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One of the most important lessons I have received throughout my experience as an entrepreneur and businessman is the importance of order, structure, and processes. You may not be aware of it yet, but the order, structure, and processes of a company are an important part of its identity; they are the core of its growth strategy and even part of its branding.


If we reflect more deeply on this aspect we will notice that order, structure, and processes are present even in the most complex and wonderful facts that nature provides. 


For example, children are gestated, born, and grow in order. Numbers are consecutive. Operating systems are more efficient to the extent that they organize information better. In short, everything has an order and when this order is subverted, failures occur. I fervently believe that disorderly growth will sooner or later force a restructuring to regain order.



 The case of the digital printing industry


My years of experience in the digital printing area and my business intuition tells me that something is happening in this industry that could force it to pause its acceleration and restore order to regain a logical and organized growth.


All this has to do with the technology boom in digital printing that floods the market is also linked to the lag in the skills and professionalization of operators of technology applied to digital printing. 


In my social networks and website, I constantly talk about this topic; I invite you to visit them and learn more about it. However, below I will explain my statement.


It happens that every day more and better printing machines come out to the market. In my opinion, they all have only one purpose. Can you imagine what it is? In my opinion, it is to show who has the best technology and which of these machines adapts more comfortably to the budget of each sector.

 

But these companies forget an important factor. A link in the chain that could slow down the growth of the digital printing industry and, consequently, that of their own companies despite their technological advances. 


Of course, I am referring to the human factor, to the operators of digital printing technology.



Demand, technology, and specialization


It is a recurring theme in my social networks and my website (I invite you to visit them) the fact that in the digital printing industry there is an overabundance of offers of machinery for digital printing. There are offers from well-known brands, unknown companies, and from different latitudes. They all seek to differentiate themselves; many do not offer the support or continuity to ensure the investment made.


To this, we must add that there are specific printers for specific printing technology available. That is, water, solvent, and UV, among others. Companies are trying to build printing equipment with technology to produce as many products as possible with the same machine and the same ink.


This scenario brings several immediate consequences:



This is where the importance of the digital operator's profession lies. Let me explain.


Importance of the digital operator's profession


The world is advancing by leaps and bounds towards digitalization. I never tire of saying that soon all traditional printing systems, I am talking about screen printing, flexography, offset and others will completely replace their printing forms with digital technologies.


This is an opportunity in many ways if we look at it from the right perspective. If you are an operator or want to immerse yourself in the world of digital printing, you have before you endless opportunities.


Until now, the operator's job has been undervalued. Just look at how the operator profile is described in advertisements where you are required: "Your duties in this career are to operate a computer, its digital printing programs, and the printers...Your responsibilities also include collaborating with other team members, including printers and project managers."


Likewise, we have seen advertisements requesting the service of a sort of overqualified operators, who have the ability to handle within the same company, different types of printers, with different RIPs, different technologies, and different materials. All at the same time and for a very low remuneration.


As you can see, this underestimation comes from their employers, but above all, it comes from the operator himself who does not yet have the capacity and expertise to demonstrate how much he is worth. 


Therefore, it is in your hands to change this situation. The first thing you should do is to get to know your labor market. 


In doing so, you will realize that you have many opportunities for growth within the framework of your profession, and these development opportunities are linked to your ability to professionalize yourself.


Letting you know this is the raison d'être of the website I created. I invite you to visit it. In the information published on my site, I reiterate that the operator's job is important because it will be increasingly necessary to have professionals who really know the digital printing industry. 


I am not only referring to the handling, maintenance, and technical service of a printer. But to understand why it happens to be able to solve situations that are experienced daily in any printing plant such as: why bubbles are coming out when laminating or fingerprints are coming out in the prints.


Understanding what is happening and why will help you to operate and supervise the work performed by the machines, regardless of their level of technology. You will also be able to analyze the scenarios that arise in the printing company and make proposals to improve procedures and save costs in the company in which it provides its services. In this way, you will be able to contribute to the growth of the company where you work and enhance your work as an operator.


Limiting factors?


It is clear that until now there have been no serious mechanisms or initiatives to begin to educate our industry in an orderly manner. There are only training proposals from recognized brands that vaguely instruct how to operate their equipment and how to maintain it.


I know of no education initiative in the area that provides guidance as to why things should be done one way and not another or instruction on how the technology works, but in depth. 


In fact, many of the machine technicians currently active in the market have not gone through serious learning courses on digital printing. They have the merit of having been trained through sacrifice, trial and error and interpreting concepts learned in some course of some specific machine, and with that they assume what is their own truth without having a correct and broad base to assume those truths. This is not ideal.


