Current travel restrictions mean it’s not always possible to deploy highly qualified staff to the places where they are needed. Has this changed the perceived importance of having qualified employees right there on the spot, both for clients and Krones alike? Does this affect the Academy’s activities?
Müller: No, not really; it’s rather a confirmation of something that was on our agenda anyway. As part of our internationalisation thrust, we’ve for quite some time now been working on enabling the larger ones of our global subsidiaries, for example in China, Thailand, the USA, Brazil, Kenya and South Africa, to cover a variety of training events for their respective regions autonomously. Nor has it so far been the case that we’ve kept the relevant information and options in just one location, here in Neutraubling. We’re aiming to have qualified associates all around the globe, offering equivalent trainings in their own right, in the near future. That was already our strategy.
Philipp: It’s only thanks to our international network, which we’ve purposefully reinforced over recent years, that we are now in a position to respond with such flexibility.
Müller: In the medium term, we won’t be holding online trainings exclusively from Neutraubling for the whole world. We set up a train-the-trainer concept some time ago, which we’re using to enable suitable staff in our locations worldwide to conduct online trainings themselves. That has quickly proved its worth because, for example, Chinese clients will generally not want to book English-language training.
So, the international training locations must be fully equivalent – because it can be expected that Neutraubling will not remain the only competence centre for all products and content. The obvious option will then be to hold initial training for a certain specialist field at a subsidiary, whose instructors then train the trainers at other locations.