Discussion

By Patrick Henry on Jan 31, 2009

I couldn't agree more that training is an individual responsibility. The problem is that the trade associations--the principal developers of training resources--have always priced their educational materials beyond the means of individuals.

Their two-tiered member/non-member pricing structures are prohibitively expensive for the very people who need training most. A glance at the price lists reveals that the books, videos, and webinars are simply too costly for many profit-squeezed printing companies these days, let alone for folks trying to learn on their own (particularly those who have lost their jobs).

The model of selling premium-priced training materials to printers for dissemination to employees doesn't spread career-building information nearly as far as it needs to go. It's time for the associations and the publishers they work with to find ways of getting their knowledge products into many more hands affordably. Reissuing pricey books as inexpensive, downloadable PDFs comes to mind. Texts also could be formatted for e-reading devices. As for books in hard-copy form, couldn't the associations be a bit more like Barnes & Noble or Borders, both of which make liberal and regular use of deep-discount offers to drive sales?

In the meantime, we can all do our bit for knowledge-sharing by alerting knowledge-hungry individuals to valuable sources of free information on the web. Here are few that I try to recommend:

• Virginia Tech's Graphic Comm Central resource, especially its "Virtual Textbook" (http://teched.vt.edu/gcc)

• from International Paper, publisher of The Pocket Pal, a great compendium called "Learn About Printing" (click it in the menu bar at the IP Knowledge Center, http://glossary.ippaper.com)

• a thorough overview of printing processes at the Printers National Environmental Assistance Center (http://www.pneac.org/printprocesses), which also offers a free series of online videos on environmental management for printers

Other online resources can be found at the web site for a course that I teach for the Department of Advertising Design and Graphic Arts at New York City College of Technology (http://websupport1.citytech.cuny.edu/Faculty/phenry)

It would be naive to think that all of the best things in life--such as sources of career-enhancing knowledge--are free. But if they can't be free, shouldn't they at least be reasonable?

By Cary Sherburne on Feb 01, 2009

Patrick, I couldn't agree with you more. People can also check out www.EDSF.org. There are terrific free resources there. In addition, http://print.rit.edu offers loads of free research as does www.PrintInTheMix.com, a collaborative effort between RIT and The Print Council.

None of this is formal training, sadly, but can help people stay informed.

I found the pricing on the IPA online stuff to be the most affordable, even for individuals, or on a cost/share basis with their employer. These are structured learning opportunities and may be more valuable in the long run.

By Michael Josefowicz on Feb 01, 2009

Investing in the social capital that is represented in our employees is indeed a critical issue. One problem is that I've learned from years teaching production at a design school that delivering teaching is not a guarantee that learning is happening.

Our entire educational system - K-12, CTE, Community College and Higher Ed are all dealing with the same problem. Inputs are not leading to desired outputs. Since the education machine is not very efficient, more and more input do not lead to a significant increase in output.

While teaching is very hard, learning happens very fast and very inexpensively when the student wants to learn. The resources are mostly all there. The stored knowledge of experienced professionals is all around us all.

One approach that I've seen work is team taught project based learning. If there is a goal that everyone buys into, learning is cheap, easy and fast.

One suggestion. Suppose a Printer decided to do a VDP marketing program for their own company. Then pulled together a team of three people who were tasked to get the program together. The trick from management is to give them time - DURING NORMAL WORKING HOURS - to meet and execute.

I have little doubt that the team will succeed good enough. Given that hardly any Printers are using VDP for their own marketing, it's a something is better than nothing situation.

At the end of the process, the Printer will have a marketing program with a penny paid for a consultant and at least three workers who have the satisfaction of having learned a new very useful skill that can then be sold to outside customers.

By Michael Josefowicz on Feb 01, 2009

Ooops. The sentence "the Printer will have a marketing program with a penny paid for a consultant", should have read "without a penny for a consultant."

By Howie Fenton on Feb 01, 2009

I wanted to comment of the statement that the price of training was too high. I hear that a lot and in my opinion that is a common misconception based on a focus on the cost of unsuccessful training.

Here is a cost benefit ratio analysis of successful training for both sales/customer service staff and prepress /press operators. Let's say that a trainer comes into company for 2 days to perform on site training which is followed up by phone coaching for a year. Let’s keep these numbers easy and say that the price of training was $10K, and 10 people were trained.

What if that sales/customer service training resulted in an average increase in sales of $50K /salesperson. The cost benefit analysis question would be: Is a $10K investment worth $500K increase in sales. What if that operations training resulted in 3 more jobs printed/day at an average selling price of $700/ea. In a 260 day year that would result in $54.6K dollars more billings. The cost benefit question would be: Is $10K investment worth a $54.6K increase in sales.

I would argue that training is only too expensive when it is unsuccessful.

By Michael Josefowicz on Feb 02, 2009

@Howie,
Good points. Has any training company or consultant gather these kinds of numbers? If the "what if" could be demonstrated, I think training gets to the "why wouldn't I do that" level.

@Patrick,
Exactly, re your comments about the trade associations and expensive knowledge resources. Charging for information is a bad business model in a google mart economy. They are going to be overtaken by web and Open source and on demand printing.

