January / February 2023 Industry 6 Scotland’s parliament has called on the country’s government to release more funding for apprenticeship schemes. Campaign groups had noted that the budget for training providers delivering apprenticeship programmes has been frozen, with this being taken as a real-terms cut given the increase in inflation rates. Such has been the impact of this freeze that campaigners, including the Scottish Training Federation, say many training providers will have to make redundancies or close their businesses, without intervention by the government. This would then lead to many young people not completing apprenticeships on schedule, which could in turn harm Scotland’s economic recovery. In response, parliament called on the government to come forward with funding to ensure that a further 2,000 apprenticeships are funded in the next six months to meet what it understands is “significant employer demand”. Cost warnings for flexible packaging Creation Reprographics, a pre-press and repro partner to flexible packaging printers, has set out a number of key trends businesses should be aware of in 2023. According to Creation, 2023 will likely be a year of significant change as challenges mount and printers respond. Matt Francklow, managing director at Creation, explains that companies working in this market should plan carefully for 2023 in order to address incoming trends and ensure their businesses are properly prepared. “In 2023, it’s clear that increased pressure on cost will be one of the key talking points,” he says, adding: “Record inflation is affecting businesses of every size and pushing up material and production costs, which cannot easily be absorbed and will force price increases downstream. “Some of the most valuable innovations over the coming year will be those that enable printers to control their overheads, while delivering more fundamental value, protecting what will be more fragile profitability levels.” Due to a greater need for cost control, Francklow says the company is expecting to see a big drive towards fixed colour palette printing, which swaps out costly and resource-intensive spot colour inks for an extended gamut printing system. Other trends Francklow says to look out for in 2023 and beyond include sustainability, which continues to dominate the agenda, and the flexible packaging design is evolving to be lighter in weight, stronger, and more easily recycled in response. Creation predicts cost and sustainability will shape much of the market in 2023 Concerns have been raised that apprenticeship schemes may not complete in time Urges for more apprenticeship funding The Printing Charity hosts luncheon Industry members and The Printing Charity team gathered in the iconic Stationers’ Hall in London on Thursday November 24th for the Charity’s 193rd annual luncheon. Founded in 1827, The Printing Charity has a long history of supporting people of all ages in the printing, paper, packaging, and publishing industries. Returning after a three-year break, this year’s lunch was a welcome opportunity for the Charity to thank its supporters; and for guests to meet and network, as well as hear updates on the Charity’s recent activities and plans for the future. Jon Wright, Chairman of The Printing Charity provided a speech highlighting the Charity’s services including its helpline which was launched in June 2019 and is now available to almost 20,000 employees across over 200 companies. As well as the speech from Wright, guests enjoyed a keynote speech from current President, George Osborne. Osborne is the former editor of the Evening Standard which was launched in the same year as the Printing Charity back in 1827. The Printing Charity lunch returned to the Stationers’ Hall for its 193rd year Digital archive made of historic Christmas books The Cambridge University Press, a global publisher of a variety of books and information, has created a digital archive of its historic Christmas books. The original books started in the early 1930s as a way of University printer Walter Lewis showcasing the capabilities of the Press. The books continued for many years after gaining a great reputation amongst those in the print and publishing communities. The digitisation of the books was undertaken by the Digital Content Team at the Cambridge University Library, which houses the Press archives. Johanna Ward, a member of the Digital Content Team, says the process involved taking archive-quality photographs of both the books and the intricate slipcases with the majority robust enough to be digitised on a book cradle. The Christmas books were originally published between 1930 and 1973 (only interrupted by World War II) and were limited edition volumes that demonstrated the craftsmanship and skills of its designers and printers. The books would be given as gifts and covered a range of topics largely related to Cambridge and the print/ publishing industry. The Cambridge University Press has detailed the digitisation on its website via photos and videos By Rob Fletcher Lead contributor @pmrobfletcher By David Osgar By Carys Evans
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