1. Heidelberg - My life as a printer

Today 14th April 2009, has had me thinking of my working life from the year 1980, the year I started work, to the year 2002 when I had to stop working because of medical reasons.When I was still at school, I was fortunate enough to have a father that was in a position to help me choose a profession to go into. A few options were available for me to choose from, from office clerical work as either accounts or in buying or as a printer. The local printing trade was what would be described as rather successful at the time. The footwear industry ranging from slippers to boots and shoes plus pumps and trainers. As such, the local footwear manufacturers decided to group together and form a printing company which in essence was owned by the local footwear companies but at the same time, was run independently. So much jobbing work was done to supply all industry including footwear printed products for office stationery, labels, tags, fax stationery and so the list goes on, plus footwear boxes, inner and outer packaging.

I was pretty good at Maths, Music and fair to middling at English & what one would describe as average in all other subjects. Although because of my poor health from about the age of four through to fifteen and beyond, prevented me from being at school for lengthy periods of time, continuing to the present day at the age of Forty-five. Some of my school-time was completed at home whilst recovering from several operations. Surprisingly my exam results were rather good and I left school with 6 GCSE’s. My Uncle Harold at the time of starting in work as a printer, was a printer at the time and is what grasped my imagination of what the process was to transfer ink to paper via metal slugs, little did I know what changes were ahead for the Printing Industry as a whole even within a union led profession.

Back in 1980’s the full pay for a qualified printer working a 40 hour week, was somewhere in the region of £80:00, not what printers were believed to earn as they did on Fleet Street on the newspapers. The job was apprenticeship based which took 4 years on a day release, each week. The education at Blackburn College covered a wide range of printing processes from letterpress, flexography, lithography, gravure and letterpress. In the early 12 months to 20 months, at work we only had letterpress printing machines and as such was at a slight advantage, for letterpress, but for the other processes was at a great disadvantage. For this reason I decided to knuckle down and learn as much about all the printing processes that were about across the range.

During the next pages to come I will try to explain the achievements and qualifications I gained and the great offer which I received from a mysterious caller.

2. My First day at work

Well as anyone could imagine my first day was one filled with excitement, anticipation and fear. When I arrived for my one day introduction whilst I was in-between exams I entered the print room to be greeted with incredible noise from the printing machinery, as below.

There were ten of these machines chugging along all being monitored by minders, (machine print managers) – each running two.

Now this picture is again a Heidelberg Platen but is approximately one & a half times as big as a Ordinary Platen.

There were also two of these. A rough guide would be approximately A3 print size compared to A4 for the smaller Platen. Sheets per hour for A3 approximately 1500 to 2000 reliably because of the sucker and gripper bar movement. Sheets per hour for A4 approximately 2000 to 3600 reliably.

These machines, were as most printers find out are lacking in feelings and produce up to 4 tonnes of pressure. Respect was and is needed whilst operating them and Health and Safety precautions were enforced to make sure that, if any maintenance around the rear ot the platen, for example, greasing the nipples and oiling the marked oiling points, then the power should be cut on the machine to evade injury. A boss of a firm, several years before saw the press not printing and immediately started the press up and mangled the hand of the operative who was actually his son. During the last few exams I was working and had time off to sit my GCSE’s and then the hard work started. During the first year I struggled at college trying to understand printing processes that 67%, I would not encounter throughout my working life.

Over the following months both at work and at college I gained knowledge about all the printing processes with a conservative view because of no practical experience on anything other than Letterpress and Lithography.

3 College was a real winner for learning all the basics

Blackburn College was extremely good for me mainly because I was able to move quickly in one of the 3 areas for us to learn, and naturally, with working in a letterpress environment, this was my forte. Moving on into my third year, a frightening prospect for me was to be the first and only machine manager to begin to learn and excel on a small offset, lithographic printing press. The three images are of the same printing press but from three different angles.

4 My introduction to lithography at work and college

While I was at college we were required to learn about all types of printing however some of the processes were only learnt by theory and not practical. Because I was only able to operate letterpress in-house the chance to learn lithography appealed to me and as such took more of an interest in the process, from black and white, to colour and the separation of full colour dummy jobs at college. I could see that the lithography would be fantastic at printing jobs from a flat plate rather than raised type as on letterpress (raised type at the height of 0.918 inch, or 23.3172 mm). I progressed well at college learning lithography and whilst still learning work bought a Heidelberg Tok, which was an offset printing press, although still in the lithography category the press it doesn’t have a separate damping system, but with integrated damping. It is capable of printing on a sheet size of just over A4 size, probably SRA4. The sheet per hour is anything of 1500 to 10000, but reliably perfect probably no more than 7000, or 8000. The front view is here. The left side is here.

