Sound Bite: FTA Forum Tackles the 'Press Crew Crisis'

While the Flexographic Technical Association’s annual Forum addressed many of the exciting growth opportunities and technical advancements of the flexographic printing industry, one session in particular tackled one of the more alarming trends facing package printers and converters.

Shawn Oetjen (second from right), was the session chair for "The Press Crew Crisis: Now Who's Going to Run my Press?" Oetjen is a flexographic printing trainer at Flexographic Tech.

In a session titled “The Press Crew Crisis: Now Who’s Going to Run My Press?” four industry experts addressed how throughout the flexo industry, press operators are aging and retiring. Meanwhile, the younger generation entering the workforce has shown little interest in entering the printing industry.

The session included presentations by VinEquities and GoGetter Co-Founders Brendan Kinzie and James Stone; Poly Print Co-Owner, CFO and Administrative Manager Elsie Genova; and Dr. Nona Woolbright, a professor in Clemson University’s Department of Graphic Communications. It was chaired by Shawn Oetjen, the flexo trainer at Minneapolis-based Flexographic Tech.

Kinzie is CEO of VinEquities, a full-service packaging company serving the wine industry, and is the co-founder of GoGetter, a job search mobile app that focuses on the Millennial generation and skilled trades. He explained that prior to his current employment, he ran a wine label company in California.

Kinzie said that finding skilled operators was among the top concerns that kept him up at night, as younger people entering the workforce had a negative perception of printing as an antiquated industry with little opportunity to work with high-tech equipment. However, he said that when new employees who were unfamiliar with printing came into the shop, their attitudes quickly changed.

To help cure printing’s image problem, Kinzie recommended that those in the industry improve their marketing to help “make printing cool again.” He also suggested they seek out alternative methods in reaching potential younger employees, invest in long-term training and apprenticeships, stop seeking out low-cost labor, and present printing jobs as career opportunities with growth potential. And because there are many jobs in the industry that do not require four-year college degrees, these opportunities come without college debt.

Stone, the VP of sales at VinEquities and a co-founder of GoGetter, discussed how package printing companies can help attract and retain new press operators by improving their recruitment methods. In particular, he said that many of the popular online recruiting tools can work well, but often make it difficult to locate work in a specific skilled trade. GoGetter’s advantage, he said, is that it matches job seekers with companies hiring people with their specific skills.

Beyond reassessing how they recruit potential employees, Stone also provided suggestions for how companies can connect with their local communities to generate excitement among local students about opportunities in print. He also discussed the importance of talking with current operators about the importance of what they do and the wide-reaching impact of printing.

Poly Print, a flexible packaging printer based in Tucson, Ariz., was highlighted as a company that has preemptively addressed the “press crew crisis,” before it took a major toll on the business. Elsie Genova, the company’s co-owner, CFO and administrative manager, provided a glimpse at Poly Print’s in-house training program, and how it has led to a well-trained and engaged staff.

To help attract new operators to the company and retain its current operators, Genova explained how Poly Print worked to standardize its processes to create new methods of educating new hires about the industry. To ensure new hires were trained to meet the precise needs of Poly Print, Genova explained that the company created a series of internal training videos for new operators to study. They were then quizzed on the content before stepping out onto the pressroom floor.

By documenting each process and creating training materials specific to that process, Genova explained that new Poly Print staff members can hit the ground running with the knowledge of precisely how the company operates.

To provide some data on the evolving demographics and perceptions of careers in the graphic arts, Woolbright presented the results of a study she conducted, with results coming from the graphic arts education sphere, current Clemson University students, Clemson alumni and FTA members.

On the education side, Woolbright discussed how at the high school and community or technical college level, the results showed that the graphic arts programs are largely print-focused. However, at the university level, only 39% of respondents stated their programs are print-focused. She also discussed how, in a largely male-dominated industry, there has been a substantial shift to more female students joining graphic arts programs.

She also explained that her results showed that current graphic arts students are largely not interested in going into print. Instead, she highlighted how students are more interested in becoming art directors or graphic artists, which she said, are jobs that are perceived as highly creative.

Woolbright closed her presentation with a “call to action” for industry members to reach out to schools in their community to change the perception surrounding print and explain that it does offer extensive opportunities to work creatively with the latest high-tech equipment.