The Flexographic Industry Association UK (FIA) created the Shadow Board in February 2023, giving it a mission to bring more young voices to the flexo industry. FlexoTech’s very own ‘young voice’, Taylor Sinclair, spoke to chairman and vice-chair of the board to find out more.
The perception that many young people have of the print industry is often that is old and dull. This is a perception which the FIA UK’s Shadow Board is looking to change, by finding ways of engaging younger people and showing them how dynamic the flexo sector is. The hope is that by doing so, it will be able to help bring new talent out from the shadows and demonstrate to those who are uncertain of their career choices that the industry is a great place to be.
Alongside that objective, the Shadow Board is also keen to tackle the issue of young talent in flexo moving elsewhere to other industries, aiming to retain those already involved within the sector.
‘It’s definitely a long game, trying to attract younger workers. We had to decide, do we want to attract new people, or do we want to retain, so we looked at retaining for this networking day. For next year we might look at how we attract.’ – Grace Stenson
This is the mission set upon the Shadow Board by the FIA. The flexo trade association has represented the needs of the flexographic printing supply chain in the UK since 1972, supporting it with initiatives to drive the industry forward with higher levels of recognition, operational efficiency and technical knowledge. An area that all agree needs more attention, though, is the age profile of the industry and therefore its very future.
This is where the Shadow Board steps in. It is comprised of members aged from 25 to 35, and aims to foster more appropriate ways of communicating to younger generations – a vital task for the industry, says chair Donall Burns, whose day job is with Sun Chemical. In addition to Mr Burns, the members are Sam Niebel (Absolute Engineering), Alisha Hedges (Sandon Global), Grace Stenson (Smurfit Westrock), Charlotte Foster (Interflex), Leah Lawrence (Smurfit Westrock).
‘The younger generation have a completely different outlook on life compared to generations of the past,’ Donall Burns told FlexoTech. ‘We want to encourage young people to get involved in manufacturing, specifically the print and packaging sector.’
It is also about diversity, he adds, ‘Manufacturing in the past, as a lot of people say, has been around 80% middle aged white men, especially noticeable when you attend award ceremonies. Society has changed greatly demographically and socially, and the industry must change with it. It’s all about a different perception; a different viewpoint. It’s handling things differently and looking at things differently. So, I would say it’s a critical to get talent through the door.’
Vice-chair Grace Stenson highlights the importance of attracting young people into the industry, citing the number of retirees as a key reason for the need for new blood in the flexo industry.
‘From my perspective, I’d say it is absolutely essential that we attract young people. More and more people are retiring year on year, there’s going to be such a huge gap. I think people and businesses are starting to switch onto it, if they had not already switched onto it, through apprenticeships and things like that. I think it’s only a good thing.
‘As an employee, there is the possibility of studying alongside a role, earning a degree or an equivalent qualification. After some number crunching from a quiz conducted at our annual networking day, the number one most important aspect of a role – voted by the majority – was the ability for growth and training opportunities. And I think this industry is great for being able to offer that.’
NextGen networking
The FIA UK NextGen Networking Day which took place in September this year was hosted by the Shadow Board, and was designed to connect the next generation of flexographic industry professionals. Intended to take place annually, the first iteration was a ‘real success’ according to Ms Stenson and was a step forward in empowering the next generation of leaders in the industry. It underscored the importance of connection, collaboration, and continuous learning.
With approximately 40 young professionals attending, the Board aimed to cultivate minds and avoid ‘death by powerpoint’ – critical in keeping minds of any age engaged.
‘We wanted to make it as interactive as possible,’ said Ms Stenson. ‘We had a lot of things in one day – Kahoot, quizzes, interactive panels and a variety of flexo themed games – as we wanted to try quite a few different things to see what was the best received.
‘The younger generation have a completely different outlook on life compared to generations of the past. We want to encourage young people to get involved in manufacturing, specifically the print and packaging sector.’ – Donall Burns
‘With predominately positive reviews, it was the minimal negatives which were most valuable to the Board as they look to improve future events. Mr Burns comments, ‘Overall it was a success as Grace said. The length of the panel discussion however is something we’d do differently moving forward. It was a bit heavy, especially for a younger group of people who have not been in the industry as long. They weren’t up to speed as much with some of the topics discussed. We took a lot of learnings away from it.’
In the pipeline
With the second NextGen day scheduled for next year, the Board has been looking at other avenues to achieve its goals. With two new members, Leah Lawrence and Charlotte Foster, joining in the last few months, the Board is now in a good place and is ready to turn out fresh new ideas in the coming months, said Mr Burns.
‘We’ve got a strategy meeting next month for the year going forward with the FIA Board. We’ll look to develop our own strategy in accordance with the FIA’s and sort out a few dates in the diary for next year,’ he explained.
‘Now that we’ve done this event, I don’t think we’ll have to focus as much energy next year, it’ll fall into place itself. This will allow us to look at what else we can do alongside it.’
Adding to this, Ms Stenson said, ‘It’s definitely a long game, trying to attract younger workers. We had to decide, do we want to attract new people, or do we want to retain, so we looked at retaining for this networking day. For next year we might look at how we attract.’
Securing flexo’s future talent is clearly the aim of the Shadow Board. As a young reporter in his early 20s, and a comparatively recent recruit to the print industry, I have noticed a lot of focus on this issue in the industry since I joined. The Shadow Board looks to shine an even brighter light on it in the coming years. I believe that attracting more young people can only be positive for flexo and for print as a whole. As digital natives, this new generation could have a huge amount to offer this grand old industry.
