Print industry training is undergoing a massive upheaval. Driven by the closure of one of the industry’s peak training providers, RMIT’s International Centre of Graphic Technology, the industry is bringing training into the tent. The Printing Industries Association of Australia (PIAA) has grasped the baton, setting up a special agency to transform training and bring it into the digital age and beyond. 

The PIAA is not only seeking to attract more people to the industry. It wants to broaden the industry’s footprint, giving it a bigger role in the Australian economy. The association wants to extend the skills base; the way to do that is by having a world-class training system. The PIAA wants people to stop thinking of printing as dirty old industry and start seeing it as a 21st-century communications sector.

Even without shove that was the RMIT shutdown, the training system needed to be fixed. Some former TAFE students have told ProPrint they were trained in college on out-of-date machines (see box, overleaf). The way training was being delivered made some less keen to get into print, particularly if they could make more money building apps, designing web sites or running call centres.

The catalyst for this seismic shift was the closure of one of Australia’s largest print schools, RMIT’s International Centre of Graphic Technology (ICGT) in April, ostensibly because industry decline meant it was attracting fewer students. 

RMIT had a point. Five years ago, 6,000 print firms were operating in Australia. That number has shrunk to, at most, 4,800, and that could be overstating things. Fewer print houses means fewer apprenticeships. 

To understand the thinking that went on behind RMIT’s decision, ProPrint contacted Simon Cochaud, who had been progressively raising his industry profile since being appointed ICGT director in early 2010. However, Cochaud would not answer ProPrint’s questions and, presumably on strict instructions from the school’s PR department, referred ProPrint to a press release RMIT had out at the time announcing the closure.

Ian Walz, who look after training and apprentice at the PIAA, says the drop-off in student numbers predated the GFC. In fact, it goes back 10 to 15 years. “I used to teach in TAFE and you’d get 250 in a class; you’d be lucky if you got 45 these days.”

RMIT blamed falling numbers for its decision. But PIAA chief executive Bill Healey says the school had told the trade body it did not believe there was a lack of interest in apprentices. They were shut-ting down the ICGT because they weren’t making enough money out of it, he says.

“What they said was they felt the delivery model tied up a large amount of capital through building facilities and the presses. All of that, associated with a standalone facility, made the delivery of apprenticeship training costly. They were of the view that if they had been able to move to a more on-the-job process, they could have stayed with the arrangement.”

Healey says RMIT decided to close it down because they saw other courses delivering more bang for the university’s bucks. “They are going to make more money out of that space in Brunswick running courses in design and fashion than they will in print. So it’s a straight commercial decision,” Healey says.

“We were disappointed when they used the industry decline to camouflage what was primarily a grab for more dollars.”

Private operator

A private training body, CLB Training & Development, has entered the sector. In July, it struck an arrangement with RMIT to buy training resources. Under the terms of the agreement, CLB will acquire all of the resources required to offer the printing qualifications and will offer a number of training programs. 

The PIAA was outraged that RMIT had sold its assets to a private training provider without first consulting the industry. Healey says that while CLB had something to offer, their prime focus is on the job delivery for large printers. That means SME operators will miss out.

“Our concern is that all printers who want to tap into the apprenticeship system have access to quality training,” he says. “Our understanding is [CLB’s] primary focus will initially be larger printers.”

CLB is a workforce development company with around 100 employees across four offices, with staff in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. It officially launched its training in foray into print training in mid-November. Some might call it a brave move, considering RMIT’s withdrawal and the general malaise over the sector. But CLB chief executive Gary Cobbledick says the agency was driven toward print by requests from its customers and “because we believe there is a market opportunity for a high-quality provider of print training services that is able to operate nationally and flexibly, with exceptionally high levels of client service”.

Cobbledick is confident that the private enterprise will see return on investment from its move. “CLB has a lower cost structure than most public institutions, and can, therefore, generate an acceptable economic return off a lower revenue base than a major TAFE or university.” 

He adds that CLB will also be able to underwrite the costs of the print training division by winning business across all states of Australia, and will not be limited to Victoria and Tasmania, as RMIT was.

