PROFILE OF PETER KIDDELL

Peter is an engineer by training a printer by choice and a teacher by predilection. He joined the industry in the 1970's and has progressed through various stages starting first in equipment sales, then as a Director of a Reprographic company after which he set up his own printing company with production facilities in Yorkshire and South Wales. Starting first with Pad Printing and then Screen Printing he gained a vast knowledge of operating and managing these processes in a very challenging market place with many household names and multinationals as clients. As a sub-contract printer there could be no compromise on quality and very tight deadlines had to be met. Peter's engineering approach came into play with the adoption of close process control to maintain consistency, keep machine downtime to a minimum and have zero defects.

This approach to printing was carried over to PDS Consulting; the company started by Peter and his business partner Carol Swift who had been Technical and Production Director in his printing company. The aim of PDS Consulting is to develop best practice in all aspects of production in printing companies or companies that use printing as part of their production process. Over the 16 years of trading PDS Consulting has become the foremost consultancy in this area with clients, many of who are household names, throughout the world. Working with a whole range of printing process, now increasingly digital printing.

Peter with his company PDS Consulting has broken new ground with the development of a highly innovative Internet based e-learning package for Screen Printing. This unique program is a distillation of his expertise and provides essential content for novices and experienced practitioners of the process. Currently this course is being translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish and most recently German. Other languages are proposed. Also in build are courses on Digital Printing, Pad Printing and Advanced Stencil Production. PDS Consulting are also producing bespoke Internet based training for applications other than print, with management and supervisory courses for specific clients.

As Screen Print Editor of Screen Process and Digital Imaging Magazine (SPDI) Peter reaches out to an audience in the UK. His regular column in FESPA WORLD Magazine is translated into several European languages to achieve a Europe wide readership. He also contributes to ScreenPrinting Magazine in the USA.

Peter is a regular presenter on a range of print related topics at seminars throughout the UK, Europe, Asia and the USA.

A member of the Board of The Digital and Screen Printing Association UK Limited for several years Peter is currently its President. He is charged with addressing the needs of a rapidly changing market by developing a new range of services for the expanding market.

Ever optimistic Peter is constantly looking for new challenges and at motivating others to get the best from their strengths with one key belief. “Enjoy life and just do it!”

He can be contacted on: peter.kiddell@pdsconsulting.co.uk