I want to know if I am the only one greatfull to still be in this business but took a 33 percent paycut. I came from the day a press operator was valuable and the most difficult postion to fill in a printshop. (I feel it still is). I have run color copiers and was a digital specialist in three months. I have been printing for 35 years. the learning, mastering, experience and skills gained over that time I hope are still of value. We are experts, mechanics, scientists, chemists and the best problem solvers. A small line showing up on a piece coming out of a copier gets a service tech in right away. (service contracts, click charges, unexperienced people in this field). A problem with a printing press in management eyes is the press operators fault and they must be doing something wrong.
Offset printing is a craft and always will be. It takes years of experience to become a well rounded press operator. It is a field where once you think you know it all there are a thousand more things you were not aware of. Paper has multiple topics to learn, Felt side, wire side, Kaolin, grain direction, card stock, cast coating, coated, uncoated, Calendaring, watermarks, fourdrinier machines, Pulp compostion; woodfree, containing wood, containing wastepaper and containing rag, paper weights, absorption properties, etc. Ink properties and types can keep you learning for years, thixotrophy, tack, dynamic viscosity, body/vehicles, binders, fillers, pigments, varnish types, ICC Profiles, solvent carrier, oxidaton, drying characteristics, UV ink, Oil based, Soy based, Rubber, rheological characteristics, ink splitting, coatings; aqueous and UV, etc. (And this is only for offset printing, there are a whole new range of ink properties when you start talking about Gravure, Letterpress, Flexography, Dry toner based, ink jet, thermal dye sublimation, etc.) Then you have your dampening solution knowledge (Except on the QMDI), alcohol substitutes, alcohol, PH, conductivity, particulates, surface tension, temperature, water hardness, Reverse Osmosis, buffer agents, antimicrobe additives, etc. Who can forget print related issues, Offset, chalking, picking, piling, drying, hickeys, scratching, doubling, slurring, toning/scumming, register, crazing, fisheye, curling, stretching, wrinkling, etc. And a new realm of learning in the department of Color Management, Color space, Delta E, spectrophotometry, density, hue, metamerism, Kelvin, L*a*b*, color bars, gray balance, G7, additive color, subtractive color, RGB, CMYK, characteristic curves, mini spots, dot gain, ISO 12647-2, polarized, unpolarized, Delta E possible, etc. These were just off the top of my head, the list literally goes on and on, as you stated it takes years to master. You do not pick this up over night. We actually offer evaluations to our customers which assess the skills of their press operators and then we develop training programs based on those results. Printing is a craft that is still valued and there are press operators that are compensated well for possessing this knowledge. I think the rest of this thread should be dedicated to press operators listing their own print related topics that I have not mentioned. (Turbotom I know you have a few...)