Regarding the accusation that CLB will focus on larger players and neglect SMEs, Cobbledick says: “Approximately half of CLB’s current trainees and apprentices are from the SME sector, and half are from large companies, so we welcome clients regardless of their size.”

But he concedes that due to the nature of print training, there is some truth to the idea that larger companies will be easier to service. He explains that it is “generally easier to deliver a broad-based apprentice-ship programs at a large business that has a wide range of printing equipment than it is to deliver the same program at a small business with a very limited range”.

This will be the challenge for CLB. One option is to strike up partnership arrangements with print groups, to allow the training provider to “rent” resources. 

“We have already discussed ‘access agreements’ with several parties,” he says. “All providers of print training who do not own their own training facility will be facing similar challenges. Furthermore, we have not ruled out building our own print training facility, provided such a facility could be operated on a commer-cially viable and sustainable basis. We are open to the idea of working with other industry participants to develop and operate such a facility because the price tag is very high, both in terms of initial set-up and ongoing operation.”

He acknowledges that there was some initial resistance from the industry, and that the PIAA has been forthright in its criticism of the RMIT deal. “We under-stand the disappointment many people felt when RMIT announced its decision to close the ICGT. Many people, including PIAA members, felt a strong connection to the ICGT and perhaps a sense of ‘ownership’, so it is understandable that there was disappointment when RMIT announced its decision.”

However, he says RMIT was “very professional to deal with” and CLB has had “positive discussions with the PIAA”.

Swing into action

Following the fall-out over the RMIT decision, the PIAA swung into action and has taken over where TAFE was found lacking. It started its own national apprenticeship scheme in mid-July after receiving a $1.4 million Federal grant. It is also in the process of establishing a registered training organisation (RTO) after buying Intech, the training arm of Inprint, part of the IPMG group in Queensland. To head it up, it has recruited former PrintNZ chief executive Joan Grace. She has relocated to Melbourne. Grace has been hailed for revolutionising print training in New Zealand.

Healey would not detail how much the PIAA had paid for Intech but indicated it was a good deal. “I wouldn’t give the figure away but I think it’s reasonable… but more importantly, in buying the RTO, we also get the training resources they have been using to train apprentices.

“I don’t know if you can be much more serious than that. We have the training organisation, the pre-eminent person in training in Australasia is coming over to head it and the most important thing from our point of view is that we see this as an industry initiative.”

Will this training be on-the-job, in an institution or a mix of both? “Members in Victoria have indicated they like the traditional off-the-job model but I think you need a blended model,” he says.

“A lot of the stuff can be delivered in a work environment but there still needs to be a process where people have the opportunity to learn on equipment they might not get access to and also meet peers from outside their workplace so that they can share ideas and experiences. They are key parts of the traditional off-the-job model broadening your exposure to equipment but, more importantly, to people working in the industry.”

He says the PIAA is now working with unions to develop a training blueprint to be submitted to the Federal government. That might include putting more focus on broadening the range of experiences and skill sets.

“Coupled with this is an application we currently have in conjunction with the AMWU to look at the future of apprentices in the industry. Where are the areas and the skill sets that are needed? How do we actually develop those in a way that keep young people interested?”

The nature of training could change completely. “We recognise that the industry does need young people but it may not need young people developed in the same way that occurred 10, 20 or 30 years ago,” he says.

“Traditionally there was a very clear demarcation between the formal learning that occurs in TAFE and on-the-job learning. There is now an expectation that if more and more of the work is done in the workplace, there has to be an adequate supervision and more guidance of the apprentice than there was in the past. They have to look at the way they deal with young people and respond in a more contemporary way to the expectations of young people.

“We need printers to be a bit more open minded about what an apprenticeship is in the modern economy. What you find is there tends to be a view that the apprentice-ship experience is the same as that particular individual had. The world is a very different place than what it was 20 years ago,” says Healey.

Broad scope

Joan Grace says the RTO is only one part of the agenda to reshape training for the digital age. At this stage, she says, everything is on the table. “We need to think of my role as part of a national workforce strategy with the RTO as one aspect of that,” Grace says. “It’s about what the industry wants, and it’s our job to make sure they get it.