IMHO, the same kind of stress is going to move into high gear for textbooks and supplementals in both K-12 and college once Amazon releases the next Kindle.

By Michael Josefowicz on Feb 02, 2009

Re: textbooks. I followed the links from this mornings story at WTT about the epaper portal, and found a story titled:
NW Missouri State University Replaces Textbooks with E-books.
http://www.epapercentral.com/nw-missouri-state-university-replaces-textbooks-with-e-books.htm

By Pat Berger on Feb 02, 2009

On any training ask for references. Talk to the people who have taken the courses. Find out what the think of the course and the presenter. Find out how current the source material is.
Find out when the last time the trainer had hands on experience in live production. Before you engage a trainer. Ask some questions first. If they can fire off an answer without hesitation there is an excellent chance they are worth their salt.
The skepticism arrises from past encounters and who is teaching who.

By Michael Josefowicz on Feb 02, 2009

Hi Pat,

That's good advice given the state of metrics we have these days. The problem is the same problem as choosing the real good instructor in college.

Sometimes the great instructors don't lead to significantly different outcomes. For business under such stress, they need some assurance that the outcome will be worth the investment. For very busy professionals, they need some assurance that the investment in time will lead to the outcome of being able to save time in the future.

In college the conventional wisdom is that it's worth it without clear metrics. For professional training, we don't have that luxury.

By Clint Bolte on Feb 02, 2009

Training does not have to be expensive. . .

With quality expectations rising, servicing turnaround times shortening, pressures to improve productivity to hold down costs and the more stringent EPA and OSHA regulations, formal and continual training needs to be as common place as the end-of-shift press wash-up.

With budget restraints, many well intended training efforts are postponed or eliminated. This should not happen because training does not have to be expensive.

The four broad examples of inexpensive training are (1) an in-house printing library, (2) webinairs, (3) materials and expertise provided by suppliers, and (4) plant visits exchanged with other printers.

In-House Library

An in-house library can be set up in a break room or even the cafeteria. It should contain all of the current issues of printing trade journals - last count showed more than 40 - and virtually all of them free. It should also contain the books and manuals that employees were given who attended workshops and seminars. Employees should be encouraged to take out their own free subscriptions to these magazines for home delivery.

Master Products in Montague, Michigan displays an extensive library of trade journals covering their clients’ industries. NAPL’s studies on success tips of the printing industry’s Growth Leaders highlights this in depth knowledge of their clients.

Webinairs

All national print trade associations as well as select suppliers are offering hour and a half webinairs on technical topics as well as highlights of their recent national gatherings. For a fixed charge of less than $100 a session, and even less if you sign up for a package of webinars, printers can gather as many employees or even key clients around a computer monitor in the conference room to hear the presentation and view the Power Point slides.

No travel expenses are incurred and the latest information from some of the industries leading practitioners are available. Web chat capability or teleconferencing allows immediacy for the question and answer format as well.


Training Materials from Suppliers

Virtually every printing plant built in the last fifteen years has a dedicated training room with a Monitor for VCR tape or DVD play back. It is becoming commonplace for suppliers to provide tapes with new equipment purchases. These show safety practices and often preventive maintenance steps. Salesmen will often loan you their demo tapes showing new equipment. Tapes allow employees to view and review educational issues on their own time.

"Recycled Papers", "Solventless Printing", "Soy-based Inks" are but three topics on which suppliers would be glad to come to your plant and give lectures. Some times they have technical experts back at corporate headquarters that will come out if invited far enough in advance. These sessions could often be video-taped (with prior approval) and added to the company's video library. Once a printer gets a reputation for inviting suppliers to come in, the initiative of new or expanded topics will often come from the suppliers themselves. Select customers might also find certain topics to be of interest.

Visits to Neighboring Printing Plants

Visits to plants of neighboring printers can often accomplish a great deal in only half a day. Reciprocal visits hosted by the employees themselves can also be very beneficial. Helping organize car load trips to regional printing trade shows has many benefits as well.

One printer felt that their pressroom was becoming too insular and needed to see how other pressrooms operated. They scheduled an across town afternoon visit. The different counterparts seemed to be hitting it off well as they were observed in constant conversation. When queried later as to what they learned, the employees reeled off the salaries and fringe benefits paid to their counter parts but could not recall the brand of blankets or fountain solution used. It is natural for employees to want to know this compensation information and at some point during the visit to get around to that topic. However, it is management's job to prepare the employees for the trip so everyone knows what they are expected to get out of the visit.

To gain the most from outside experts coming in to lecture and visits to other sites requires a good deal of preplanning and extensive follow-up. There should be "No free lunch" attitude left with the employees. If there is going to be a lecture on "Soy-based Inks", prepare a few handouts in advance so that the employees attending have some back ground feel.

Management should emphasize why the topic is of current interest to the firm. Just because particular environmental issues are of concern to management does not mean that the second pressman realizes the same sense of urgency. Before the lecture/visit assure that the employees compile a thorough list of questions on items that they (and you) want answered. It is often wise for the supervisor to visit the neighboring plant in advance or to talk with his counter part extensively on the phone to highlight areas of special interest.