The Tok was very easy once all of the various settings and tweaks had been taken on board. On the presses there are various tweaks and settings that are available, some of which an engineer would only know. We were lucky enough to have an ex-Heidelberg engineer who had setup his own business and was well in the know of settings of all sides of the press. So as a result of this I was able to completely dismantle and set the whole thing including all the roller pressures as each roller has different settings. As time went on I was in the predicament of being able to run a Tok in the jobbing world in daily production of all matter of stationery.

Whilst at college during my apprenticeship, college purchased a Tok and knew that I was well up on it. As such I was asked to introduce and teach others in the class, just as others had done with pupils on presses which were alien to others in the group. The machine at work was a new machine, a new process at the time and training was done over a few days with official Heidelberg engineers/operators. The lithographic press that I learnt at college was a Heidelberg GTO and it was this press that gave me the confidence to want to learn lithography. This machine has proper registration with the paper, where the paper is fed down an inclined surface to adjustable registration pins followed by gripper bars. At the same time an adjustable left registration side bar moves very slowly from either right to left or vice versa, depending on which side is the best to use, which makes it possible to finely position the sheet just before the front guiders release the paper into the gripper bars. This movement is performed every time a sheet is fed through the press and it is very accurate to fractions of millimetres. Below is a picture of a Heidelberg GTO.

This press can handle paper size of up to A3 sheet size. It is a two colour press which uses only one blanket, whilst having two damper sections and two different inking systems. The average reliable speed is around 2000 to 3000 sheets per hour. The only thing with this type of two colour printing is that the damper settings on both plates must be perfect damper and inking settings as it is very easy to flood one of the two systems which causes massive stretch and over wet paper. You cannot over dampen as the paper stretches and becomes wavy and wrinkled rather than flat and wrinkle free and if the job has to go through another process at the customers, for example, photo copied, or ink jet printed then the paper may not respond as it should - due to paper being desensitization.

5 Heidelberg SB Platen

Following the arrival of a press which is named a platen SB. It doesn’t look like a platen and can be named as the letterpress version of a lithographic printing press - Heidelberg Kord 64.

PICTURE 1 – LETTERPRESS HEIDELBERG SB PLATEN

PICTURE 2 - LITHOGRAPHIC HEIDELBERG KORD 64

6 Large Letterpress Printing press at work - The SB Platen

I didn’t really enjoy the prospect of running and managing a large letterpress machine which had a sliding type bed, printing via a circular drum with a manila dressing. It was big, but again I was to learn the machine inside and out and in time teach others to use it.

HERE IS THE PICTURE

Yes it was big, frightening and difficult to learn but thankfully there was a similar press at college which I was able to learn solo and again taught others to use it well.

7 APPRENTICESHIP COMES TO AN END

College quickly passed and the results of the exams came and I gained my certificates in passing my City and Guilds in print management. I continued to work and learn hard and was able to operate and complete tasks across the whole printing scope. This meant I could typeset, run and print a job, guillotine when the operator wasn’t around for whatever reason. In my 5th year at work I had to retrain to learn a new press – the SB Platen – as below

I believe that the SB Platen is a press that has a solid bed/base in which the forme – the metal frame into which the type for the job in hand is locked in place with quoins. On a Heidelberg platen the paper moves and the forme remains static. On the Platen SB the paper is fed into the machine to go forwards held in place with gripper bars and the type bed moves backwards during each revolution of the cylindrical 360 movement. I didn’t really enjoy this press, but did come to operate it professionally. Approximately 12 – 18 months following the passing of my apprenticeship I took a telephone call at work in which I would take a second job on a part – time basis.

The caller was a Mr. Hirst and I couldn’t place the name immediately, but found out as soon as he mentioned Blackburn college – it was my lithographic teacher. He asked how I would feel about teaching at Blackburn college. I almost immediately refused as I felt I would be incompetent. He asked me if I would at least have a look around, as he felt I was more than competent, and the hourly rate was £12.00 per hour. I agreed and so the teaching began. At first I felt really awkward and inadequate, however in time I gained confidence and actually view this as one of the best things I ever did. I really enjoyed it and felt good for being able to pass on knowledge to others.

8 College – Teaching at Blackburn College

So to college I went, just for a look around but on arrival I was presented with a portfolio detailing the coursework that I would be covering on a Friday starting the following week. I was persuaded to give college a go or should I say (bullied maybe). That first week and the few that followed were perhaps the most terrifying and great apprehension, not really knowing what my class would be doing and more to the point what I would be doing.

