The winds of change: 10 March 2010

Print21 catches up with news faces in the industry as manroland rolls out four new engineers, while RMIT finally gives the official word on Robert Black’s replacement.

manroland stays on a roll
Four new engineers have joined manroland to help the company expand its print services products. The team includes two sheetfed electrical engineers, one based in Melbourne and one in Sydney and one mechanical sheetfed engineer based in Sydney.

The team of engineers bring with them 45 years experience in supporting offset printing presses and came at a time when manroland is expanding its Printservices products to meet customer’s demands of proactive service and support enabling the manroland presses to be more efficient and productive.

Managing director, Steve Dunwell, welcomed the new employees on board. “It’s great to expand the team in Australia as a result of the customers supporting our new organisation and us working closely with them,” he said.

manroland has also expanded its TSC (TeleSupportCentre) with an additional web technician who comes with 14 years experience in the printing industry. The successful TSC department has been in operation in Australia for the last 10 years supporting web presses remotely around the world.

Pictured: Stan Presdee, Mechanical Service Engineer, Sheetfed (left) and Sam Sfameni, Electrical Service Engineer, Sheetfed (right) based in Sydney.


Simon heads back to school
Astute readers wondering whatever happened to the well-liked Robert Black may have noticed Print21 announced his replacement several weeks ago. However, the official word from RMIT has only just been released, confirming Simon Cochaud as director of the school’s International Centre of Graphic Technology.

Cochaud (pictured)has a background in the printing industry. Prior to joining RMIT University in January, Cochaud was manager – marketing and media – school of business, at Swinburne University, where his role was to manage a portfolio of six academic streams including, marketing, international trade, retail management, advertising, public relations and property.

“This is a very exciting and unique opportunity for me,” he told Print21. “The centre appealed to me for its great reputation and facilities.”

Already, he has wasted no time in giving the school an overhaul to maintain relevance and keep up with industry trends. “Currently we are undertaking an internal programs review, assessing each program, its structures, and delivery methodology and career and employment outcomes from the student's perspective," he said.

Since taking on the job, Cochaud has overseen the inception of several new initiatives including a school-based apprenticeship program, where students spend three days per week at school, one day at the ICGT and one day at an employer for 12 to 18 months before receiving a certificate 2 in printing.

Other initiatives under consideration will revolve around design focus,
ISO accreditation, lean manufacturing and sustainability.