Flexible Packaging
Engaging young people with digital skillsets
Rapid, unstoppable, technological change giving rise to new challenges to be met and won has been the name of the game in the flexible packaging printing and converting industry of late as this report from Bobst details.
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f the most topical issues are related to the development of more automated, connected and agile production tools and workflows, and to sustainability, the shortage of skilled labour in the printing and converting sector is emerging as yet another issue the industry has to face. Reflecting the generalized difficulties of finding staff with the right skills in manufacturing, the shortage of printers and machine operators is currently felt more acutely in North America and Europe, but it is expected to affect the global industry in the upcoming years.
“We think that to ensure the most successful future of our industry, for us as machine manufacturers as well as for our converting customers, the focus should be on two parallel tracks” explained Sara Alexander, MarCom Manager Flexible Packaging at BOBST. “The manufacturing of increasingly efficient and sustainable production tools, based on the development of more automated, connected and digitalized technical solutions, and at the same time, finding and forming the next generation of skilled technicians and equipment operators in due time”.
Surveys show that the lack of skills is not the main reason behind the recruiting difficulties experienced by companies. Of course, increased automation has decreased the number of jobs for low-skilled workers, which might generate a surplus of unskilled workers, but on the other hand, nowadays, especially in Europe, the workforce and job seekers tend to be more highly qualified than in the past, and demand is often higher than the offer, despite unemployment levels. Commenting on the relationship between academia and the industrial world, Sara Alexander said: “Commitment to education and training is a pivotal aspect of the BOBST vision. We collaborate actively with schools and universities to strike a balance between vocational education and the up-to-date sector skills that are effectively required in the packaging manufacturing industry. We run extensive training and apprenticeship programs in most of our manufacturing companies worldwide.
To benefit from training activities, it is important to take a long-term perspective in terms of the healthy growth of our industry as a whole to avoid negative repercussions on productivity and competitiveness, and not to look at it as a cost to a company”. Traditionally, the printing and converting industry relied on apprenticeships and/or the informal training on-the-job from the previous generation of experienced operators. Taking CI flexo printing as an example, mastering the printing process in terms equipment operation, printing parameters adjustments, color matching and the like, required many years of training and practical experience. The press operator was a master craftsman and the holder of an unwritten knowledge at risk of getting lost if not passed over, but to whom, since the youth of today are not takers?
“Actually, the reality of the work in the press room is changing faster than the image that is still relayed to the external world, which could also be one of the hindrances of drawing young people to the profession,” explained Sara Alexander “So I think there is also work to be done, as an industry, to updating the image and the communication about the printing and converting machine operator profession. Operating a modern press, requires increasingly fewer manual skills and more skills like data management and use of digital platforms, which are more up the alley of today’s youth.” Looking at the actual equipment, BOBST has the unique advantage of having the most comprehensive end-to-end product offering in terms of flexible packaging technologies and processes covered. This enables not only a global vision
of the packaging world but also to handle every development not as a separate product but on a global perspective focused on all aspects of the industry requirements.
The Group’s vision for packaging production is anchored in data access and control across the entire workflow and technologies, helping converters to become more flexible and agile. Advances in process control also mean doing away with the fallacies or inconsistencies generated by manual settings that affect the consistency and repeatability of the process.
Systems like smartGPS in CI flexo printing for the offline register setting and printing pressure control at the fully automatic flexo plate mounting, TAPS for the fully automatic pre-register setting in gravure, oneECG Extended Color Gamut printing across all printing technologies, including gravure are just some examples of the standardization of printing systems. Because the print results will be the same, irrespective of the systems by which a label or a flexible packaging job is printed, the individual abilities of the machine operator won’t be a major discriminating element for the quality of the production anymore. With the right king of education, communication and training, the industry can leverage the existing digital skills of school leavers to engage them into the profession.
Xwww.bobst.com
www.convertermag.com
May 2022
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