AWT Labels & Packaging and Computype have teamed up to create Flexographic Tech (Flexo Tech), a Minnesota nonprofit corporation whose purpose is to educate students that want to become flexographic press operators. This program will create a much needed feeder system for flexographic printers in Minnesota and the surrounding Midwest.

“AWT has been growing rapidly and we are faced with job candidates that do not have in-depth flexo press training,” says Jim Lundquist, president and CEO of AWT Labels & Packaging. “We have struggled to train press helpers and give them the on-press experience they need. There is no local source of training in the flexographic field in Minnesota. Computype was facing the same challenges, so we teamed up to sponsor Flexographic Tech. We want to make sure our industry continues forward with the best trained operators possible.”

The instructor for Flexo Tech is Shawn Oetjen, who spent five years as an instructor at Dunwoody Technical College for flexographic printing and is very well known throughout the industry. Flexo Tech students are now being trained on an 8-color Mark Andy 2200 press equipped with UV and hot air drying, cold foil, die cutting, sheeting and much more. The training facility is located at the AWT plant in Minneapolis.

There are several classes offered that range from a three-day color theory course to a 12-week flexo press operator class for students wanting to become operators. Class schedules for 2016 have been set.

Flexo Tech
(612) 706-3779; www.flexographictech.org