In today’s knowledge based economy, education and competence
management are key to the future success of any business, and the label
industry is no exception. This applies to all levels and functions in the
company, from management to operations. At the end of 2012, the Finat Board
endorsed a new initiative designed to align education and training programmes
for operators in the label industry. Two years later, the Label Academy is
ready for take-off.
Historically, the printing industry was regarded as having
one of the best education and training schemes of any industry within the
developed world, with a good apprenticeship system, excellent printing
colleges, experienced trainers, and a wide range of printing textbooks on a
whole variety of printing processes, typesetting, pre-press, bookbinding and
finishing operations. Printing was regarded as a highly skilled industry with
some of the highest industrial-skill wages.
Growing pressure on
education
The more printing has moved away from a craft-based to a
technology, service and communications-based industry, the more high-end
sectors such as self-adhesive have developed and grown and the higher the
pressures on costs and margins, the less high quality and knowledge-based
education and training we seem to do.
Dedicated printing colleges in many parts of the world have
all but disappeared, or they are not seen to be relevant to training for the
self-adhesive sector.
Knowledge challenges
and opportunities
Indeed, the self-adhesive label sector seems to have
suffered perhaps more than many other sectors of printing, and it is perhaps
not too difficult to see why. It has some of the widest ranges of materials to
print on, it has the widest range of printing processes being used (often in
combination on one press line) and it has the widest range of in-line finishing
operations. There has been an increasingly sophisticated origination and
pre-press processes and significant more challenges in terms of sustainability
(adhesives and silicones, matrix and liner waste, etc.). Not to forget about
the greater diverse selection of bar code types, QR codes, augmented reality
and other interactive labels.
Each week seems to bring new industry knowledge challenges,
and opportunities. And the demands are increasing all the time, from new
digital technologies, interactive labels, brand protection solutions, to new
developments in intelligent and active labels.
Enhanced education
and training: transferring knowledge to the new generation
This enhanced level of education and training needs to be
done sooner rather than later, as many of the existing skilled and
knowledgeable people that have grown with the industry over the past 20 or so
years come towards retirement. We need to utilise their knowledge before it is
too late. We need to bring in new skills and abilities to tell employees about
the new demands on labels. We need to re-build a new and dedicated education
and training base for the industry’s future.
The Label Academy
This is why the publishing, internet and marketing team at
Tarsus, supported by a small group of knowledgeable and skilled industry
specialists, are planning the launch of The Label Academy. Over the coming
months the team will be working on finishing the first six or more (out of the
first 20 proposed) education and training e-learning and support modules that
aim to provide the basic knowledge requirements of the label industry employees
of today and tomorrow.
E-learning
Initial e-learning modules will cover topics as diverse as
Label Substrates, Label Printing processes, Die-cutting and Tooling,
Origination and Pre-press, Digital Label Printing, Environment and
Sustainability, the History of the Label Industry. The first of these Modules
are scheduled to be available later this year for purchase or downloading
through a new Label Academy website that is currently being developed.
Over the coming months, a dedicated Advisory Panel will
additionally be working on how best to establish an internet-based industry testing
scheme and moving towards an industry-wide on-line certification process.
The Label Academy: a
supporting resource for existing education schemes
It is also planned that existing industry suppliers,
associations, colleges, training and employer schemes and programmes will be
able to apply to become accredited training organisations using the new
learning modules. The Label Academy is not looking to take over or interfere
with existing label industry training, but rather to become a resource provider
and support body for the global label industry – with global resource material
written for training providers to use in any country or market.
Finat Board
endorsement
At the present time the proposed education and training
resource being developed under the banner of The Label Academy has already been
endorsed by the Finat Board and is currently being studied by other label
industry associations around the world.
Who are involved in
The Label Academy?
In planning for a number of years, the new label industry
education and training scheme has been developed and pioneered to-date by Mike
Fairley, widely known as the label industry ‘Guru’. Perhaps not so widely known
is that before founding Labels & Labelling he spent several years as a
further education lecturer before joining PIRA, the Paper, Printing and
Packaging Industry Research Association as Deputy Head of Training. In this
capacity he acquired extensive experience in lecturing and writing training
manuals and materials on many areas of printing, papermaking, labels and
packaging. He further developed his educational credentials at the UK
Government sponsored Paper and Paper Products Industry Training Board as Head
of Information, and as a consultant to the International Labour Office, the
Economist Intelligence Unit and to the EU.
Complementing Mike’s undoubted training and industry
knowledge in writing the new e-learning Modules are a team from 4impression
(author of the FINAT Educational Handbook) under Paul Jarvis and
Netherlands-based Converting Technology International of Sietze de Kievit, who
have been piloting training material and courses on label substrates and
tooling. They are also members of the Academy’s Advisory Panel. Other global
specialists are likely to be co-opted as required for specific subjects or
markets.
Official Launch:
Labelexpo Americas 2014
From now onwards the first results of the work that has been
undertaken to-date and the first e-learning modules to be produced will start
to be announced and initial training and testing materials become available.
The aim is to then have the official launch of The Label Academy at Labelexpo
Americas in September.
It is certainly hoped that the global label industry will
support this exciting new initiative and strive to produce the better-educated
and trained employees who will be needed for the successful and long-term
future of the industry.
The past brings
future perspective
Another way of learning is to have insight and an
understanding of past accomplishments. A good way of gaining that knowledge is
reading 'The Evolution of Labels and the Label Industry in Europe.' This book
is the result of several years of research and writing by Michael Fairley and
Tony White. Over 240 pages of text and historical illustrations they trace the
history of labels and label production from early wooden presses printing on
hand-made paper, through all the changes brought about by the Industrial
Revolution during the 18th and 19th centuries – including continuous
papermaking, cylinder presses, ink-making and inking rollers, early colour
printing, the first cutting punches and dies – right through to the 21st
century innovations of self-adhesive label materials, printing and converting,
computerised origination and digital printing. The prestige limited hard cover
edition book should be a must-read title for all those who have an interest in
how the world of labels and label production has grown from its early origins
to the present time.
