FORUM 2023 Preview: How to Find ‘em, Train ‘em and Keep ‘em

FORUM 2023 Session Spotlight

Monday, April 17, 2023
8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Find ‘em, Train ‘em, Keep ‘em: 21st Century Flexographer

Session Chairs: Bobby Congdon, Clemson University and Hank Welter, TC Transcontinental

The Slate of Presenters and Panelists:

• Shawn Oetjen, AWT Labels & Packaging
• Claudia St. John, Affinity HR
• Kevin Dittman, Graphic Packaging International
• Jason Barrier, Printpack
• Sabrina Baez, Sun Chemical
• Regan Mercado, California Polytechnic State University
• Josh Sigmon, Harper Corporation of America

Today’s workforce is more diverse than ever, requiring a creative, blended approach that can work for anyone and everyone—Boomers to Gen Z.

In an effort to better understand how we, as an industry, can bring together the needed—let’s say essential—tools and processes, we have assembled a panel and speakers spanning multiple generations, to provide their insight into how to best recruit, train and retain staff.

Our hope is to provide you with a better understanding of what motivates each generation and ways to approach its members. We’re chasing, collecting and plan on providing you with take-home strategies that you can apply to your workforce.

Keep one thing in mind. Call it a caveat, if you will: What has worked in the past may not work today! So, this session aims to:

• Explore new ideas and viewpoints
• Spark discussion
• Provoke thought on how we might better approach workforce development

Wouldn’t your time be better spent focusing on production, rather than constantly hiring and retraining new employees?

Our session will present a diverse range of viewpoints to help printers better understand what works and what doesn’t in attracting a skilled workforce, providing training to those employees as they advance their careers, and ultimately, keeping them in the operation so the focus can shift away from a never-ending cycle of turnover.

Additionally, engaged and well-trained employees will increase efficiency and quality as less time is spent on basic skills training and more on value-added functions.

That’s essentially what is motivating today’s original equipment manufacturers to continue to bring innovative equipment and processes to the marketplace. The industry is recognizing and counting on these innovations for a reduction in direct labor hours required to produce like products.

Better news still is that there are significant efforts underway to automate and simplify the legacy equipment that still dominates the production floor. These efforts, which in the past may have been seen as too costly for the return, are now seen as critical to assist and at times even replace the operators. That’s not a call for a reduction in force; it’s a means to accommodate challenging circumstances. Automation is critical to moving forward at a time when employers cannot find, hire or replace talent as openings arise.

These technologies allow for the same amount of work to be completed by a reduced pool of employees and offer up an option for retraining of existing labor into more critical roles and allowing for improved earning opportunities and often a need for new skill sets, which can impact training and recruitment needs.

Production automation, workflow optimization and the use of modern equipment that reduces manpower needs certainly impacts recruitment strategies, as younger generations respond favorably to a demonstrated effort to modernize manufacturing processes.

While many of the existing positions still exist, some skill sets—and therefore training requirements—shift toward being able to maintain and troubleshoot more computerized machines.

Our panel consists of a cross section of people, some early in their careers with personal views on these topics as well as some with more experience and insight on how modernized equipment has shifted hiring and training practices at their manufacturing plants. The interactive discussion will prove eye opening and motivating at the same mind. Adapt their thoughts to formulate and implement the solution just right for your plant.

Learn more about all FORUM 2023’s sessions and register to attend the conference at forum.flexography.org.