Feature -- by Mark Sproxton

Read the words hot lead today and people wait for a stock market tip. Not too long ago, however, hot lead (rhymes with bed) conjured images of the printing industry. And since Gutenberg developed a method of printing from movable type around 1450, the industry and associated jobs have seen monumental changes, many coming in the last 15 years with the flood of computer technology.

This machine folds paper

Those changes have created new demands for workers in the industry, said Luda Paul, of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology's (SAIT) Digital Graphic Communications program. (The program is in the process of changing its name from Print Management Technology to reflect the 21st century industry.) "We used to have a demand for typesetters and desktop publishers, but now that so many people have computers at home and are creating work from home on a freelance basis, the need is no longer," she explained. "But a problem has cropped up. Lack of training (is) causing many problems on print jobs."

The knowledge specific to the industry overwhelms. A quick overview is in order. Essentially, the print industry breaks into three main divisions, pre-press, press and bindery. Pre-press work includes the layout, design and production of documents before they go to press. Press work includes the loading of plates to be covered with ink on the press, and the mixing of ink. Bindery work includes the gluing, cutting and folding of whatever has been printed. Keep in mind there are thousands of different types of paper, hundreds of different colors, six picas in an inch, full and partial bleeds, and ways to ensure something has been printed straight. A four-color, full process press produces different materials than a web or two-color press.

"The skills employers are looking for are a well rounded knowledge of the printing industry," Paul said. "The employers want their employees to know how to take a designer's job and make it printable with little difficulty and at a low cost." Many of the employment requests she sees at SAIT ask for print customer service representatives, or people who can take the customer's order and provide an accurate cost estimate based on the paper type, what kind of press should be used and when the job will be completed.

While specific training gives potential employees a definite advantage over those going in "green," local employers say on-the-job training occurs regularly too. Shelly Tupper, manager of First On Colour, and Jack Miltenberger, operations manager at Calgary Colorpress, both said they will hire those with little printing experience. "Initiative is good in a small company," said Tupper. "We don't mind training people." Miltenberger, who's in charge of a large web press, the kind that prints newspapers, said he too will hire people with little experience and train them at work.

Despite all the technological changes, jobs in the industry are still readily available. "With the increase in technology, the small printer can offer more services, so it has increased the number of jobs in the small to mid-sized market," explained Tupper. "But the computer has totally changed the pre-press division." Paul has also seen the opportunities grow for SAIT graduates. "We have seen an increase in jobs since the conversion to computers," she said. "At the moment we have more jobs available than we can place qualified students. The main jobs employers are offering are print customer service reps and small press operators."

Miltenberger, has seen little change in his shop due to the influx of technology. "We haven't seen a lot on the press end," he said. "Ours is still the manual way." The competitiveness of the industry will likely grow with the coming of the digital era and jobs will change. Miltenberger added that while some presses are now run through computer controls, it will be some time before all businesses make these expensive changes. "Just like anything else, eventually it will become a standard piece of equipment," he said.

Statistics Canada reveals that the printing and publishing industry saw employment grow to over 150,000 in 1999 from 145,000 in 1995. In Calgary, there are approximately 350 print shops. That gives the local industry one of the highest per capita concentrations in the province. And regardless of how the equipment evolves, people will be needed to work. "It will continue as a growth market," said Tupper. "The economy here will continue and even if it went bad, you still need printing."