Old school and/or New press ?

[Darth Cantu]

Just because the presses have all this automation doesnt make the short term operator a pressman.. it takes time to be able to identify problems and resolve issues caused by variables such as bad water, bad paper ink problems. I work with a bunch of operators and very few accual pressmen. You can never replace 20 years exprience. Trouble shooting skills are the skills that save the day or the job.

Im sure you all have worked with atleast one pressman who has said "I have forgotten more about printing the you will ever know".....

So next time you see the new guy who thinks he knows his shit grab a knife full of magenta and ask him if he think the ink smells spoiled .... you probably know the rest... or ask him to go get you the left handed screw driver...

maybe the paper stretcher, or the box of half tones

[CSimpson]

To answer the original question...Experience means a lot!

I started running a QM-46 about 1 year ago and I had no prior experience running a press. In two days I was running jobs good enough for my in-plant; however, I would never go somewhere else and tell them I am a press operator much less an experienced pressman because even though most of my current customers don't see my mistakes I know I make a ton off them. Off course I don't have preset ink keys or densitometers to help me out, but I am also not running four colors either. I am sure an experienced pressman can detect and make the proper feed table adjustments much faster than me, and I am sure they a quicker at getting set-up with less waste than me, I would even say they can keep the machine in better working order than I can.

Sounds like your supervisor doesn't know much about what you do.

[SpeedKing]

Hi,

I thought I would try a post to see if I can clear up a discussion/aurgument thats been ongoing on my shopfloor. I have been a Printer/Supervisor for 20 years and have ran everything from a platen (remember them!) to a brand new SM74. In this time I have used various inking and dampening systems most of which were manually adjusted. So I believe that the experience I've built up benefits me, even though most of the manual skills on the press are not really needed.

However another Supervisor argues that you could train anybody up (within reason) on a SM74 and after a while (not 20 years!) they could do exactly the same job as someone with experience. The arguement being 'Does 20 odd years of experience on manual presses benefit anyone who runs a press with ink presetting, automatic sheet size/resize, auto pressure setting' etc.

I would really like to hear what you guys think.

Thanks, Lee

EXPERIENCE AND KNOW HOW IS EVEYTHING,if your good then you will adapt to something new,not everyone can print,let alone adapt!

[GazKL440]

At the end of the day a printer is a problem solver. We deal with issues relating to our machinery, the current stock, artwork etc. I think you can probably train any mug to run todays automated presses, but with a pressman who has busted his chops on old shit you have an operator who is generally on top of problems before they become major issue, and can see a problem and rectify before it becomes a costly drama or a re-print. Experienced operators minimise downtime and turn around time, whereas less seasoned operators can turn a small prob into a major f**k up in no time... without knowing how or why..I spent years on Solna's Akiyama's and an old busted arse Rekord that continually fell apart.. but we stll needed 100,000 sheets per day so you worked around problems and simply dealt with it.. i consider that experience invaluable today, and feel that it has given me a big edge over co-workers who have never seen a manual ink key or sewed dampener covers.. they may not be relevent to what i currently operate but when the shit hits the fan i have the answers

[SpeedKing]

At the end of the day a printer is a problem solver. We deal with issues relating to our machinery, the current stock, artwork etc. I think you can probably train any mug to run todays automated presses, but with a pressman who has busted his chops on old shit you have an operator who is generally on top of problems before they become major issue, and can see a problem and rectify before it becomes a costly drama or a re-print. Experienced operators minimise downtime and turn around time, whereas less seasoned operators can turn a small prob into a major f**k up in no time... without knowing how or why..I spent years on Solna's Akiyama's and an old busted arse Rekord that continually fell apart.. but we stll needed 100,000 sheets per day so you worked around problems and simply dealt with it.. i consider that experience invaluable today, and feel that it has given me a big edge over co-workers who have never seen a manual ink key or sewed dampener covers.. they may not be relevent to what i currently operate but when the shit hits the fan i have the answers

thats pretty much it.

[duct maestro]

Old men cant operate mobile phones never mind a fully automated machine. Yes maybe they have a good eye for colour? but as for the new toys on the machine I would say clueless.

[GazKL440]

Thats a pretty big call champ, generalisation tends to give ppl the shits.. Regardless of age or technological ability experience still carries a lot of weight, and if you wan to keep your job you keep ahead of the curve, by that i mean actively learning how and more importantly why new fangled tools work.. doing the hard yards and get an understanding of your technological aids.. My old company won awards printing 4 col work on a Solna125 with conventional dampening and not a densitometer in sight!

What do you do if the stock wont feed.. or you get marking, or screens are filling in, (insert endless list of probs here)

Do you call a rep and twiddle your thumbs while they charge $500 an hour to sort out something that a good operator intuitively has under control, or at the very least a few ideas that may resolve the problem and get the job done?

As for me, the tech or engineer are last resort, as i know how much it costs not only up front but in down time and productivity pressure.. and the aim of the game is to make money right? that would be the reason we aren't running platens any more..

[SpeedKing]

good point.

[gordo]

Thats a pretty big call champ, generalisation tends to give ppl the shits.

Well said. Thanks from a greybeard.

best, gordon p

my print blog here: Quality In Print

[SpeedKing]

Hello Gordo,your photography is brilliant,which cameras do you use? regards.