Simply to encourage employees to attend a regional printing trade show is not enough. Each person should be assigned to gather as much information as possible on a particular topic of interest, e.g., color management software or material handling aids. If the trip is overnight, meet for a debriefing so new or emphasized assignments can be made for the next day.

Employee annual reviews should include the personal initiative that the employee has taken to remain current in his/her technology, field and career interest.

The Internet has been emphasized by other responders as an invaluable training resource. However, it has been recognized to be both a boon as a “training aid” and a boondoggle as a “training excuse”. In other words if an employee simply wants to surf the web for fun, let them do it on their own time.

However, many suppliers are adding neat tips to their web sites. To take advantage of these there should be a listing of helpful websites posted in the training room with a sentence or two synopsis of what problems the site solves. Employees should be encouraged to add to this list when they come across a particularly good one. Many of these industry suppliers will offer an e-mail heads up when something new has been posted.

Here are a few of the Printing and Allied Industry Associations’ Internet addresses:
National Association of Printing Leadership-www.napl.org
American Forest & Paper Association-www.afandpa.org
Binding Industries of America-www.pii.org
Digital Printing & Imaging Association (DPI)-www.dpia.org
Print Service Development Association (formerly DMIA)-www.psda.org
Foil Stamping & Embossing Association-www.fsea.org
Graphic Arts Show Company-www.gasc.org
National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers-www.napim.org
NPES-The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing, and Converting Technologies-www.npes.org
Printing Industry Credit Executives-www.pice.com
Research & Engineering Council of the Graphic Arts Industry-
www.recouncil.org
Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA)-www.taga.org

Training opportunities do not have to be expensive and involve a lot of time away from the plant. Top management must make the commitment that continual training is important to and for every employee. A longer term benefit for all concerned will be realized when the initiative of all participants is encouraged and acknowledged. And just like school assignments - no homework and no quizzes makes short shrift of the educational opportunity.

By Pat Berger on Feb 02, 2009

Clint
I would like to find information on Offset Solventless Printing.

I have read that there are some extremely low solvent manufacturing procedures. I am unaware of any solvent or VOC free procedures using the EPA method 24 for determining VOC content.

Do you have any websites URL's were this type of technology can be found?


Thank you

By Michael Josefowicz on Feb 02, 2009

@Pat,
I'm not sure if this helps. But posting is free after all.

from: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP0764522.html
Compositions and solventless process for digital laser imageable lithographic printing plate production
Document Type and Number:
Kind Code:
B1

Abstract:
Abstract of EP0764522
The invention comprises a waterless, multilayered lithographic printing plate imagable by digitally controlled laser ablation. The plate exhibits superior impression life and is produced by solventless methods to yield low VOC. The plate contains a first solid substrate layer; a second infra-red light absorbing polymeric layer containing crosslinked functionality; and a polysiloxane top layer containing crosslinked functionality. At least the second layer and top layer contain interlayer crosslinked bonds. Optionally, the plate may contain a prime polymeric layer interposed between the first and second layer.

www.p2pays.org/ref/15/14226.pdf
The Application of Solventless Inks in Web and Sheetfed Offset Systems

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
solventless ink systems introduces this review. factors that have led to the current usage of ultraviolet curing systems in web and sheetfed offset printing ...

By Brian Regan on Feb 02, 2009

I am a firm believer in self education and I encourage it in my staff. If your heart in in your career you will seek out the information you need to be successful at it. As leaders we must encourage it and support it. And yes, there will be needed investment into the process as well, but it does have a positive benefit to all involved.

By Michael Josefowicz on Feb 03, 2009

Clint's terrific post demonstrates that the info is out there. A very similar situation exists in higher ed (MIT posts its full curriculum for free)

The problem to be solved is not What to learn. The problem is When and mostly important How to integrate it into improved practice.

A trainer can be great by getting everyone to make the time to focus. But without a consistent long term follow up, any lessons learned are quickly forgotten as old habits overwhelm new learnings.

By Mike on Feb 06, 2009

In reply to Howie's mention about the misconceptions of training being expensive, I took Cary's point to be about the cost for employees to individually seek out training, not for companies to host training programs. If I were to seek out some technical training outside the boundaries of what my company is willing to spend (which, given the current state of the economy, is little to nothing), then I'd have to be willing to fork over perhaps several hundred dollars or more of my own money with a significant risk. The risk is that a)the training will be worth my time and money, and b)I will be able to bring back what I've learned for the betterment of my company and manage to achieve some recognition and reward for what I've done. If I'm going to spend my own money to increase my education, I want to take advantage of my new skills and have more fulfillment in my career as a result. The results and success are up to me, but that's why it's a risky proposition and why many don't see personal training as an option outside of more "dramatic" moves like getting an MBA or perhaps lower risk solutions like inexpensive classes at the local community college.

By Dennis Balas on Feb 07, 2009

There is an industry group of volunteers called BRIDG'S that publishes books of basic information for the graphic arts. These low
cost books are available at the IPA web site www.printtools.org