Heiko Riecken has been named as the recipient of the LIA NSW Heidelberg Graduate of the Year Award at a ceremony held at Industrial Print in Lithgow and attended by a number of printing industry leaders.

An apprentice, at the mature age of 58, Riecken began work at Industrial Printing in 1991 after marrying into the family and has worked for the business for 25 years, including taking a four year break.

Riecken was nominated for the award by his TAFE teacher, Terry Nolan, in December last year.

“Heiko is a highly skilled operator, and everything he does is very precise and it is hard to match his accuracy and quality of what he does,” said Industrial Printing general manager, Steve Scott.

“We have one other apprentice who is in the second year of TAFE, and we value tradesmen so like to put apprentices on and train them up ourselves.”

Riecken hopes he can set an example for other apprentices.

“It is an amazing privilege; it is unplanned and unexpected to have this recognition. I hope other older and mature workers in the industry go for their trade certificate,” Riecken said.

“I enrolled in TAFE for Certificate Three run printing as I wanted to have a Trade Certificate because I have never had any formal qualifications.

“It was wonderful to go to TAFE and fill in the gaps that I still had in the theory, chemical conductivity, PH levels and also colour management and digital printing areas which I did not have a good grasp of.

“To me, it was challenging and also very helpful for my practical execution of my printing tasks and gave me a broader spectrum of different types of printing I had not been involved in.

“Printing is a wonderful field of technology, skill and experience and we have seen it change over the last 25 years. But, it is still a very important part of the industry in Australia and there will always be colour put on some sort of substrate, and even though it seems the printing industry is decreasing, there will always be printing, packaging, signage and books, and even though printing is less, it is not finished and it is worthwhile to learn it and worthwhile to participate.”

Riecken’s first job was on a Ryobi 522PF machine.

“We were trying to do four colour work and that was a big challenge as it had water form rollers and had to be washed up between runs after two colours before the other two colours went on – so it was a long process, with about two hours of changeover,” he said.

Heidelberg A/NZ managing director Savas Mystakidis congratulated Riecken on his achievements and reiterated his belief in awards such as this as invaluable for the industry.

“On behalf of Heidelberg, congratulations to Heiko. It is a pleasure to be associated with this award and something that is now 48 years old, and will keep going. We will get to 50 very soon, which is incredible,” Mystakidis said.

“It is one of those awards that is truly important to the industry. I have always said we will keep supporting it as much as we can because this is the future and we have to embrace the apprentices coming through and printing businesses whether they are a $50 million business or a $100,000 business – whoever is there contributing to the industry, employing people and keeping our industry vibrant and alive is the most important thing. Heiko is one of the oldest apprentices I have met and it shows it is never too late to learn and to keep learning in life and pick up new skills and to keep adapting.”

Visual Connections president Mitch Mulligan was also in Lithgow for the announcement.

“Industrial Print has sponsored an older apprentice to come through their business, which is a great thing for us as an industry because we retain the skill sets in our industry – he can then go on and teach and mentor people coming into the industry,” Mulligan said.

“From a Visual Connections point of view, we are always keen to support the LIA and every two years we have the scholarship prize of $10,000. It is the recognition of excellence and the promotion of that is what we are about and that way we can give back to the industry. Previously as GAMMA, and now Visual Connections, we have supported this award for as long as Heidelberg have.

“Apprentices are the lifeblood and the future of our industry. They are the energy behind it and we need to keep attracting new people into our industry because it is a vibrant industry that is not going away any time soon. Printing and packaging will be here for a long time and it is also localised manufacturing so it ticks so many boxes.”

LIA NSW President, Angus Scott, recognised Heidelberg’s commitment to the Graduate of the Year Award.

“The relationship with Heidelberg dates back to 1972, when the first LIA/Heidelberg Graduate of the Year Award began. This will be the 48th year of continuous support. In addition, Heidelberg has sponsored accommodation and air fares for two apprentices from each state to the LIA Biennial Apprenticeship Awards.

“LIA also recognises Visual Connections as an integral partner and through a generous sponsorship Visual Connections donates $10,000 on a biennial basis. Known as the Biennial Apprenticeship Awards, next to take place in 2021, where the National winner will receive the Visual Connections/LIA National Graduate Scholarship Prize.”

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