Good quality, focused training will not cost you anything, in fact the reverse is true it will not only save you money but will give you the opportunity to increase profitability.
To run a simple check on the knowledge and understanding of members of your team select the appropriate "Skill Evaluation" below
Screen Printing Quiz
Textile Screen Printing Quiz
Pad Printing Quiz
Stencil Making Quiz
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It is important to remember that your printers and staff are more vital to your company than any equipment. Their skills and abilities are what your company relies on to produce high quality products, with the minimal rejects, in the most efficient time.
Training is often overlooked or thought of as secondary, but having properly trained staff can be one of the key differences in a company's success or failure. Having the most sophisticated and up-to-date equipment is useless if the people you have operating it do not understand what they are doing or that each printer has a different way of setting up the equipment, producing wildly different results.
Like any other engineering process, printing requires skill and understanding and the best way to achieve this is through proper training.
Many user companies consider that printing demonstrates a lack of consistency not experienced in other production processes and it is this variability that can inhibit performance. This has resulted in the printing industry recruiting "Skilled Printers" from competitors. This has led to stagnation in the level of skill in the industry, with a band of itinerant printers who move from company to company carrying their bad habits with them. The effect of this is to reduce the pool of genuinely skilled printers whilst the need for them is growing at an ever increasing rate.
Particularly in screen printing, very expensive, sophisticated machinery is coming into a competitive industry and control of all aspects of this equipment is essential. Downtime and rejects will destroy the viability of these new technologies and the need is for more highly skilled operators and technicians. Screen, pad, and digital printing can be turned into a predictable production processes.
The greatest causes of variables are the techniques that the printer adopts, along with ambient conditions and the quality of consumables. All these elements will be addressed in a structured training programme. Whether you are using a hand fed single colour machine or a fully automated multi-colour line the same principles and techniques can be applied.
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Here are some of the most common comments for both taking up training or ignoring it.
REASONS FOR TRAINING
- Staff loyalty and morale will increase. At last somebody cares.
- Correct planning and scheduling ensure production remains unaffected. The assessment or practical element of the training will usually takes place on production jobs.
- Research shows that pay is not the highest motivator but things such as job satisfaction, praise and a good working environment come high on the list.
- Training is relevant to everyone in a company and at all levels. A manager or director participating in the training programme demonstrates the importance and the commitment of the company. Nobody knows everything, as trainers we are in a continuous learning curve.
- Savings will be seen in reduced rejects.
- Savings will be seen in better use and care of consumables.
- Profit will be increased by reduced machine down time.
- Profit will be increased by faster and more efficient production.
EXCUSES AGAINST TRAINING
- My staff will all leave once they are trained.
- It will interfere with or stop production.
- If they think they know more they'll want more pay.
- I don't want them to know more than me. (Also called the mushroom syndrome; keep them in the dark and throw manure at them).
- Cost……
- Cost……
- Cost……
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