Imagine! Receives $340K Minnesota Training Grant for Existing Workers, New Hires

From left to right in front row: Craig Mandery, Imagine! COO; Paul Moe, Minnesota Job Skills Partnership executive director; Merrill Irving Jr, president Hennepin Technical College. From left to right in back row: Rick Neumann, Imagine! SVP operations; Karen Bielke, Imagine! VP human resources; and Ricardo Santiago, Imagine! VP operations.

MINNEAPOLIS — July 21, 2016 — Imagine! recently received a $340,000 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant. This is the largest grant amount ever given out by the state program. Imagine! will work with Hennepin Technical College, located in Brooklyn Park, Minn., in the design, development and implementation of courses which will be delivered to 196 employees (82 of which will be new) at the Imagine! Shakopee, Minn., headquarters.

Craig Mandery, COO, at Imagine! says, "This is a great opportunity to reignite the terrific career path in the Graphic Communications industry. With Hennepin Tech, we aim to restart the program that trains and provides students with the skills to work in this complex and growing industry."

Courses include, but are not limited to: Orientation to Graphic Arts; Introduction to Color Theory and Measurement; Workplace Documentation and Communications; Health, Safety and Machine Guarding; Print Technology and Machine Operations; and Total Quality Management.

Imagine! VP of Human Resources, Karen Bielke, looks forward to the impact the generous grant will have on the company, saying, "We're fortunate to be able to partner with Hennepin Technical College on this exciting program!"

This project will develop a standardized career path for Imagine! employees, provide a means to engage new hires quickly and proficiently, reduce turnover of new hires, increase retention and productivity, improve safety on the floor, and improve quality of products as the result of a stronger knowledge base.

About Imagine! Print Solutions
Imagine! is North America's leading provider of visual marketing products for Retailers, Quick Serve and Fast Casual Restaurants, CPG companies and more. The company's retail and brand-based marketing services breadth is unparalleled, enabling Imagine! to execute recurring, large scale point-of-purchase/point-of-sale displays and in-store signage campaigns. Imagine!'s single-source capabilities include design, campaign production, kitting and fulfillment. Proprietary, technology-based services enable Imagine! to streamline customers' traditional, complicated supply chains to enhance quality, improve speed-to-market and lower total costs.

Fortune 500 companies, Fortune 1000 retailers, quick-serve restaurants, convenience stores and branded consumer goods companies depend on Imagine!'s customer-integrated store profiling, kitting, merchandising, inventory management and on demand e-commerce services to execute mission critical in-store campaigns. Imagine! was founded in 1988 and is based in Minneapolis.

Source: Imagine! Print Solutions.