As time went by I sort of realised what a great experience I was involved in. Some of the pupils were there because they had to be, others were there because they wanted to be there. All things come to an end sooner than later and I could see that my place of work was struggling and despite having a new Managing Director, the firm began losing business and even a blind man would be able to see what was going on.

New job, new prospects

I was fortunately put in contact with a printing firm in Blackburn,who were in need of a full time printer. The interview went great and I was asked when I would be able to start, the following week was the longest week ever and nervously moved to the job working my Friday at college. Unfortunately two years following my move the college tutoring came to an end, new staff came in for the permanent teacher positions and the then full time staff became the part time staff. At first I didn’t really enjoy the new job as I could only operate two of the four machines. With a little time I eventually made myself capable of running all the machines

The (windmill) Platen.

The Heidelberg Tok

The Rotaprint - 2 colour The Heidelberg Kord 64

The most difficult machine to learn was the Heidelberg Kord 64 because of its size, plus this would be the first real Lithographic Printing Press, with proper damper rollers to moisten the plate. Now, a lithographic plate is a very thin piece of aluminium (0.2 – 0.3) mm thick. A negative image, similar to an x-ray is placed over a (Plate) and then positioned in a machine with a glass front and then the image is burned on with Ultra-Violet light.The image on the plate following the burnt image is developed with a liquid, washed off with water and dried. The treatment of a plate makes the image receptive to oil – the ink used is oil based, and the non-image receptive to water with a ph value of 5.5. Ink and water are put in trough like ducts and fed into the machine and having the best balance of both the water and the ink to be able to print.

9 The New Job and College

So the college was the backbone of my knowledge in printing and to a degree I was in debt to college for me being able to move to a more secure job. It would be several years before the firm went bankrupt to the tune of £500.000 to £750,000, and at that time the printers firm owned by the surrounding shoe manufacturers, good for them. There was another printer who I didn’t really get on with and for good reason. THE MAN WAS A CHEAT, A THIEF AND A LIAR. I wouldn’t name him because although everything I say about him I wouldn’t want to be branded as a slanderer.

It transpires that the man in question was an ex poster who had behaved criminally by taking post home instead of delivering it to customers. Also Christmas mail especially the packages that obviously had bottle or bottles inside, – smashing and drip feeding via a funnel into another empty bottle. I am sure that one could only describe this as criminal. There were occasions when it was necessary to work overtime on a Saturday and it was one of these Saturdays when myself and another were in on such a Saturday. We heard noises below us and on looking down to the road saw him putting reams of paper into his car – Theft. As time went on it would transpire that he was even more of a wrong one than I initially thought. Criminal acts were regularly practised, from childminding several children without having the legal requirements, and as such probably wouldn’t have been permitted to do so. He was sacked from the Royal Mail for the things said earlier in the paragraph. Another unlawful act was driving his car to a secluded spot and setting it on fire in an act as to claim on the insurance filed under theft. Unfortunately for him a fire engine was close by and was able to extinguish the fire before substantial damage was done. Other criminal acts were done on a regular basis, mainly petty theft from shoplifting and regular theft from work.

Taking all the wrong doings into account, it is a struggle to see how he was employed as a printer and an unqualified one to boot. The final thing was for him to be caught rummaging in the Managing Directors office in a bid to find that I was being paid in excess of what he was, mainly due to the fact that I was qualified and a better all round printer and worker. He was quietly asked to leave his post and so the hard work started. The main reason that I got the job was because I was a teacher at college and because of this the M.D. didn’t want references, so as anyone can imagine this gave me a big boost and a head start in the new post as senior print manager.

Because I was now left as the only printer in the firm all the workload was put on me and it became evident that we needed an apprentice to start ASAP. Once we had got an apprentice the hard work began in training a novice in all aspects of the job. Things went smoothly in training the lad and in a relatively small period of time was capable in operating two of the four presses that we had. After a few years it was obvious that something within the firm was happening. As before the feelings of upset within the firm was rife and following a meeting that I had with the boss, it transpired that the building was to be sold to a law firm next door for their expansion. We were to relocate into a bigger building across town. The moving was traumatic and it was to become apparent that the premises were actually smaller than the previous location, so everything was crammed together in quite a small space. The builders were only part of the way through alterations to accommodate us and all the machinery.

