Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 3 June 2009
There's a flood of letters this week: one reader laments the loss of more jobs at PMP, another raises questions over the training of prepress courses while Andy McCourt's letter to Reed Exhibitions earns him considerable praise.
I operate a recruitment agency in the printing industry and have been going for more than 22 years. I notice that you haven't mentioned anywhere in the latest issue of Print21online (or maybe you were unaware) that despite all the good news coming out of PacPrint that Australia's largest print group, PMP, has just shed another 25 jobs.
I was contacted by one of the retrenched staff – a planner /estimator who has been with them for a number of years. He said that they had been advised after the last round of sackings that their jobs were secure – apparently not so!
The good news is that my agency has placed some good salespeople in the last month into very good positions with both large and small printers, and I am in the process of filling a couple of others – so it is not all doom-and- gloom.
Darryl Calderwood
Calderwood Print Recruitment
One must seriously question the rationale in delivering so many prepress graduates onto the streets, when severe consolidation of the industry has occurred which has dramatically reduced the number of people that the industry can today absorb. The reality is that the industry overall has dramatically slowed output, and with the impact of computer driven technologies, the old industry dynamics have changed. The result is, while the industry is still recruiting, the needs are for people with greater skill sets, but fewer in number.
In NSW, the industry has only employed single digit number of apprentices this year with similar trends around the country. The numerous private providers threatening to pour such an excess of graduates onto the street must indeed be questioned.
In NSW there is a potential for around 1000 graduates from the private providers this year alone. This translates as approximately I industry position per 142 students. Nation wide this would be an estimated average of 60 students per position in industry.
Of particular concern is the training delivery environment provided by the new Registered Training Organisations (RTO). The Graphic Arts Industry Training Package sets out the rules for training and assessment. It also identifies the material resources needed for training.
To assist, a detailed training plan is required to be negotiated between the RTO and the enterprise. This forms a stark contrast with the new RTO’s, where the training is conducted almost entirely as an institution classroom based program deficient of any meaningful industry workflow engagement.
There is also the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). This sets out the intellectual standards required for formal training from the RTO and what should be expected from the enterprise. The Training Package and the AQF therefore combine to ensure the skills development meets industry standards and importantly at the end of training, the Certificate III graduate is indeed “work ready” i.e. employable.
A crucial aspect of the training agenda in the manufacturing sector is the need for skill development to occur in close engagement with RTO. This has been the enduring beneficial outcome of a training process that engages its workforce via apprenticeships and traineeships. The printing industry has successfully practiced this throughout its long history. The success of the process overall can be attributed to the importance of the workplace component for skills development.
The nature of the technology used in the modern industry is costly and therefore almost entirely impossible for the RTO to either replicate or at best simulate. The workplace / work experience intentions of some providers can therefore also be reasonably and justly questioned. This in itself raises serious questions regarding the motives of some of the RTO participants.
It would seem that various RTOs compliance with the AQF and the Graphic Arts Training Package is at best poor. There is little evidence to date to suggest industry needs are understood or appreciated by the new RTOs.
It seems the system is being misused. Is it therefore not unreasonable to consider the motive for training maybe to provide access to immigration points, in which to enter Australia.
It should be made clear that an important ongoing role of Industry Training Advisory Body (ITAB) is to provide industry intelligence to the NSW Department of Education and Training, regarding market influences. This includes new trends in technologies, skills shortages, and excesses wherever they appear and advise accordingly.
The NSW Department of Education and Training should critically examine the entire training agenda’s of the RTO’s, in the interests of both the RTO and the student seeking to embark on a long term career in the industry, no matter if that is here or overseas.
Name withheld
Sydney
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Re: Open Letter to Reed Exhibitions from Andy McCourt
Well done and well said Andy.
Having also attended every drupa and Ipex and many other shows over the past 30 years – I couldn't agree more – and Reed Exhibitions should give themselves a wakeup call in the midst of the worst global financial crisis since the second World War. Otherwise, as you quite rightly say, there won't be another PacPrint – well, at least not a PacPrint organised by Reed, which has displayed it is only interested in selling square metres of concrete with very little additional interest or support.
Good luck.
Mike Hilton
Editor and Publisher Graphic Repro On-line
Right on Andy, you hit the nail right on the head. We need the entertainment aspect as all the fun has been drained out of our trade with this recession and we are sick of doom-and-gloom.
The convention organisers need to be email bombed with our discord and all unite behind the entertainers in our trade.
Phil Jones
Congratulations to Andy McCourt on his letter regarding the security incident with Oce. Very well put together and could not agree more with his presentation and representation.
Let’s hope the message gets to the parties concerned.
Bob Burgoyne
All should be in total agreement with Andy McCourt. I spent 4.5 hours at PacPrint on the opening day and finally obtained a round-cornering cutter that I had hoped to get from the last PacPrint, but the company concerned never followed through with my enquiry.
I thought that this PacPrint was (will be) a very successful event.
Geoff Dean
Re: Investment starts to flow at PacPrint
The word “punter” used in the heading of this article is very unfortunate. It would imply someone taking a gamble.
Business, in this climate or even a bullish economic climate can be considered a gamble. Many businesses do fail for a variety of reasons, but we professionals prefer to call these people who buy our products or services “customers”.
But maybe you were differentiating people who have purchased products at the exhibit from those who have not, or even do not intend to buy. These people who do not intend to buy are often called “tyre kickers”.
Michael Turvey