CAREER IN FLEXO
What is Flexographic Printing?
The Big Picture Packaging Industry
Flexography (called Flexo for short) is a high quality, environmentally friendly printing process within the packaging industry. That's right, "the Packaging Industry." Because of  packaging, the free enterprise system can reach round the world - providing opportunities and economic freedom to nations and people everywhere.
Everything comes in a package and a different one for each product and brand name. Because of packaging we have the option to pick what we want. If there weren't package printing and label companies we would not have so many things to choose from. Imagine if there weren't brands like Nike shoes, Crest toothpaste, Jiffy Peanut butter or your favorite bread. There would only be shoes and toothpaste, plain peanut butter or generic bread. Most retail companies would no longer exist because they would all sell the same thing and no one would make any money. So thanks to Flexography we are able to have labels and packages made to give people the option to buy and sell everyday, making and spending money to give jobs to people in all communities all over the world.
Explore Flexo in Grocery, Discount, and Toy Stores
Have you noticed that most everything you buy comes in a colorfully printed package or has a label on it? Did you know these graphics are printed using the Flexographic printing technique?
Because Flexographic printing can be used with so many different printed package materials and label sizes, this way of printing is used more than any other printing process in the packaging industry. Which, by the way, is the fourth largest industry in our country and nobody knows it. Who prints all those labels, frozen food bags, soda labels, and cereal boxes? It's estimated that over 90% of the items in a grocery store are printed on a Flexographic printing press. Just think about all the things that are printed using this method: from bottle labels, frozen food packages, wallpaper, plastic bags, juice cartons, stickers, toy boxes, along with so much more - and now over 40 major newspapers are printed with Flexo!
Explore Flexographic Technology
Flexography has grown to such popularity because its technology is simply in concept - through a highly technical and predictable graphic reproduction production science. This technique involves the use of relief printing plates with raised images (like a rubber ink stamp) to transfer ink to the paper. The printing plates are made of a synthetic polymer called photo-polymer that is flexible like rubber and can be wrapped around a cylinder. These plates rotate in the printing press  picking up ink from what's called an anilox roll (which acts like an ink stamp pad) and transferring it to the paper or plastic packaging material to create the design of the product we see. Though unlike the ink stamp and ink pad most everyone has played with at one time or another, the Flexographic printing press plate and anilox system is capable of transferring ink precisely to less than a one-thousandth of a inch - while the printing press is running at hundreds of feet per minute.
Explore the Trade
What About Jobs / Career Opportunities?
As for jobs, getting into the Flexo field has been very rewarding for hundreds of thousands of people seeking life long careers.  Unlike many trades, Flexography is growing by leaps and bounds. Currently Flexography is taking over about 7% of the printing industry each year. Already holding at about 50%, Flexography will eventually be used for almost everything that needs to be printed. And what does this mean? MORE JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR FLEXO TALENTED PEOPLE! As the Flexo market grows, more trained people are needed in this industry, particularly press operators. Yet, just like press operators are needed, so are people in the labs, offices, sales, customer service, design and other areas in a growing printing company. Though we know a Flexo career is not for everybody, it may be the perfect one for you…where you may have hidden talents you can cash in on for a lifetime. So if you like to explore it further to see if this industry could be the one for you, give us a call, email us, or check out the links to explore the opportunities further. This industry may be one for you!
Q & A Explore the Trade
Q. Are there a lot of companies who use Flexographic printing presses?
A. There are over 6,500 Flexo companies in the United States.
Q. What if I don't want to be a pressman but am interested in this field? What other job offers are available?
A. As noted below, under Career Paths, there are many areas you can go into in the Flexo field. You can gain the skills to be in any one of these areas through the many programs that FTS, along with other schools, offer interested pupils. Through FTS, you would be able to go into a variety of Flexo related jobs because of the knowledge attainable through the Press Operator Training program. In fact, many companies throughout the Flexo industry send their employees through our training programs to improve overall knowledge and performance.
Q. Why isn't this field as well known as other trades might be?
A. Flexography has only been around for 50 years, which makes it a fairly young trade compared to most others. It has grown the most just over the last 15 years; before then most printing was done by other methods.
Q. Is it hard to find a job in this industry?
A. No, right now there are a lot more jobs than there are trained personnel to take them. There are hundreds of jobs added to the industry every year with no one to fill the position. Every state and every country has many printing companies greatly needing help. What's great about the Flexographic Trade School is that we have 100% job placement for every student that goes through the program. Members are calling everyday looking for pressman or other qualified personnel for their company.
Q. What is the average pay for a pressman?
A. It is not uncommon for a seasoned operator to earn in excess of $50K per year in certain regions of the country.
Q. Do you have to be a pressman if you go through the 3-month training course?
A. No, some of our students just want the extra training to obtain a position at one of our member companies in the sales, customer service or other Flexo related departments.
Q. Can women be pressmen?
A. Yes, women in this industry are highly sought after. Women are perceived to pay more attention to detail and perfection, which many companies admire. Because there is heavy lifting required (70lbs.), some folks may find being a pressman difficult.
Q. How long has this industry been around?
A.
