The need to "rebrand" the printing industry and better staff training emerged as the two main themes at the BPIFs Print 21 national business conference last week (14 June).


David Bernstein of Kelland Communication Management said that while print was "good at sales it was poor at marketing" and needed to do more to help marketing people understand print. "Has the industry been too busy printing other peoples achievements that it has failed to print its own?" he said.


Bernstein said print the original "information technology" needed to reposition itself as a high-tech IT-based industry, to help attract more young people from more diverse backgrounds.


"Its not about rebranding but reinventing, but if I had to come up with a new brand Id go for prInTing you see it was there all along!" he concluded.


There was much debate on training. GPMU general secretary Tony Dubbins said there was a lack of training not only on the shopfloor but at management level too.


"If we had effective training on people management for managers the jobs of GPMU officers would be a lot easier," he said.


Pindar chairman Andrew Pindar said he would support a statutory training levy. "I agree with the levy, because if we were that good as directors we would have had training in place today."


The conference, supported by PrintWeek, was used to launch the DTI/BPIF study into the competitiveness of the British printing industry. Its main findings were outlined in PrintWeek last week (15 June) or visit www.bpif.org.uk.


Story by Lauretta Roberts