Yesterday, after more than two years shackled behind a desk writing headlines for Packaging News, I paid my first visit to a packaging manufacturing company, the Midlands office of equipment manufacturer Bobst.
For me, it was an enlightening and eye-opening trip. Aside from a bit of banter about the World Cup and England’s footballing no-hopers and a near bottomless supply of coffee, the day featured an interesting discussion about various methods of die-cutting, gluing and folding on a variety of substrates and was followed by demonstrations of a die-cutting machine and a folder-gluer line. It was fascinating.
We were led through the discussions and demos by product specialists Paul Helliwell and Graeme Doran, two extremely knowledgeable and experienced members of staff who now work in the firm’s training department. It was great to see people with such a wealth of knowledge about and rich history in packaging manufacturing still so passionate about their job, the industry, its important role in society and its future.
It was also fantastic to see the machines industriously chopping and sticking in the flesh – or rather in the metal. My mind boggled about the exacting level of accuracy involved at all stages of producing a die-cut and creased pack, from building the cutter itself to setting the parameters for the folds. This is a process that has clearly benefited from advances in technology and automation, but the operators are no mere button-pressers – they are skilled, talented craftsmen.
Now I realise writing this in Packaging News could be seen as preaching to the converted (no pun intended) – anyone that works in or with a packaging manufacturing firm will surely know this already. But I still feel it’s worth reiterating.
During the visit, my hosts expressed concerns about the increasing age of converters in the industry, the dearth of new recruits coming through and some worries about the quality of training some students that do embark on packaging courses and qualifications receive.
Most people on the street will have no idea of the intricate processes and high skill levels involved in producing what might, to an untrained eye, be regarded as basic packaging and taken for granted, so on one level it might not be considered surprising there is such a lack of new blood coming through, especially when a lot of teenagers probably look at, say, a promotional pack featuring an England footballer and aspire to be in the boots of the player rather than in the shoes of the person who made the pack.
But these are highly skilled, rewarding roles integral to the infrastructure of our society and it’s a crying shame that prospective future generations of industry professionals aren’t finding their way to the doors of companies such as the one I visited.
Perhaps the industry as a whole needs to make a bit more noise about the important role it plays and the futures it can offer – after all, from what I saw yesterday, there’s whole lot more to be proud of here than in the insipid ranks of the current England football team.
David Elliott is production editor of Packaging News.
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