INDUSTRY / NEWS 8 email: news@printmonthly.co.uk Issue 342 - July / August 2023 PrintMonthly printmonthly PrintMonthlyMagazine A diverse workforce carries with it numerous benefits for an organisation and the print industry is no different to any other in terms of the benefits diverse teams can bring. Tanya Howe, sales director for Ricoh Graphic Communications offers her insight on how diversity and inclusion in the print industry have evolved in recent years. Howe says reviewing the existing skillsets of the workforce is a great starting point as this allows an organisation to identify opportunities for new skill development and helps to achieve real ‘buy-in’ from within their teams. “The benefits of investing in existing talent and providing equal and equitable opportunities for development are two-fold,” Howe says, adding: “Not only does it help nurture an inclusive environment but can also have a significant impact on an organisation's bottom line. “For many, diversity and inclusion in the workplace have become a ‘tick box’ exercise but for businesses wanting to improve D&I, ensuring open, honest, and clear communication with their workforce is essential.” However, Howe highlights that it’s not just about internal communication with print customers now made up of different ages, genders, abilities, and backgrounds. Howe adds: “A diverse team is better equipped to use their unique experiences, skills, and perspectives to listen to and understand the unique needs of each customer. “The future health of the print industry relies on a diverse workforce and looking beyond conventional recruitment processes is vital.” Ricoh discusses improving diversity in the print industry Tanya Howe, sales director for Ricoh Graphic Communications King's Coronation keeps printers busy The Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen took place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6th May, 2023 Printers around the UK demonstrated the vital role print has in celebrations and historic events with a variety of royal-themed products produced for the Coronation of King Charles III. These included 'Royal Foil', window displays, post boxes, stamps, and regal Coronation invites. Created by Andrew Jamieson, the artwork for the invitation was hand-painted in watercolour and gouache, while the design was reproduced and printed on recycled card, with gold foil detailing. A Royal Warrant Holder for print services to The Royal Household, Hobs Repro, designed eye-catching window displays for its stores. Online print company instantprint, based in Yorkshire, launched a new Royal Foil product in the signature royal purple. York Bookbinding and McRay Press prepared specially bound books and texts to be used for the Coronation celebrations. The Spring Networking Lunch held by the Independent Print Industries Association (IPIA) succeeded in its goal to “energise the print industry” with guests commenting on the positive and collaborative feel of the networking day. Hosted at the impressive sky restaurant Orelle in the centre of Birmingham, lunch was followed by IPIA Chairman Charles Rogers’ first official public address in his new role where he gave an overview of his work lobbying for the print industry at No 10 thanks to his connection with CEO of PG Paper Puneet Gupta, made through networking as Rogers pointed out. Mike Beese, owner of DecTek then gave a charismatic keynote speech on his business’ success and the power of connections. IPIA energises industry with Networking Lunch The UK Graphic Awards has ramped up anticipation with organisers describing entries as “piling in” leading to the entry deadline being extended to June 23rd. As one of the key industry award ceremonies to occur when the pandemic eased in 2021, the event has become a key date in the calendar for companies in the wide-format and display sectors. The event will take place in October in Birmingham and is free and open to all wide-format print businesses in the UK. Eligible projects need to have been completed between May 1st, 2022, and April 30th, 2023. The awards are judged by an international jury of experienced professionals. The UK Graphic Awards is returning this October for its third year after two successful events in 2021 and 2022 Over 100 print professionals came together for the Spring Networking Lunch on June 14th UK Graphic Awards set to return in October 2023 UK-based print tech firm, Artworker, has released a new, free file-sharing service designed for the print industry specifically. Whilst there are a number of well-known file-sharing services available from the likes of WeTransfer and MailBigFile, Artworker’s new release has a number of print-specific features. These include the creation of a uniquely branded portal within minutes, complete with a custom URL for linking from websites and emails; embeddable widgets, allowing customers to share files without leaving a company’s website; and a ten-times increase in maximum file size compared to other file sharing tools. These features are all free of charge however, for additional functionality, Artworker offers a Pro tier. Artworker launches filesharing service for print Artworker has released a new file-sharing service designed specifically for the print industry By Carys Evans
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