KEY POINTS:
Qualification: Screen-printing Apprenticeship (Level 4 National Certificate).
Where: PrintNZ.
Contact: 0800 654 455 or (04) 569 2804; info@printnz.co.nz; printnz.co.nz.
Training costs: Custom and practice of industry that employers pay costs.
Entry requirements: Open entry from range of backgrounds.
We're familiar with screen-prints on T-shirts and packaging, but screen-printers also leave their mark on products as diverse as house appliances, Eftpos machines, speedometers and cellphones.
Industry training organisation PrintNZ provides apprenticeships for screen-printers; a process involving ink passing through screens to print items on a wide range of materials.
Screen-print apprentices learn how to select and prepare screens and make stencils. They learn colour theory, design and layout and knowledge of inks, dyes and additives. They learn about different types of substrates and their characteristics, handling and storage. They also learn measurements and workplace calculations.
PrintNZ also provides apprenticeships in other related printing roles, including reel-fed and sheet-fed printing, binding and finishing, direct mail and fibreboard packaging.
THE APPRENTICE
Glen Simpson, 22
Permark Industries
I always wanted a trade - a hands-on job - but I wasn't very good at woodwork at school and I'd never heard of printing.
After school I worked a bit, then did a course in screen printing at AUT. I heard about this Permark screen-printing apprenticeship through AUT, got an interview and landed the job. I started November last year.
I like the variety of things that come through at Permark. We print on everything really; plastics, membranes, metal tags. We even print conductive silver ink onto treated aluminium or stainless steel.
There's lots of detail to get your head around, like learning the processes to follow and right inks to use with different materials.
Although operating a printing machine is not hard in itself, there are many things to think about when using it, such as how adjusting one part of it will affect another.
You have to communicate well and like working in a team. I spend a lot of time running after the printers, asking them where they are at and what they need because my job at the moment is making their screens.
Washing the screens is the worst part of the job, but it isn't that bad. The best part is seeing the end product in a shop.
The apprenticeship takes around 3 1/2 years. The theory is done through correspondence. I tend to do my study in bursts but you'd keep on top of it easily if you did about half an hour a night.
The assignments tie the theory into work. I've just done one on machine maintenance, looking at when maintenance should be done on each machine and the different types of oil required; things like that. If I don't understand anything, I ask my supervisor or one of the other printers.
There are three verbal assessments - about one per year, depending how fast you go through the course and then there are two final four-hour practical assessments.
You don't have to be good at drawing to do this job; just practical and interested in how things come together. I really like it and will probably be doing it for quite a while.
THE EMPLOYER
David Jack
Manager
Permark Industries
Permark has 45 staff, of which eight are printers. Of those, four are what I call hardened printers and four are in various stages of apprenticeships. We take on a new apprentice every year or so, depending on staff turnover and the economy.
We are industrial precision screen printing and custom design specialists. Permanence is the key because our applications must last. The print on steel tanks must be able to endure continual washing with acid or bleach.
We've been fortunate in the past that AUT ran a screen-printing course. Glen came from that course. It is disappointing AUT has stopped that course because it helped many young people explore the idea of printing.
Screen-printing apprentices needs to be able to pay attention to detail, show initiative and enjoy an industrial environment. A number of our machines have digital settings so they need to be able to deal with computer-based settings.
We like the PrintNZ training approach because they ensure apprentices learn and develop the breadth of knowledge and skills associated with screen-printing; such as setting up frames, mixing inks, and following processes for one colour, multi-colour and four-colour printing. Another good thing about these apprenticeships is that they are not time-based, but based on levels so someone who picks things up quickly or has previous knowledge through school or tech can move more quickly.
The apprenticeships include modern apprenticeship co-ordinators who are invaluable because they are another pair of eyes watching apprentices' progress.
