Oliver Mathews, the Vice President Sales and Marketing of the Warp Knitting Business Unit, Arno Gärtner, the CEO, Dr Helmut Pressl, the CFO, and Christine Wolters, the Head of Corporate Communications at Karl Mayer, at the handover of the new premises to the Karl Mayer Academy on 30 April 2019 at the start of the training programme in May. © Karl Mayer

The Karl Mayer Academy has moved into its modern training centre at its headquarters in April 2019, and the training courses started up in the following May – with a tried-and-tested concept but at a completely new level.

Karl Mayer, a leading warp knitting machinery manufacturer, has been running its own training centre for imparting knowledge and know-how for more than 50 years. The Karl Mayer Academy now operates at locations in Germany, China and India, and is extremely successful. Every year, more than 200 students are trained at the headquarters in Obertshausen alone.

“We are now offering our customers courses to qualify them for manufacturing in a digital world, thus giving them the key to success in the future as well,” said Arno Gärtner, the CEO of Karl Mayer. Furthermore, the Karl Mayer Academy, with its bright, open architecture, is a place that will provide inspiration. “Our guests will feel comfortable here and will be able to get to know each other and exchange ideas,” says Arno Gärtner. Learning will become a real experience and a guarantee of the future success of Karl Mayer’s customers.”

Latest technology and up-to-date knowledge

The Karl Mayer Academy welcomes its guests in Obertshausen in a hall covering an area of 755 m², which offers a bright, learning-friendly atmosphere, modern architecture and technical equipment. Three separate classrooms, equipped with top-of-the-range training equipment, are available for efficiently providing training in small groups.

Specially designed high-tech production machines in the HKS series are available for practical training. “We have invested extensively in the machinery. The more the users understand the possibilities offered by our sophisticated technology, the more benefit they will gain from it,” said Christine Wolters, the Head of the Karl Mayer Academy. The training machines all offer the latest high-tech features, especially with regard to the drive, control and patterning technology. They can also be used to demonstrate the possibilities offered by the digital production of warp-knitted textiles.

The new Karl Mayer Academy also gives an insight into the digital features of KM.ON, and these systems extend the possibilities of increasing the efficiency of the customers’ own production processes. The training machines in the Academy are networked via k.ey – an industry PC combined with the relevant software - and provide access to KM.ON’s secure cloud systems.

Top-of-the range technology for learning and testing covers the entire production process, including warp preparation. A brand-new DS OPTO is used to demonstrate the possibilities of synergistically combining sectional warping used in warp preparation for weaving and direct warping used in warp preparation for warp knitting.

The Academy also profits from being close to the Karl Mayer Development Centre. If there is a demand for market-related courses on special machines equipped with the latest technology, the models in the innovation centre can be used for short-term training.

Being creative

The Textile Makerspace is located very close to the Karl Mayer Academy. The company’s own innovation platform is based on exchanging information and exploiting synergistic effects. It is available to creative pioneers in the textile and new technologies sectors, and provides space for testing, developing and lateral thinking. Its aims are to develop new applications even outside the traditional textile machinery sector, to act as the starting point for new ideas, and to produce the first visualisations of products.

“Genuine, new textile applications are generated in an efficient, uniform process in our Textile Makerspace – from the initial thought process to the prototype. This enables product developers to arrive at innovative end-uses much more quickly,” commented Michael Kieren, the main initiator of the Textile Makerspace.

The proximity to the Karl Mayer Academy ensures that ideas are developed to suit the possibilities offered by industrial production. Fabrics with individual and extremely end-use-specific requirements in terms of yarns, patterns and characteristics can be tested on the production machines used for training, using all the company’s expertise.

www.karlmayer.com