Dion Watson describes himself as quite the handyman. Which is certainly true. But that doesn't begin to explain his technical prowess.

Growing up, his father flipped houses. So, along the way, he picked up sheetrock work, plumbing, and electrical, and later took electronics classes and worked on engines in high school. And while Dion, is undoubtedly “handy,” this fails to tell the entire story of his on-the-job training acumen. In a word? Extraordinary.

Here’s a question: How many Konica Minolta devices that Datamax services is Dion Watson NOT trained on? That answer is zero. Not only did Dion recently earn Konica Minolta’s Technician of the Month,  he has a fearless “Train On” mentality that ensures that if it’s out in the field, he’s available to work on it, from the smallest desktop printer to the mighty digital press.

Print’s Always Been a Part of His Life.

When he was 9, due to the fact that his father refused him an allowance, he went to work throwing papers the LaSalle Daily News Tribune in LaSalle, Illinois.  Dion officially went to work on presses when he was 21, working first at the Arkansas Democrat when they bought the Gazette. From there, he did the same for the Branson Daily News and then printed Sunday Comics and Grocery Store Ads for the local Atlanta paper.

“I’ve really been dealing with ink on paper since I was a child,” Dion said. “I came to Datamax in 2012, and was really just doing whatever the company needed. I always wanted to work on color and work on production equipment.”

The Training Started Almost Immediately.

Dion first became certified with Canon devices, and then Konica Minolta devices when they became part of the Datamax line. He later moved on to  Canon Wide Formats, and software solutions like PrismaSync. For those counting at home, he’s also fully trained on the Fiery digital printing solution.

In short, at the current date, he’s trained on every KM device, from the small KM c3300i, to the monster AccurioPress c7100. As new models come out, it’s an ongoing task that has no real completion date. But Dion is more than devoted to keeping up with whatever the manufacturers push out.

“I really feel a sense of accomplishment by being able to walk out and I know, without a question, that that customer is completely fixed,” Dion said. “Really feeling secure in what you’re doing has a lot to do with training. In order to feel confident about the equipment and ultimately meet our service goals, we HAVE to have the knowledge.”

The Technician Credits His Company, Too.

Dion embraces the training. He thrives off the training. He’s grateful for it, too.

“Part of the reason why it’s easy to make training possible is the dedication that Datamax takes into training for us to be able to grow as a company and in this industry,” Dion said. “The reason I quit every job before is because you end up in the same old rut. But here it’s not like that. And our mission is keeping these copiers running.”