One consequence of this panorama is that there are a number of operators in the industry who are nothing more than survivors of this gap in the industry. I have classified them according to their origin, talent, and ability to adapt.


Let me explain it better with a series of analogies drawn from the world of sports. Read carefully and identify what type of operator you are.

 

These are the operators who started in the printing company as designers and came to the digital printing presses due to a presumed relationship between design and printing, which was relocated to the operator position. Something similar to what happened with Lee Revino who started his career as a Caddy and ended up with an outstanding career as a professional. 

 

Because of their outstanding work and knowledge of computers and electronics, the employers of these operators thought that running printing equipment would be easy for them and they didn't make it to the top either.

 

Something similar happened in the professional history of the outstanding player Michael Jordan when, at the peak of his basketball career, he thought he had enough talent to excel in the big leagues.

 

The story of this great swimmer, who has the largest number of Olympic medals in history, is known to all. His specialty was perhaps the 100-meter freestyle, but he managed to consolidate himself in several categories and styles where he saw the opportunity to stand out. In a similar line, the "Felps" operators would be those workers who entered the company and stood out in each of the positions where they were placed and gave the task of covering all the positions until they ended up in the operator position. 

 

This operator profile corresponds to those who have stood out as operators of printing machines in all the visual communication companies where they have rendered their services. However, when it came to their opportunity to consolidate in a company/industry where something more than being a printer is needed to migrate or adapt the digital technology, they did not succeed.

 

Ernie Banks

Mr. Cub was named to the All-Century team and was a first ballot Hall of Famer. He finished his great career with 512 home runs, 14 All-Star game selections, and two MVP awards. Unfortunately, Banks never played in a playoff game of any kind.

 

Among the profiles described, this is the most modest. These are operators who are very sure of their "knowledge" and based on it believe they can do it all and get where they want but in the end, they don't make the grade. 

 

This is similar to the case of John Wall of the Houston Rockets, for whom they paid a very high amount of money to be traded and he failed to prove his ability. He ended up hurting the team rather than helping it.

 

This profile is located by many owners of digital printing companies. They are those who were in charge of selling, processing, printing, and invoicing in the company. 

 

A profile very similar to that of Pete Rose, who was the player-manager of the Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1986. However, he was never able to get very far in the difficult task of doing it all.

 


Test your knowledge of digital printing now by logging on to my website.



The operator the industry needs


I've already told you that there are too few operators who are professionalized and therefore know the industry well enough to stand out. I have also warned you that this could stall the growth of digital printing companies, but you can prevent this from happening. How? By educating yourself, by dedicating yourself to understanding the potential of your trade and making the most of it.


In other words: by becoming my vision of a crack operator. This type of operator will be the one who will drive digital printing technology forward the fastest.

My experience as a printing company owner, a developer of products for the visual communication industry, and a specialist in digital printing leads me to the conclusion that a crack operator must have the following qualities to be able to help the company/industry where he/she is to grow steadily. 



My ideal operator


1.- Has general knowledge of the digital printing industry.


Knowing how this area is doing and where it is going will help you understand the future of the company you are in and how you can help it overcome obstacles and make it more productive.


2.- You must understand, at an advanced level, the theories of color.


So you can apply them to important issues such as profiling materials, machines, and inks.


3.- He has knowledge of the basic theories of digital printing technologies. 


A crack operator knows how digital printers work, where they can fail and what to look for when they do. In addition, he knows the advantages and disadvantages of each technology and each machine. 


This knowledge will lead him to be able to establish which is the technology and printer that best suits the products that are made in the company and/or industry where he is. In this way he will be able, among other things, to advise properly about what equipment to buy.


4.- Understand the basic theories about digital inks.


The basic knowledge of inks will help a lot in the independence of the company and will contribute to the reduction of production costs and manufacturing times. In this sense, the crack operator must know how to choose the best option for your printing machine, which is the ink that can get more out of it according to its attributes, and how to evaluate an alternative ink leaving aside the pressures and strategies of the manufacturers of the machines.


5.- Know about materials, their characteristics, and the differences between them.


It is important that the operator knows the virtues and limitations of the products he uses. For example, he must know how to evaluate if an ink anchor or not on a banner or vinyl because there is a migration of plasticizers or it is a problem with the ink.


Of course, there are other knowledge and skills that an operator who wants to excel in the digital printing industry must have. If you want to know more about it visit my website and my social media. There is a lot of information there that will help you to improve your performance, contribute to the growth of the company where you work, and help to give order to the growth of the digital printing industry.