The Graphic Arts Training and Consulting Group (GATC), a not-for-profit organization founded in conjunction with printers, has offices in Davenport, Iowa and Villa Park, Illinois. Our central locations provide easy access to companies in the Midwest, primarily in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri. Since our formation in the early 1990s, we have provided training to newspapers, commercial printers, packaging companies, in-plant departments and marketing and design professionals. The majority of our clients are small to mid-size companies. Our training is “state of the industry” and we will work with you to make sure your employees receive training that is pertinent to their job(s) in your organization.

Expert staff of trainers. Our team of seasoned industry pros works with a wide variety of Midwest graphic arts firms. We offer expertise in customer support, publishing, design and printing software, offset and digital presses and binding and finishing services to bring a comprehensive orientation to our training programs.

Company-specific training plans. Prior to the training, GATC will meet with your management and operations team(s) to fully understand your company’s unique needs and goals. We’ll work with you to determine what’s needed and the best way to deliver training to your employees. The result—customized training focused on improving the skill sets of your most valuable asset.

GATC provides training in a variety of forums and will assist you in determining what methods best fit your company.  We understand that one size does not fit all and deliver training in a variety of ways:

• One-on-one consulting/training on your equipment. Our hands on approach lets your employees learn as they work with minimal interruption of your production schedule.

• Classroom style training at your location or off-site. We can bring our training to you in a classroom format that encourages discussion and interaction among the participants.
  Our software training sessions can be conducted as hands-on, experienced-based learning sessions on our PowerBooks.

In addition, GATC offers multi-employer seminars, workshops and conferences to help your organization stay on top of the latest graphic arts trends and technologies.

Financial assistance for training. Often funding through your state economic development department or another agency is available to help offset training costs and make your training budget go further. GATC can assist you in locating and applying for these training funds. We are responsible for most of the administrative burden saving you valuable staff time. For example, by working with state funding programs, GATC has saved companies over $500,000 in training costs.

Services after the training. GATC can periodically update your employees’ skills and review equipment and processes to ensure that your organization is keeping pace with technology and industry growth.

Please click here for a list of Training Topics.