Converting Membership – An Overview

If your organization is keen on education and knows that’s its future success hinges on the first attaching, and then developing, the talent of those interested in our trade, then exploring Flexographic Trade School (FTS) membership is worth every minute of your serious consideration. At FTS we know honing and developing the talents of people who have an interest in our trade is critical to the long-term success of our members. We seek daily to make a difference in the flexographic industry through training, not only for our members in the short term, but our industry in the long run. We know that it is through people’s talents, industries prosper, and that at FTS we know our efforts can make a big difference.

Perhaps the most misleading thing about FTS is the word "School" in our name, as actually we’re not like any school you have ever been involved with. When Art Fields first discovered the huge need for press operator training through the many years of press-side operator training & production consulting, he knew that creating a school was merited, but not like the ones he grew up knowing. To train press operators, an environment was needed where "hand-on training ruled the day"…as he knew truly talented press operators typically don’t do well in the "desk and study" learning environment.

He needed to train in a live environment so that students learned not only the mechanics of the trade, but too how to apply these mechanical skills in the pressures of a real-world environment. Thus came the concept of creating a "virtual flexographic printing and converting label manufacturing center." Today, the FTS boot-camp type education process provides three months of intensive process training lived in the pressures of achieving quality and productivity within the customer demanding process.

FTS’s staff of over 60 years of flexographic experience brings a highly committed and competent leadership team to each trainee. These pressmen instructors lead, teach, and train each part of the Flexographic printing and converting process, providing each student a solid foundation of success.

In creating this process, ‘live’ work was needed. To get the live work, he created a "membership process" where it could be commissioned to the school without creating competitive tensions – where the school acted as a sub-contractor solely for its membership. As a benefit to the "live work commissioning membership," they would in turn have the exclusive right of hiring the school’s press operator graduates; plus get the benefits of technologies and production systems consulting available as well.

Today, after two years of hard work and the support of many supplier and converting members, FTS has become a premiere Training and Technology Center for over a hundred and forty members.

Converter Member Levels: Printing Converters and those who are in process of becoming flexographic printers are welcomed to become members of the FTS member service program. (Please no broker inquires, but do click here to see our converting members labeling section where you can explore a host of excellent Flexo printer members of the school.)

There are two converter member levels, Charter and Client Members. These two levels offer a varied level of services to compliment the difference needs of various size printer/ converters.

Membership Enrollment Form
(Microsoft Word document)

Please Note: Whether or not you’re a flexographic label printer, folding carton, envelope, film, or corrugated printer, our students come trained with a keen understanding of the universal flexographic image transfer zone. This zone within "any and all flexo presses" encompasses; anilox selection, care and maintenance; plate mounting, sticky backs, cleaning and care; doctors blade metering, safety, mounting, cleaning and care; inks, viscosity, and pH control, adjusting colors; impression setting and paralleling optimization and control. Therefore, regardless of your press or substrate, getting talent and understanding of this zone is key to any successful press operator.

Converter Membership In-depth review:

To review in-depth the school’s membership services program booklet that you’ll receive a hard copy of on sign up, please download the pdf below.

Member Services Guide

Vendor Sponsor Membership

Vendor Sponsors Members are those companies who product’s and service’s first qualify as a positive means of maximizing quality or productivity in the school’s production environment, or offer services that will compliment the overall business success of our converter members. Second, they must provide a service that FTS staff would recommend, complimenting the equipment and resource service offered by FTS’s to its converter members.

One of the most popular services is our Research and Development Service that provides all vendor members an environment for Alpha, Beta and product enhancement testing that is conducted in a "live environment should be." With FTS vendor sponsor membership, FTS becomes both your research, development and demonstration facility. The latter of these too is a popular service offered both as a service to vendors and our converting members. At FTS, growing converters can explore different vender’s equipment in action, providing a means of making sound and positive investments going into the future.

Vendor Sponsor Membership is limited to 50, without our vendor team voting approval of a new vendor service offered, but currently not used by the school. This is due to the school’s limited ability to provide the services it offers to everyone involved. In a nutshell, we realize we can’t be all things to all people.

If you would like to explore more in-depth our vendor sponsor programs, please download one or both of the following:

Vendor Sponsor Single Page Overview

Vendor Sponsor 18 page Membership Guide