10 RELOCATION RELOCATION

So the process of the relocating and working around builders began. Because of being cramped and no office space catered for we as a whole company had to work for a few months all packed into what was to be the main printing/finishing room. Over that time it was noticeable that my legs (I have Muscular Dystrophy) were deteriorating and on a few occasions tripped and gashed my legs open. Over the next couple of years or so my father died from a massive stroke and then 6 months later my mum died from a pulmonary embolism – a blood clot to the lung. This was rather severe as initially my mum had only a broken ankle and back then we really didn’t know what an embolism was. We were affected in a big way because of the embolism and it seemed every week that someone had died from an embolism in all the medical dramas from then on. I stopped watching medical dramas because it was too painful for me to view and now in 2009, almost 13 years on, I still don’t watch many medical dramas where as before I would record the ones that we were to miss.

We all eventually became settled in our new building and made the best use of the space available even though once the office staff etc. had moved, we were still in cramped conditions. My position within the company grew and I was keen to learn and excel in all aspects within the company.

Over the next months and years I learnt:-

• Plate making, negative work, the process before plate making.
• Photograph work to negative.
• Plate making for external printers.
• Guillotine work from large sheet to printing size A6, A5, A4, A3, A2 A1and A0 and of course RA and SRA sheet sizes.
  
• Guillotine work for the finished trim size ie. Letterhead, Invoice, Compliment slips, Business cards and labels, stickers and tags etc.
• Bookbinding from novice to intermediate.
• Gold letter foil blocking.
• Typesetting and gold foil setting.

Finishing work, including:-

• Guillotining jobs to the finished size.
• Numbering on single sheet or multiple NCR sets.
• Folding.
• Wire stapling including the setting up of the finishing machines.
• Padding with PVA glue etc.
• NCR sets for invoices with 3, 4, and 5 sets.
• Multiple page pagination to gain the correct layout for any number of pages.

As time went by I practised all of the individual processes to the best standards I could achieve. There was a delay in the knowledge I was able to digest because we had another trainee apprentice who I took care in to learn and print with the secrets of my trade and the learning I had been able to do.

The qualified apprentice was to leave for a higher paid multiple colour work working mainly in the production of cd printing and cd packaging printing and several other things including T - shirts, cups, drinking glasses, book covers but mainly specialising in cd’s and cd covers. This company has recently early in this year 2009 closed down due to people downloading music tracks already converted to a digital form as a MP3 music track and the in-house printing that was done for the cd covers and the inserts with songs and lyrics etc.

Now in 2009 it is a struggle for printing companies to survive because a lot of companies now use paperless stationery sent by e-mail via the internet. If this is not the case, then a bill, statement, compliment slip etc. are printed in-house using a computer and home jobbing printer with no initial cash layout needed as is the case in having external supplies printed and delivered.

11 My Health and struggles with it including discrimination against disabilities

Towards the end of the 1990’s my disability was causing me more and more problems both as the disability and as a great pressure on my life as a whole. Because I was in a manual job and on my feet for long periods every day the pain was so excruciating that my weekend off wasn’t enough for me to recover in any way for the next week. I had falsely taken and achieved a City and Guilds in management, not just Printing Management, but for any industry. The promise was that I would move over to a more stable management/supervisor role within the company with, I hasten to add, financial reward. The benefits of what I was promised disappeared and it became obvious that the boss had a grudge against to me and also my disability, it can only be described as discrimination to disabilities.

The remarks that I endured on a daily/weekly basis were hurtful as I am sure anyone would feel the same. I was and still am in a position where because of my Muscular Dystrophy I am entitled to help with transport to get around, so I had and still have a Mobility vehicle and as such only have to put petrol in as the road tax, the punctures, replacement of tyres services and exhaust etc are covered in the full payment of the Disability Living Allowance. As well as this I was also allowed a disabled working tax credit because I was working full time in what transpired to be a low paid job.

Some of the remarks were:-

• I wish I could get free tyres for my car.
• If only I got road tax for free.
• I don’t get any tax relief, if fact I pay more tax because I own the business.
• Free car, I wouldn’t complain.

There were many other comments which would appear to be trivial grumbling but I would say they were hurtful to me at the time.

When I was 22 I was signed off from the medical hospitals saying that there wasn’t much more that could be done to help my cause. Only when changing my GP in 1989/2000 to a new one in the same practice was I informed that I should really be under a Neurologist, as well as a blood physician as I have clotting problems and also a surgical specialist with regards to my twisted/deformed feet for custom footwear to give me stability for standing still and also walking small distances. March 2002 came and I could no longer manage to work because of the danger of falling, which was a near daily occurrence. My Neurologist agreed that I had done so well in working for so long and felt that he could happily sign me off work for a long absence from work and later for an indefinate period of time. March 2002 was the last time that I worked and whilst my health has deteriorated, my life has been enhanced with not having the daily struggles of working and the pain which came with it, although I do have chronic pain to this day.