What is happening to our industry?
This is my first posting to a blog and I'm really pleased to know that my views/opinions as someone searching for a job can be heard.
The decline within the print industry over the past ten years is alarming.
This has created a minefield for people actively searching for work, employers are reluctant in many ways when it comes to filling vacancies for none professional people or semi skilled [ the move to agency workers has escalated mainly unabated].The need for employers to open their eyes and realise that the actions they are taking now with the use of temporary labour who are not really interested in print and packaging will only add to the decline within our industry.
Less apprentices are enrolling today to learn the print skills that we will need for the future, in fact the print industry may become extinct [ for small busineses this in the main has happened].
Union & Employers need to work very closely now more than ever to attempt to save our industry from Eastern Europe & Asia.
For Joe or Jean Bloggs who are actively searching for full time employment within the industry the challenge is getting greater by the day. Many of the good Bindery Workers and logistic workers are leaving the idustry for good, Print assistants & printers are finding there are less job vacancies.
They will end up in the retail industry [ Napolian was right] we are a nation of shopkeepers!!!!
Employers please prove me wrong!!!!! As one of the many thousands who love this industry we need to take urgent action.
Michael Gill
Rushden, Northants
The decline within the print industry over the past ten years is alarming.
This has created a minefield for people actively searching for work, employers are reluctant in many ways when it comes to filling vacancies for none professional people or semi skilled [ the move to agency workers has escalated mainly unabated].The need for employers to open their eyes and realise that the actions they are taking now with the use of temporary labour who are not really interested in print and packaging will only add to the decline within our industry.
Less apprentices are enrolling today to learn the print skills that we will need for the future, in fact the print industry may become extinct [ for small busineses this in the main has happened].
Union & Employers need to work very closely now more than ever to attempt to save our industry from Eastern Europe & Asia.
For Joe or Jean Bloggs who are actively searching for full time employment within the industry the challenge is getting greater by the day. Many of the good Bindery Workers and logistic workers are leaving the idustry for good, Print assistants & printers are finding there are less job vacancies.
They will end up in the retail industry [ Napolian was right] we are a nation of shopkeepers!!!!
Employers please prove me wrong!!!!! As one of the many thousands who love this industry we need to take urgent action.
Michael Gill
Rushden, Northants
posted by Heidi Whitelock @ 10:02
4 Comments:
At 26 April 2007 at 11:24 ,
Anonymous said...
I notice that you are criticising the employers, but not coming up with a solution as to how they could do this.
How can they compete with lower costs, lower wages and larger volumes which are seen in Eastern Europe and Asia.
At 26 April 2007 at 14:37 ,
Anonymous said...
Anonymous- I believe as I said in my statement the need for Unions & Employers to work more closely in the future, this must be the way forward.
The time sensitive items should be easier to hold on to, but in general the difficulties are mounting by the day.
I have not got the answers as an individual for all the problems encountered because the Eastern Europeans and the Asian print industries have massive investment at their feet [ most of it from the big established western print companies] The development of the so called 3rd world must be at the top of the list, we need reasonable terms and conditions of employment throughout the globe.
If we work to improve the salaries and conditions of employment for the vulnerable we remove the exploitation of the big companies in these areas so our industry and workers will encounter a level playing field.
But by getting 1 response from Anonymous I have achieved getting someone thinking about the problems and perhaps in the near future a mass of people will come up with the solution to all our problems.
The fact that the response was very defensive and reacted in a way that suggested to me Anonymous is an employer perhaps now we stop thinking as individuals and work together to protect our industry for the future.
The Government must take responsibility for the decline in the Industry and do more to protect our companies.
I am sure we could do it as an organised body of people.
Michael
At 30 April 2007 at 09:45 ,
Anonymous said...
As well as time critical, we have found another way to win jobs is to provide that personal touch that internet/non local companies can't. We try and build up a relationship with our customers, so that it isn't just printing we provide, but advice on marketing, value for money, etc. That is something that we vaule from our suppliers. There will always be people who buy at the lowest cost and people who buy on value, not price. The trick is to find what your customers value and provide it. Our business has changed dramatically in the last 17 years--if it hadn't we would not still be in business.
At 26 June 2007 at 21:09 ,
Anonymous said...
As a buyer with a budget spanning over £7 million pa I deal with both European and UK based print, paper firms. Where we fall behind woefully is customer service, and investing in the future some suppliers seem to have forgotten who the client is and what they want! - Invest time in your clients at least twice a year - not taking them out for a beer but a real brainstorming excercise on where their budget is going?
I tend to agree with Nancy, printers need to diversify in to other areas but be realistic, if you can not do Digital then get a strategic partnership in place and don't be Greedy! - little and often is the key - Only today I was speaking to a printer who ships out he's digital printing to an oustde company and then whacks on 25% margin before putting in the price to the customer,me, whose own price from he's regular supplier was 3 times less than his! I'm now supplying him with digital print! The moral is you're not good at something pass on either a recommendation or invest in the kit.
But spend the time finding out what your customers spend their budgets on and invest to cater for this. If printers can't see beyond the end of their 5col B2 press they're dead.
This is why Print mangement companies are doing so well. The New MD of Communisis is changing the focus of the company to be more of a marketing services agency as the margins are higher and there is no profit in printing sections or print alone, and if you can be all things to to most customers and do it well the spend will increase, when I put out a DM job , it can mean employing a printer buying envelopes and a DM house to put it together and possibily using an alternative mailing company, after a meeting with a this supplier he has now made it worth my while to put the whole job with him saving me much needed time to spend on other projetcs, this may mean changing the focus of the company hiring a IT / data/ DM or Marketing Mgr to implement change.
As an examle of a success story. Look at some Repro houses and how they've had to change in probably the fastest changing sector over the last 5 years. Some are now making more out of Digital print than traditional repro page rates, others have invested heavily in DAM and workflow technology.
Don't be a leopard - become a camelion!
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