Debbie strikes a blow for women printers!

Debbie strikes a blow for women printers!

Keywords: Printing, Education, Employment, Women

Local Swansea girl Debbie Hughes is one of the first candidate to enrol on the new NVQ Gravure training programme in Wales. Debbie left Cefn Hengoed school at 16 and joined Viscose Closures LTD in Swansea Enterprise Park 12 years ago(Plate 1). She worked her way up through the finishing department to become one of the few female Gravure printers in the UK. Debbie said, "I wanted a challenge and I wanted to reinforce both my practical experience and knowledge in the area. The NVQ fits in well with my working day and is an exciting opportunity".

 Plate 1 Debbie Hughes of Viscose Closures LTD

Viscose Closures LTD are a specialist Gravure printers who manufacture and supply tamper-evident closures and shrink sleeves printed up to 9 colours for a wide range of applications, servicing the wines, spirits, alcopops trades together with all food and pharmaceutical applications. Carol Woollard, Factory Manager said "We are committed to raising the skills level of our employees and have enrolled four press operators on the new NVQ's. The availability of quality training at the local college will serve to enhance the future performance of the company".

The NVQ courses are being developed by the Welsh Printing Consortium with help from the Knowledge Exploitation Fund, run by ELWa. KEF have funded a pilot scheme lead by the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, part of the School of Engineering in the University of Wales Swansea with Swansea College, Tycoch as the first FE partner. This is making the world-renowned expertise of the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating available at all levels of education for the printing and coating industry. "This is an important part of the mission of the University, making life long education and training available to all", said Professor Robin Williams, Vice Chancellor of UWS. "This project is part of our development of an integrated education scheme that addresses the needs of Welsh industry from NVQ to post graduate."

Pat Jones, Director of KEF said, "The success of the pilot phase has encouraged us to roll this programme out across Wales. Printing is one of Wales major industries that is undergoing rapid technological change and requires a well-trained workforce to meet these new challenges. The success of this collaboration between HE and FE should be seen as a model for the future".