Since the days of Gutenberg — and through centuries of technological evolution — printing has been regarded as a craft as well as a manufacturing process. The discriminating eye and mechanical knowledge of a seasoned press operator have been indispensable for achieving maximum press performance. However, over the last 20 years or so, the printing industry has seen declining numbers of experienced press operators as they age and retire with too few replacements for them. Not enough vocational schools offer the level of training required, and government-incentivized Registered Apprenticeship programs have gotten underway only recently. Additionally, with the digital revolution, public perceptions have changed. Younger people entering the job market today are more likely to think of a career in graphic arts as something more in the realm of computer-based design than running a 12-color offset press with UV capabilities.
The advance of automation has been an effective way to close this skills gap. Introduced to enhance purely mechanical speed and efficiencies, automation on offset printing presses first included processes like automatic sheet size adjustment, automated plate-changing and wash-up. Currently, however, automation is taking on tasks that could only be done before by a highly skilled press operator — including critical color matching and sustaining ink density and color levels through an entire press run. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) allows for machine learning, so that press performance will continue to improve without operator intervention.