Gerber M3000 Cutting Table - Training ??

[TrustMoore_TN]

Hi from Atlanta!
My company has purchased a Gerber M3000 Cutter/Router at auction from a wide format company that has gone out of business. It's scheduled to be installed in the next few weeks, and we are trying to determine how much training we need to budget for. One of our distributors is recommending 5 days of training @ $1500 per day and that is not only really expensive, but we are wondering if we really need that much training. I'd like to get some feedback from you guys about your opinions. We are sending a smaller Kongsberg cutting table to our sister company, which we have had for years, so its not like we are going to be starting from scratch with no experience at all. Any thoughts?

Thanks so much!

JM

 

[signage]

Welcome to signs 101 from PA....

I would think it depends on what all you would like to do with this and how fast you would like to do them!

 

[Poconopete]

Howdy from PA

 

[Matt-Tastic]

who quoted you that price? that may be the standard install service that Gerber requires. If it was a vendor that sells Gerber equipment, they have a set training schedule Gerber likes them to follow.

If they are worth their salt, the vendor should be able to supply you with a list of what all has to go on at the install, and you can determine if its all new info or if you can cut out a day or so.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

i have been in training situations where the end users have really grasped the machine/software whatever within hours and the rest of the time is showing them the extras and simply familiarizing them and lettign them build confidence...

i have been in training situations where it is a complete and total struggle to get the end user to grasp the basics and at the end of the time we have together i wish i could have left them with more.

my advice would be to purchase the amount of training you can afford and feel comfortable spending. if you have a good instructor they will quickly identify what you already know and what they can teach you.

if it is identified that you have grasped the operation of the machine you can always move into maintenance and repairs.

and if you have no confidence in the person training you and their abilities any money you spend is too much.

 

[royster13]

When folks complain about the high cost of a sign I frequently hear you folks say we need to focus on how much money they will make with the sign....Same goes here....Do not focus on cost of training but how much that training will make you from what you learn....

 

[TrustMoore_TN]

Thanks for the input guys. I actually spoke with the owner of a company which owns the same machine and he gave me some great advice and recommended just a few days training since we weren't rookies in this arena. I'm in the process of contacting Gerber to get an overview of the training right now to see what we can expect so that we can make a more informed decision. Any other users of this machine on the forum?

Thanks!

 

[Molenbeek]

As a Gerber Dealer that sells this- we recommend about 2-3 days for the training. It is very involved to learn the software as well as bit speed, blade depth, etc. If it is needing to be assembled - you do need to add another 2-3 days for that.. if it is all together already you would only need the training part.
Good Luck!