Printing Industries in Queensland is being supported by the state Department of Education and Training (DET) in managing a project aimed at addressing aspects of the industry’s workforce development into the future.

The two-year project will primarily focus on the direct and indirect effects of digital technology uptake across the industry and will work closely with employers and other industry stakeholders to develop a set of strategies to address future workforce development challenges.

The project is being conducted under the Queensland Government’s Skills Formation Strategy initiative which, as part of the Queensland Skills Plan 2008, is enabling a range of engagement strategies to better partner with industry to address workforce needs. The rationale behind the Skills Formation Strategy is that a holistic approach to workforce issues enables effective skilling to occur on an industry-wide, rather than on an individual or group of businesses, basis.

Printing Industries Queensland President, Ashley Petfield, said that being selected by DET to manage the project reflected the peak industry body status of the association.

“It is a timely opportunity for the industry to plan for a future in which workforce needs are expected to present a significantly different set of challenges to those being dealt with today,” he said.

“Having access to a skilled workforce has always been among the major management issues for the printing industry. With the rapidly increasing uptake of digital technologies we need to have strategies in place to ensure we have a workforce that is skilled and work-ready well into the future to help the industry benefit from these new technologies.

"The outcomes of the project will be as relevant across Australia as they are in Queensland.”

The project is being managed by David Hoban who is well-known in the Queensland printing industry having spent 10 years in the business development role with Printing Industries.

David has also worked closely with printing businesses in the area of apprenticeships and traineeships, and has developed recognition of prior learning (RPL) kits for several trade areas for the Queensland Government. His close involvement with the Sustainable Green Print program in Queensland will ensure that sustainability issues for the industry are included in future workforce development strategies.

An important part of the project has been engagement with industry during early 2010 to obtain input for a background research report based on interviews with Queensland employers and stakeholders.
 

The report reflects opinion across the Queensland industry on a range of issues, particularly in regard to how future workforces will be affected by the rapid uptake of digital technologies. A Queensland industry leaders’ group, chaired by Ashley Petfield, has been formed to address the issues emerging from the research and to begin the process of developing workforce strategies to take the industry into the future.

To learn more about the Queensland printing industry Skills Development Strategy, to receive a copy of the research phase report or to offer comment on the subject, contact David Hoban on 0438 269 940 or at dhoban@printnet.com.au