academy, talks about the development of the world’s largest CNC Academy and its relevance within the Group.
INTERVIEW – DMG MORI ACADEMY
“YOUR NO. 1 FOR TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT”
Mr Möllenhoff, what place does the DMG MORI Academy take in the DMG MORI portfolio of products and services?
The latest CNC machines in particular demand a high level of know-how if the potential of manufacturing solutions is to be exploited to the full. And that is exactly where we come in with our modular course offer. We train our customers in the basics of programming, set-up and operation of our machines. Additional training is given in our advanced courses, for example in the fields of measuring probes or plane transformation. Professional courses focussing on complex mill-turn, turn-mill or 5-axis simultaneous machining round off the offer.
We also offer service training courses. The great majority of participants on the service training courses – 80 percent – are our own DMG MORI service engineers, but we also train employees of our customers. We offer a compact 2-day course for aligning a machine after a collision, for example. The knowledge transferred in the service courses often enables the customer’s own maintenance department to carry out most of the service and maintenance tasks. The resulting time advantage, of course, boosts machine availability.
How did the offering from DMG MORI Academy develop from classic training courses?
We started early on with transferring our knowledge as skills training to publicly funded jobseekers. Our personnel department helps to place those who successfully complete a course with DMG MORI customers. Over 85 percent of the jobseekers with this qualification secure a position.
You also combat the skills shortage with such training ...
Yes, exactly. We have 18 employees worldwide whose sole task it is to consult educational institutions and trainers in industrial companies about the equipment and concepts of modern CNC training. This topic is gaining in importance not only in Europe, but in particular in emerging countries such as Russia, China and India. We offer entire turnkey solutions to vocational schools, technical colleges or universities as well as industrial educational institutions. These solutions include machine tools and innovative programming software plus teaching aids and train-the-trainer seminars.
How do educational institutions benefit from such turnkey solutions?
As a leader of technology, DMG MORI ensures future-oriented training with these projects. Special training packages for areas of Industry 4.0 and digitisation of training are good examples.
Your activities worldwide indicate that promoting young talent is a global exercise. That fits in well with your involvement in the WorldSkills competition ...
Absolutely. We have long supported both WorldSkills Germany and WorldSkills International – the latter as a Global Industry Partner since 2016. We plan to equip the next WorldSkills competition that will be taking place in Kazan (Russia) in 2019 with our CNC turn and mill machines and to provide technical support as we did last time in Abu Dhabi (UAE) in 2017.
You are entering a new technological field with your work in the Additive Manufacturing Excellence Centre. What tasks have been assigned to the DMG MORI Academy?
Additive manufacturing with powder nozzle or powder bed technology opens up completely new design options and so, of course, great opportunities for innovative solutions. Although many users recognise the potential of this technology, they often do not have the necessary knowledge. We see it as our task to develop the necessary design expertise at our customers and to establish the process chains for the LASERTEC 3D / 3D hybrid and LASERTEC SLM series. The “AM Quick Check” is the starting point where we identify specific potential together with our customers. Next we help with the engineering of components and can take on the production of small series. We also offer further advice on the introduction of technologies as well as training in management, design and manufacturing.
The DMG MORI Academy has over 20,000 participants a year on courses at 13 academy locations worldwide plus additional trainees on-site at customers’ premises.
ACADEMY FACTS
- 13 high-tech training centres worldwide
- Over 20,000 course participants a year
- Modular training offer with >200 courses
- 85 modern DMG MORI machines for training
- 62 classrooms
- More than 2,500 educational institutions equipped with DMG MORI machines