Flexo Factor Executive Outlook
Steve Wilkinson President
What one thing, more so than any other, should flexo printers be most concerned with at the mo ment? What is it they should most be focused on? The single most important thing that flexo print ers should be most concerned with at the moment is training of their exisng staff. Never in our history has technology been evolving at such an incredible pace and yet, when I consult and visit with printers, I never cease to be disappointed with the lack of any apparent focused training program for their personnel at all levels. I hope you noced that I said “at all levels” and not just the shop floor! Clearly it is mission crical that your operator must know how to run his machine efficiently, but just as im portant is how a job is presented to the operator. Support personnel and managers alike that do not have sufficient knowledge of the enre process will oen set the operator up for failure if all of the components necessary to run any job are all not in place. All too oen this failure is due to an obvious lack of adequate training for all personnel involved. The philosophy of never enough me to do it right the first me but always me to get it right the sec ond me, appears to be the mantra in too many print shops. Worse sll is the revolving door of per sonnel due in many cases to employees leaving out of frustraon of not knowing how to do the job properly and not being provided sufficient training. I know many owners and managers will say it is something of a “catch 22” due to the lack of per ceived loyalty from many employees in parcular with today’s young millennials. This can oen be the case, but must not be used as an excuse not to provide the best possible training from day one, and must be part of an on going pro gram. At each stage, the manager and employee must review and agree that adequate training and
understanding has occurred. It is not good enough just to rubber stamp a ‘yes’ in a file to say training has been given. I am constantly told there is not enough available qualified personnel, but that is a cry I have heard for my enre career. What the in dustry is failing to do is to provide connuous quality training at every level and is something that we must be focused on and I promise you will find that you will see a dramac reducon in loss of staff, greatly improved moral and, beer sll, greater profitability!
What areas of technology will most guide the future for flexo printers? What new areas of tech nology will open up the most op portunies? As we move forward, further im provements in automaon and soware will connue to provide
future flexo printers the ability to achieve more consistent print results at even greater speeds. Au tomated inline inspecon systems will enable 100 percent mapping of the full web and at the same me make automated adjustments to inks, impres sion sengs and registraon. Laser cung will eliminate the need for convenonal dies and sling blades. Convenonal printer skills such as register adjustment and seng of impressions will become less of an issue, and greater planning and set up skills will become the greater skill set as once this is done the press will be able to automacally make the final adjustments at start up and during the run. Hybridizaon of presses will connue to open up even greater opportunies for many printers in all market segments and must be embraced if we are to connue to meet the ever changing demands and expectaons of the consumer.
10 Executive Outlook Flexo Market News
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