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Types of Apprenticeships

Print and Printed Packaging

The UK Printing industry is a vibrant and essential part of the UK economy and is among the country's largest manufacturing sectors serving all parts of the business and consumer markets such as central and local government, financial services, retailing, distribution, travel and tourism and the manufacturing industry.

The industry produces a wide and varied spectrum of products ranging from the obvious – newspapers, books and magazines, to the less obvious – money, passports, signage and printed packaging. The diversity of its products and fragmented nature of its markets is reflected in the structure of this industry.

The print process needs people with knowledge of design, inks, paper, and the printing presses themselves; as well as people to oversee the whole process, check quality, deal with customers and make sure that weekly magazines go to the newsagents on time – or that the box your iPod comes in is printed in the right colours, the right way up. Since many things are printed by the million, it's essential that work is produced accurately and reliably.

The Printing industry has a long history of Apprenticeships and have developed over time to cater for the rapid changes in both products and technology. The industry continues to be very fast moving and increasingly relies on new, cutting edge technologies. In such an environment it is essential to have new people entering the industry who have a good understanding of current computer based technologies. It is equally important to upskill those already in the industry so that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to respond, and adapt, to the changes in consumer demands, competition and advances in technical processes.

On the Intermediate Level Apprenticeship you could work as a Desk Top Publisher, preparing and assembling the layout for magazines and other publications using desktop publishing software. Or you could work as a Binding Machine Operator, binding printed materials together to make books, collections of documents and series of periodicals. Binding them into covers and performs finishing operations.

On the Advanced Level Apprenticeship you could work as an Experienced Scanning Technician, operating computerised equipment for scanning, colour separation and correction, masking, creative design and other processes to transfer copy to film for plate or cylinder production. Or you could work as a Lead/Experienced Machine Printer, preparing, setting up and safely operating presses and machines to produce books, magazines, newspapers, packaging materials, posters & leaflets. You would also carry out quality checks to ensure conformance to correct specification.

Job Roles

Intermediate Level Apprenticeship