“We have purchased the RTO, we have that in place now. There is an ongoing capital cost but there are lots of ways of doing it. I have been bought in to look at the range of options that are there.”

She says the concept of an apprentice-ship needs to be redefined and made more relevant to attract younger people and broaden the industry’s base. “We have an issue over all industries making sure young people understand what the apprenticeship actually means.

“It’s a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing in that people look at it as a good start and there’s backing behind it but it’s a bit of a curse because some of our younger people see it as old-fashioned, about a very narrow range of occupations mainly for young men. 

“What we have to do is make sure that we use the terms ‘apprenticeship’ as something that encompasses pretty exciting roles that young people can take in a broadly defined industry.”

Don’t get blinkered

She says that rather than get blinkered by traditional ideas about what constitutes print training, people should realise that the modern industry requires skills as diverse as web development, graphic design and complex data manipulation. Digital printing creates a need for a whole range of different skills. Grace says that beyond the specific training, today’s graduates require a far broader grounding. 

“Do they need to know about workflow? Do they need to know about substrates? Do they need to know about safety? Do they need to know about maintenance? Do they need to know about a whole range of skills that are transferable across a whole range of occupations in their industry. They need a firm base of skills.

“Clearly workplaces are changing. Areas like lean manufacturing, environmental quality management are part of the apprenticeship and we need to make sure they are well embedded in it. Certainly, computing and IT skills are just part of working but I am sure good young people coming out of the Australian schools have those skills.”

Grace wants to see a change in mindframe away from pigeonholing people’s skills based on the equipment they run, and more about the applications they create and services they deliver. 

“We have tended to define it based on some hard skills under the machinery but actually when you talk to anybody who employs a qualified printer, they want problem-solving skills, team working skills – all of those things as well. And they get them, It’s just that we don’t necessarily recognise them all the way through. 

“I’m not saying we have a bunch of apprentices out there who can’t problem solve or deal with customers, but we need to make sure we place appropriate emphasis on some of those soft skills as well as the skills of actually running the machinery. They have always had those soft skills, it’s just not how we have defined the qualifications.”

Committed to education

IPMG is one company totally committed to training: it is part of the corporate culture. The group, which includes two of the country’s biggest web printers, Offset Alpine Printing and Hannanprint, is known for award-winning work, and this leans on well-trained staff. At some companies, training is the first thing to go when money is tight; but when IPMG is looking for cost savings, it doesn’t see apprentice recruitment and training as first in line for the chop.

Michael Kinninmont, managing director of Offset Alpine, says the biggest challenge is funding the capital costs at training institutions.

“State-of-the-art facilities for training at registered organisations are no longer available,” Kinninmont says. “Printing is such a highly capitalised and technology-driven industry that funding for continual investment in training equipment has become a real challenge. Registered training organisations can still provide the theory component of training, but we need to be careful not to lose the valuable asset of craft and precision.”

He says two drivers have reduced print training numbers. “Our industry is looking to reduce spending in a tough economic climate. Adding staff and the associated costs of training have become difficult for some companies to justify.”

Add to that the ill-informed claims the sector is dying. “The print and paper industry has suffered through ill-informed statements regarding the environment and other competing channels. This in turn has surely turned some people away from our industry as a career choice.”

He says printers need new strategies to turn that around. The most important is to focus on training because that’s where the future lies.

“We would suggest that as an industry, we should be placing apprentice recruit-ment and training further down the list of cost-cutting activities. We have a responsibility to keep our industry strong and this only comes from well-trained staff being able to carry the skills forward. 

“To make our industry more attractive and a serious career option for young people, we [Offset Alpine] work with local schools, TAFE colleges, career advisors and councils to promote our company and our industry. 

“This includes organised tours, work experience and involvement in career days. If this type of initiative could be replicated across the country and coordinated using the resources of the PIAA, we are very confident of major improvements,” says Kinninmont.

“We are a technology-based industry with such a wide offering of career choices however, others outside our industry need to be exposed to them. We have a very good story to tell.” 

Bridging the gap digital skills

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