Irredeemable? What ails Seekho Aur Samjho?

For starts, Seekho Aur Samjho fills up the massive training void in our industry.

During a Seekho Aur Samjho session, the expert speakers (refer to the table below) bring an audience up to date on the changing trends and norms in print but more importantly on how to face future challenges.

Seekho Aur Samjho Theme	Seekho Aur Samjho Speakers
Correct usage of densitometer and spectrophotometer  (17 January @ GIPT Fort)	Vishnuu Kamat, vice president - sales, Advanced Graphic Systems, spoke about importance of colour measurement and basics of colour measuring devices.
On press chemistry (6 February @ SIES Nerul)	Avinash Kawadkar from TechNova identified the chemical hazards in the pressroom and shared tips to reduce the impact on environment as well as operators’ health.
Book binding tips and tricks and introduction to PUR (7 March @ GIPT Fort)	Welbound's Dinesh Ingawale and Mayur Bharate discussed in detail the intricacies of binding and troubleshooting various issues related to it.
Paper terminology, correct usage and applications (3 April @ SIES Nerul)	Siva Rampur and Vibhav Upadhyay of ITC spoke about troubleshooting related to paper.
Tips to avoid breakdowns and information on scheduled maintenance (5 June @ SIES Nerul)	Debraj Ganguly, a senior service engineer at Heidelberg India, covered key aspects of maintenance of an offset printing machine.
Getting acquainted with UV curable inks  (4 July @ GIPT Fort)	During the three-hour session, Prashant Atre, managing director, Toyo Ink Arets, discussed in detail about the latest technologies of UV curable inks. Atre said, "UV is not a printing process. It is a curing/drying technique, which can be applied to any printing process.
Ahesive applications in print (7 August @ SIES Nerul)	Sandeep Pai of Henkel focussed on adhesive application in printing and packaging.
Ink: common problems and solutions (19 September @ GIPT Fort)	Siegwerk’s Dinesh Pillai took the audience through the detailed intricacies about offset inks and troubleshooting the many issues related to it.
Digital printing and finishing workshop (9 October @ SIES Nerul)	Pratik Shah PrintStop India is an advocate of digital printing and has exploited the web-to-print module to PrintStop's and its customer’s benefit. At the Seekho and Samjho session he presented to the audience the benefits as well as limitations of digital printing.
Rubber blankets know-how and how to select cutting and creasing rule? (21 November @ GIPT Fort)	Nitin Ahuja of And Systems discussed how to store and clean the blankets and troubleshoot some of the pain points.
How to take good care of rubber rollers? (11 December @ SIES Nerul)	Prabhat Kumar of Boettcher spoke about the nuances of rubber rollers and their compatibility with the type of ink and printing press.
The Best Safety Practice (16 January @ GIPT Fort)	Do you realise how one can contact your family in case of emergency? questioned Pradip Ghaisas, head of safety at TechNova.

Along with industry veterans, young students get an opportunity to hone their print skills and learn from industry expert’s experiences during a Seekho Aur Samjho.

Other highlights: The four hour workshops have been designed in Hindi and occasionally in Marathi.

It has been curated by two of the keenest minds in the industry: Faheem Agboatwala of BMPA and Rushikesh Aravkar of PrintWeek India; with support from SIES in Nerul and GIPT in CST. There is no product speak. There is no over-the-top technology jargon. It's plain speak; it's seedhi baat.

The training experts and speakers provide up-to-date and relevant training material for the attendees along with the lecture.

The cost to company, a mere Rs 250 per person.

In spite of the positives on all counts, attendance has been plummeting at the Seekho Aur Samjho sessions, and the industry has not been turned on.

The situation is a bit depressing.

We feel disaster looms for India's print economy if we are negligent to the basics.

After all, everyone speaks about the importance of training programmes for shopfloor workers. Everyone talks about the relevance of providing a to-do list to maintain standards and identify the hotspots within the industry. Seekho Aur Samjho is a small step to do so. The idea is to provide practical advice and case studies along with guidance and an Indian methodology.

As the I in BRICS, India is supposed to be in the vanguard of fast-growing print economy. Instead it faces human resource dysfunction. Only a sensible focus on basics approach can put print back on course.

After all, how does the humble worker know how to cope with different dot gains, pressures and density standards on different brands of machines; the difference between screen angle variation and LPI variation; plus the ability to discern the impact of transparent inks on different substrates.

If India is to fulfil its promise, much, much more is needed from the humble worker on the shopfloor. A typical printing firm spends 2,600 hours a year competing with a competitor in the rest of the world. What the worker in Mumbai or Delhi knows is modelled on antiquated laws which make the owner or the manager crib about "incompetent employees". How much longer will Indian printing firms shield themselves from international competition? The technology is here, the brands are here. What about the skills? That is one reason why, among 41 countries whose performance was measured by an international audit, the print industry's manufacturing productivity is the fourth-lowest.

To reform work and the workers, the industry must face up to problems that have been decades in the making. Most of the printing schools are cocooned. Most of the top institutes are seeking a nationalised syllabus. Most of the qualified teachers are not ready for teaching – in some cases to an extraordinary degree. Which is why, the future of print training looks tough. Mainly because print training and knowledge sharing is so variable and there is so much of high-skill multi tasking. With Seekho Aur Samjho, there is an attempt to remedy the inefficiency in pedagogy. Also to ensure it is done in a low key sensible manner without it being a drain on the coffers.

Print remains a 'no-go' area for young people, who make up more than 50% of Indian population – but things are changing.

Is the situation irredeemable?

No.

Please, do register for future sessions.

In order to register for Seekho Aur Samjho sessions, write to:  admin@bmpa.org or call +91-22-24934654 / 24970912

Venue	Date	Topic	Speaker	Company
SIES	05 February 2016	Key aspects of colour matching and troubleshooting associated	Vishnuu Kamat	AGS
GIPT	5 March 2016	Troubleshooting on offset press	Rajesh Banerjee	Toyo Ink
SIES	8 April 2016	UV inks for packaging	Prashant Atre	Toyo Ink Arets

Venue

SIES Graduate School of Technology
Vidyanagar, Sector 5, Nerul, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 400706

Government Institute of Printing Technology
JJ School Of Architecture Compound, Near CST Station, Mumbai 400001

The Seekho aur Samjho workshop has been devised by BMPA in partnership with PrintWeek India, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai and Government Institute of Printing Technology, Mumbai.