New CLAAS UK training academy opens in Little Saxham

The agricultural machinery manufacturing giant, CLAAS UK, has opened a new training academy as part of the redevelopment of its headquarters on Saxham Business Park in Little Saxham.

The academy has been designed to provide leading training within the industry for dealer sales, service and parts staff and customer operators.

It will also play an integral role in the company’s four-step training scheme which young apprentices and service mechanics follow.

Lothar Kriszun, who recently retired after working with CLAAS for 36 years and officially opened the academy, said:“Today more than ever training is crucial fo r the success of CLAAS as a company.

“Farmers are in an environment that requires a high level of professionalism and our new academy will help us achieve that.

“Trained people in sales and service are the backbone of our reputation.”

The new academy is the seventh on the Saxham site since the first opened in 1954.

It contains around £6 million worth of machinery and has been fitted with classrooms, break-out areas and workshop areas each designed to accommodate the company’s largest combine and forage harvesters.

A new eLearning facility is also expected to open within the next three years which will use videos and animations as well as bar and QR codes, to promote learning and self-discovery training.

Mr Kriszun said: “Only through the work of the CLAAS Academy can our dealers cope with the increasing complexity of machinery.

“We are at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution, leading by example and setting new standards in terms of online machinery training and the next generation of smart training.”