Screen Aug 09 P10-12:Screen Feb09 P12-14 31/07/2009 12:18 Page 10
SCREEN: DOMESTIC PRODUCTION
Closer to home
Screen printing is everywhere in the domestic environment, but manufacturers
need to focus on quality and innovation to sustain and grow the work in this
area by Peter Kiddell
A TRIP to India visiting graphics screen printing organisations revealed a
host of sophisticated printing facilities. Fully air-conditioned and clean room
environments were equipped with kit, inks and chemistry from Europe, US
and Japan. The management were highly educated, with several having
doctorates and CEOs determined to win the Best Place to Work competition
for manufacturing companies.
Common to all the companies was an emphasis on teamwork, work ethic
and the will to succeed. Often their success is attributed to cheap labour, and
while this may have been true in the past, now it is about best practice, the
right equipment and effective management. In fact, 90 per cent of
production stays in a country that has been relatively untouched by the
credit crunch and is growing at a rapid pace. These efforts are supported by
government policy in the sub-continent where there are tax free zones for
manufacturing and light touch bureaucracy.
Sadly in the west an unsustainable level of public spending and
borrowing con tinues, with the belief that we deserve success and security of
employment. To maintain this standard of living, however, we will have to
create wealth by making products that people want to buy at a price they
are willing to pay. There is no alternative.
So how does this relate to screen printing domestic products. Screen
printing exemplifies the changes in the UK and European economy. Screen
Materials from ESL facilitate a fast-working screen printed heating element
printing was dominant in its sector, practitioners became complacent,
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