Aniline printing was what Flexography was called until 1952 when they changed the name. It was called Aniline because of the type of ink that was used. The trade dates back to 1890 when the first press was built and run by Bibby Baron and Son of Liverpool. Because the aniline ink was found out to be harmful to humans and was banned from being printed on food labels, they changed the ink and the "bad rep" name to the Flexographic process.
Q. Will Flexo remain popular once I get a job or will it die out like a lot of other trades have?
A. Flexography is currently the fastest growing industry and will continue to grow as long as free market enterprise exists.
Q. How do I know if this trade is for me?
A. Well it's not for everyone. You need to be a hands-on person willing to make good money and work diligently. The only way to find out if being a press operator is for you, Come Check Us Out!
Career Paths
The Flexo industry has many job opportunities; depending on where you want to work, and on whether or not you wish to work on the production side or up front in managing, customer service or sales. As follows you can see there are many jobs in the Flexo industry and these are just a few. The Flexo field is growing by leaps and bounds as the years progress. And good, reliable employees are needed to fill the empty spots in this industry. As far as salaries go, many print shops combine a lot of the below responsibilities and therefore can make a wide range in salary from company to company.
Manufacturing: Who makes all the Flexo printed packaging?
Pressman: The most wanted employees are the press operators. These guys run the press and are the "money makers" for the company. Press operators run the press itself and get paid very well making about $55,000-$65,000 a year.
Rewinder: Rewinders rewind and package the finished product and then send it to be shipped.
Prepress: These guys prepare the job for press, pulling ink, dyes and cylinders.
Plate maker: Plate makers make the rubber plates that will be used to transfer the ink to the stock in the printing press. They make about $30,000 - $40,000 a year.
Shipper: A shipper is in charge of all shipping and receiving of stock, inks, and most importantly the finished product.
Graphics: The graphics personnel work with the customer to design the label that is to be made.
Inventory Control: They make sure everything is accounted for and all shipping in and out goes smoothly.
Plate Mounter: A Plate Mounter mounts all of the plates onto
the print cylinder to then be placed in the press for a job to
be run.
Press Helper: These employees assist the pressman with all press related duties.
Administrative: The administrative area of the Flexo industry is also very important. These people play large rolls in the following areas:
Customer Service
Human Resource Personnel
Estimator
Sales
Warehouse Supervisor
Manager
3 Month Flexo Press Operator Training
If you like working with your hands, have a good work ethic, willing to work hard, and make great money in the process, becoming a flexographic press operator could be your perfect niche in life. If it's right for you, you'll find that it keeps your interest with new challenges every day while providing you a living you can take great pride in.
We've got companies looking for talented press operators every day from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico and in the Caribbean. FTS trains press operators for over 100 'member' companies, so we always have companies looking to hire our graduates. Becoming a flexographic press operator may be just what you've been looking for…and a place to find real job security with average pay ranging from 30-60,000.00 per year.
It's Not
For Everyone: The
Flexographic Trade School prides itself on finding those
talented to run a press, because being able to do so successfully
takes a combination of some natural talents that have been
honed into good working skills at press side. These talents
range from good mechanical reasoning skills, a good eye
for color, and the skill to manage multiple events going
on all at once. If you think you may have these talents
- then who knows, you may discover you're a born master
of a flexographic press - and if this is so, you will have
discovered your niche in life!
What You Will Learn In Our 3-Month Training: What make FTS unique is that you will be trained running live orders that have been given to us by our member flexo printing companies (the same companies who will be interested in hiring you). So you'll get more than training at FTS, you get "experience!" During 12 weeks of training, you'll be assisting with, then actually running the press, producing flexographic printed packaging label products (some of which you may see in grocery stores or other retail outlets). This involves setting up and actually running a state-of-the-art eight color press and other label converting equipment for over 200 hours.
Classes Start
Every Monday: The class
runs Monday thru Thursday from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm. Class size
averages six to seven students on a rotating admission schedule
so that most every week we have
new students entering the program. In this way, our senior students
are provided the opportunity to take on a coaching-leadership
role in certain areas, becoming teacher/students to the newcomers
of the trade. This both enhances their learning experience (true
teachers always have to be the best students) and provides new
folks more one-on-one assistance and redundancy instruction of
the basics.
Enrollment
Cost & Financing: Cost
for the 3-month program is $2000.00 for students wishing
to stay in the greater Charlotte, NC area, and $1500.00
for those willing to relocate. FTS will finance the total
cost of tuition for those who qualify for it - including
allowing repayment to begin once a job has been obtained.
Please ask us for details.
Flyer and PDF for download: As follows is a one page Adobe PDF Student Information Flyer and an 18 page Student Enrollment Guide for your review. Should you have additional questions, please email us at students@weareflexo.com or
call 803-802-5211.
Student
Enrollment Guide - 16
Pages (Right click to download)
Flexo Education:
FTS offers extensive training and education for press operators and those seeking to have a career in flexo printing.
2 and 4 year programs are available for flexography at the following educational institutes:
Appalachian University
Central Piedmont Community College
Clemson University
Fox Valley Technical College
Rochester Institute
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