This article appeared in the March 2025 issue of Australian Printer, authored by Note Printing Australia’s Andrew Reynolds
2024 was an exceptional year for Note Printing Australia (NPA), showcasing that the Australian printing industry can hold its own on the world stage with product technology and quality.
With an expected, significant ramp up on print volumes at the commencement of 2024, one of our biggest challenges last year was increasing our workforce by approximately 20 per cent to cover increased future production capacities and capabilities. As we are all aware, finding skilled staff is always a challenge for our industry and training people takes time.
As we enter the new year, 2025 is looking very promising with NPA building strong relationships with customers and key stakeholders throughout the region and beyond.
In my role as a trainer, my focus is the challenge we face with an ageing workforce. At NPA, we are developing a long-term strategy for staff cross- training to develop and retain the skills in our specialised workforce. This includes our apprentices across our pre-production and print departments.
To support the TAFE training, NPA has invested in setting up a printing apprentice training centre with an offline press to conduct practical training away from the pressures of day-to-day production. Giving our apprentices the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in a training environment is going to be key contributor to a quality outcome for our apprentices and NPA.
This training model brings back memories from when I attended Croydon TAFE in Adelaide when they had a press room with training machines. It feels like we have gone back full circle to the ’80s focusing on hands-on skills development.
Our most valuable asset is our staff, so at NPA, we are also focusing on fostering and retaining our talent. We are doing this through capability development, employee empowerment, and maintaining a workplace that stays true to its values.
NPA works extremely hard on being an employer of choice. We know there are other work options out there, so we pay our staff well and offer excellent benefits. Further, having a safe and inclusive workplace supports a positive culture that drives staff engagement and productivity.
With such a specialised skill set we also have a strong focus on succession planning to pass on and retain knowledge within the business to support future generations through meticulous documenting of standard operating procedures, and work instructions, capability development through multi-skilling and apprentice training programs.
NPA has also launched a Cultural Roadmap aimed at fostering an engaged, empowered, skilled, motivated, and recognised workforce. The aspiration is to maintain cultural integrity, achieving social harmony, and embracing innovation while staying true to our values.
Our focus is to provide and continue to strengthen a safe and supportive culture for all employees. Part of this work has been implementing and sustaining the company’s core values which underpin our culture (respect, accountability, integrity, safety, excellence). These values serve as a foundation for how we work together, agree on priorities, and make decisions.
While our focus is on being an employer of choice, as an industry, we don’t promote print very well as a career of choice. How many children come through the school system with a career in printing on their wish list? Print is not dead, but it is changing.
We work in a great industry, and we need to promote the printing industry to schools and job seekers as a lifetime career – my parents did it 45 years ago. If every print company takes on just one additional apprentice in 2025, how much healthier will the industry look for future generations?
In addition, with growing concerns about climate change and resource depletion, the print industry will likely place a stronger emphasis on sustainability this year. This will include the increased use of recycled materials, plant-based inks, and sustainable paper sources.
Carbon offset programs, zero-waste practices, and energy-efficient printing technologies will become more widespread. In our market, keeping ahead of security/counterfeiting threats is always a high priority. This is an ongoing focus to stay ahead of threats with cutting edge products and processes.
With an ever-increasing level of competition across the industry, we also need to work towards efficiencies in reducing waste while still maintaining quality. Looking beyond the waste that goes in the bin, but across all aspects of waste within the business to remain competitive. Having a process-driven business drives continuous improvement and consistency. NPA’s current strategic focus on sustainability is climate action, with emissions tracking based on a 2019 baseline.
As the business has evolved significantly since 2022, NPA is in the process of revising its sustainability strategy. In the meantime, NPA’s key sustainability initiatives for 2025 include sourcing its energy from onsite solar and from grid-based green sources, with the longer-term goal of transitioning to green energy, as well as significantly reducing its landfill waste.
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