Phoenix Challenge Encourages Flexo-Minded Students

The 2015 Phoenix Challenge College Competition was won by the Clemson University team.

To maintain an industry’s vitality, it is essential to cultivate an enthusiastic workforce. For nearly 20 years, the Phoenix Challenge Foundation has served as a non-profit resource to the flexographic industry, supporting flexo education at the high school and college level, and hosting annual competitions for students.

Bettylyn Krafft, chairman of the Phoenix Challenge Foundation, explains that as the flexographic industry ages, encouraging young people with an interest in graphic arts to enter the flexo field will help in decreasing the drop off in skill level as retiring press operators are replaced with younger employees.

“It’s extremely important to our industry that we cultivate young people coming into our industry,” Krafft says. “Right now we are retiring people faster than we can hire people. This is a prime resource for the flexography area. Many of our students are exposed to a variety of print disciplines. What I find is once they have had the flexographic experience, most of them will go back to it at one point or another.”

The annual Phoenix Challenge College Competition is traditionally held on the Saturday prior to the Flexographic Technical Association’s Forum. This year’s competition will follow that format, scheduled from 8 am to 5 pm, Saturday, March 5 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Krafft says that more than 70 students are expected to take part in this year’s competition, representing two-year and four-year programs at schools across the country. Unlike the high school competition, which spans 2.5 days, these college teams have been hard at work since the fall, working on their presentations for Fort Worth.

Each year, the college competition requires teams to provide a solution for a real-world industry situation. For example, students could have to provide a rebranding effort for a non-profit entity, or develop a line of toiletry products to use in a hotel.

Students demonstrate their press skills in the Phoenix Challenge High School competition.

Krafft explains that prior to the competition, the teams will need to conduct market research, packaging design, printing and finally, a presentation in front of the judges at the FTA Forum. Though the college competition has existed for nine years, approximately 10 years less than the high school competition, Krafft says many students who have been through the competition have remained in flexography.

“We are now seeing the fruits of that competition because those students are now reaching the mid-management level in our industry,” she says.

In addition to running the competitions, the Phoenix Challenge Foundation also provides resources and support for flexographic education. Krafft explains that could include anything from helping to provide supplies or offering press time in the Charlotte, NC area. Young flexo press operators will be essential to keep the industry alive she says, and giving them a leg up while they’re still in school will make them even more valuable assets when they enter the industry.

“A lot of companies have internal training, but they have to basically start from scratch,” she says. “These students come out with the vocabulary, the basic knowledge and they’re still very trainable into different corporations’ cultures.”