The Fascination of Light: The ORAFOL Reflective Solutions Academy

With the Reflective Solutions Academy, ORAFOL has created a global learning network that shares internal know-how and fosters connection across continents.

For Łukasz Zysk, his surname fits his professional life as perfectly as reflection fits a road sign: “‘Zysk’ is Polish and means ‘profit’,” he says with a laugh. In sales, after all, it is his job to grow the business.

He is Strategic Sales and Global Business Development Manager in the Reflective Solutions division – responsible for selling reflective solutions. He is convinced that knowledge is an essential foundation for corporate success. In sales, he also serves as the interface between the specialist departments at headquarters and several subsidiaries. As a result, he knows what employees there need to work successfully for and with customers. In addition, he is directly involved in the strategic development of the Reflective Solutions division and is responsible for creating the right formats to bring this strategy to life.

He is therefore the right person to coordinate the Reflective Solutions (RS) Academy. This internal knowledge-sharing format has been growing systematically since 2025. Here, employees from ORAFOL locations all over the world regularly receive first-hand expertise on lighting technology, retroreflection, new technologies and applications – from internal experts.

The Flying Classroom

One of these experts and co-creators of the Academy is Jürgen Ewald, Global Regulatory Affairs Manager in the Reflective Solutions division. Light has fascinated him since childhood. His great role model is Thomas Alva Edison – the inventor of the light bulb. For more than 30 years, Ewald has been working with retroreflection. With his enthusiasm, he not only inspires students at the renowned RWTH Aachen University, where he gives a lecture on the “Fundamentals of Traffic Lighting Technology.” When he presents this lecture at an industry congress in 2025, Dr. Sylvia Lucht, Executive Vice President EMEAI & Reflective Solutions, is also in the audience – and is convinced: “We must also share this treasure trove of knowledge within the company!”

The worldwide premiere is a complete success: within a single day, Jürgen Ewald delivers one-hour digital lectures on the fundamentals across four time zones: from New Zealand and Japan via India and the Middle East to Europe and finally the United States. Ewald describes this journey of knowledge as a “flying classroom.”

Traffic signs & lighting technology

“Traffic signs make an important contribution to the operation of our infrastructure and must be clearly visible both by day and at night. This is why special requirements are placed on the reflective films used – in terms of their retroreflective properties, their color performance and their durability. It is precisely these relationships that we convey in the training – so that technical understanding becomes real confidence in action,” says Jürgen Ewald about his training on lighting technology.

Know-how Delivered Digitally, Compactly and in a Practical Way

The Academy now takes place regularly: digital, compact and practice oriented. In addition to the fundamentals, the RS Academy also covers topics such as retroreflection and color science, vehicle applications, production processes and new technologies resulting from acquisitions. Zysk keeps his eyes and ears open, discovering new experts or identifying actual needs within the organization.

“We want everyone in the RS division to have the same high level of knowledge,” explains Łukasz Zysk, outlining the strategic objective. “In this way, we not only accelerate innovation, but also strengthen team cohesion.” Especially for new colleagues – whether in South Africa, Poland, the United States or Australia – the Academy becomes a compass in a highly specialized field and thus brings together an entire division that works far apart from one another.

On the Way to a Global Center of Excellence

That the format is very well received is evident to Zysk and Ewald from the feedback of participants: “We often hear, ‘If I had known this at the start of my job, many things would have been much easier for me,’ or ‘It has never been explained to me so clearly before.’” Many sessions last longer than planned because so many questions are asked. “Whenever a new topic is announced, teams from international locations sign up within minutes,” Zysk says with delight.

The two are not resting on their success. Their goal is to activate more experts, develop more interactive formats – and build a digital reference resource based on the Academy sessions. In this way, the Academy is set to become a global Reflective Solutions center of excellence – a gain for customers and for ORAFOL.