New Zealand triumphs at WorldSkills

Time waits for no printer, but 22-year-old Kieran Dale of Logick Print & Graphics, New Zealand, has nothing to worry about.

After four days of full-on competition, Dale proved that he can work under pressure with strong results, taking out bronze in the WorldSkills trade competition, Japan.

"I am over the moon," Dale said. "It was very intense during the competition and I had no idea how well I had done. The biggest challenge was producing high quality work in the limited time frame we had on the press."

Contestants at the WorldSkills competition were required to print a range of jobs including calendars, postcards and posters before being judged the following day.

An eye for detail ... Kieran Dale (pictured), hard at work at  WorldSkills.

For Dale, who began his apprenticeship at Logick Print & Graphics at the start of this year, this prize is an indicator of a promising future.

"To have this result is just unbelievable," said his boss, Dave Gick. "Kieran has a great attitude and has worked very hard over the last ten months to prepare for Japan."

This is the first time that a New Zealand printer has taken part in WorldSkills. PrintNZ chief executive Joan Grace believes that Dale's effort is proof of the quality of New Zealand printing.

"Kieran's win reflects our world-class training system and Kieran's commitment to putting 100 per cent into his job," she said.