Bill Esler

Ed Summit Tops Tech at Graph Expo
September 26, 2007

Technology takes the lead at Graph Expo, usually. If you keep your eyes and ears open, you’ll discover some cool stuff, such as: 
Megasperia’s remarkable integrated mailing system
Taylor Corp.'s secret previews of Anicolor inkers
EFI Prograph bumping DIMs from more than two dozen RR Donnelley plants
Dr. Jurgen Rautart noting the likelihood of a simultaneous platechanger from Heidelberg
Kodak Direct to Flexo platesetter with 10 micron spots
HP’s  big showing for the Indigo 5500
Robotic Polar PACE cutter turning operators into assistants
Standard Finishing migrating to larger volume finishing
Muller Martini moving into mid-range binding runs and developing flawless logs
xpedx’s two-sided inkjet proofer and its Opticular desktop lenticular printer
Xante’s toner-on-metal GTO-format platesetter, to cite a few things. 

Missing fingers in the pressroom

But these took a back seat to a Tuesday morning Education Summit on why our industry's students and employee sources are evaporating.  In a nutshell, the printing industry gets a bad rap as a rough and dangerous career, and students aren’t signing up graphic arts classes in high schools and secondary schools. So administrators are cancelling the courses. This makes the existing shortfall in trained workers worse; and diminishes the standing of print among  generation myspace. 

Quick ad hoc action

Larry Kroll, a Heidelberg VP, has been noting each year his concern and dismay that fewer students enter the annual VICA vocational Olympic-style print competition, while other groups (food, auto repairs, etc.) grow in numbers. Frank Romano has also cited the disappearance of students in his online commentaries. So NAPL’s Ray Prince served as a spark plug to quickly engineer an ad hoc Educational Summit at Graph Expo. No muss, no fuss--Ray, Komori and Heidelberg paid for a room and light refreshments to talk turkey on the issue. “We’re looking for solutions today, to address a serious shortfall of people entering this industry,” noted Prince.

Powerful comments, summarized

A series of speakers (listed below) set the stage by describing the problem as they see it, and proposing one or two solutions. Then audience members (there were 200) responded in a similar constructive vein. What impacted me was the precision, aptness and depth of what was said. GAM will flesh these out in podcasts from the recorded summit and in published editorials over the coming months. But here are some representative quotes that provide a flavor of what transpired at the meeting:

"Once it was all about equipment; investing in people was an afterthought. No industry can prosper without people. . . .Revamp the the curriculum to focus less on skills or skills certification. . . .I don't think we know the problem; I think we know the symptoms." --Tim Fischer

"The people outside the industry continue to see us as we were 50 years ago. . . .We are not alone; every manufacturing industry as the exact same problem. . .It's part of a fabric of what is going on in manfuacturing. . .Remember to focus on public policy solutions."--Ben Cooper

 "We have a national Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting system that is broken. . .we should refuse to fill out their forms."--Patrick Klarecki  

"We're dull, dirty, and dingy and the equipment is old."--Dean Flowers
 
"The focus is off our industry." --Larry Kroll

"We have a kick-butt industry." --Mike Makin

Graph Expo Education Summit Panelists and Affiliations

• Ben, Cooper, Principal, Williams & Jensen
• Patrick Klarecki, Ferris State University
  Doug, Yeager, COO, Alcom Printing Group
• Dean , Flowers, Associate Dean, Waukesha County Technical College
• Larry, Kroll, VP Training, Heidelberg USA 
• Michael, Makin, President & CEO, PIA/GATF
• Brian, Regan, COO, Sempter Int'l. 
• Michael, Stinnett, PrintEd Instructor, Royal Oak HS, Michigan, Representing GAERF
• Tim, Fischer, NAPL
• Jeff, White, Director MIS Sales, EFI Inc.

Visit the Graph Expo channel for continuous news and follow ups from this month's show.

Posted by Bill Esler on September 26, 2007 | Comments (0)