Printing Press Operator Job Description

The Operations of a Printing Press

The operators of the printing presses set up, operate, and maintain various kinds of presses to produce printed material. They have the knowledge of the standard practices, materials, techniques, and processes used in a pressroom and are always in compliance with safety rules and regulations. The printing press operators work 40-hour weeks.

Depending on printing or publication requirements, scheduled hours can include early morning, night, or weekend hours. Installation and removal of parts and supplies are necessary tasks. The operators load, position, and adjust the materials.

The printing press operators are responsible for knowing how to clean it. Cleaning can include the use of various cleaning materials as specified by the employer. The operators of the printing press make necessary adjustments to the run, such as to registration or color.

They make sure that production stays on schedule. A high school diploma is required for a minimum educational requirement. Operators who have completed an apprenticeship program are more likely to be preferred by employers.

Vocational school programs or employers who offer on-the-job-training are good places to look for training for a printing press operator. The leader in the industry for printing education, training and certifications is the Printing Industry of America. Industry experts create certifications that are designed to test expertise in different industry segments.

Experienced Machine Press Operators

A machine press operator is a person who runs machines that cut, shape and design materials. Their main duties include fixing machines and conducting quality checks on them. A minimum of one year of experience is required for an experienced Press Operator.

They should have a proven record of producing high-quality printed materials on time. An experienced Press Operator should be able to work long shifts and carry out physical tasks. They should be familiar with adjusting the rollers, plates and feed guides to get the desired results.

Press Operators work in factories. Press Operators are usually required to complete their job responsibilities quickly and efficiently in their work setting. They spend most of their shift on their feet, having to stand or walk for long periods at a time as they repair machines.

They may have to travel throughout the facility carrying large items that could weigh up to 40 pounds. There are some similarities between a Press Operator and a Machine Operator, but they are not the same job titles. A machine operator is a more general position, as they are usually qualified to operate a variety of machines.

They can work in a factory or plant that operates several pieces of machinery or they can specialize in one type of machinery. A strong Press Operator should be able to repair and maintain machines. They should be detail oriented to identify any areas of machines that need fixing.

Flexo Press Operators

A person who operates a flexo printing press. The operator of the flexo press works in flexography. Flexography is a method of printing images from a raised printing plate onto fabrics, plastic bags, textiles, cartons, and labels.

There are five different types of printing presses that a flexo press operator can use. A flexo press operator knows how to operate a press. The operator is controlling the press.

Flexo press operators can fill the dye fonts with ink by mounting plates and cylinders into the printing press. Operators feed the flexographic press with the material that is going to be printed on so they can lift boxes of materials that weigh at least 10 pounds and weigh over 100 pounds. Flexo press operators need to be able to read job orders that give them instructions on what the printing should look like.

Employers usually require a high school degree. College degrees are not required, but some community colleges offer flexography programs. A certificate in flexography is one of the degrees that Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina offers.

The Two Basic Colors of Offset Lithography

Designers are not taught the skills necessary to pass off their projects to printers so that they may not only successfully, but smoothly, produce a designed project. A process called offset lithography uses a combination of four process colors to produce full-color images. Spot colors, which are standardized by the Pantone Matching System®, are also available in offset printing, but you need to be aware of two basic image guidelines when creating your documents.

The main headaches caused by choosing the wrong black are in terms of setting type, and not over-saturating your paper on press or creating a document that has different tones of black than you were expecting. It's more often recommended to use your type setting for documents anyways, as both Illustrator and InDesign default to plain black. If you accidentally set large amounts of type in any variant of rich black, you might notice a problem in your final printed piece.

If your press operator runs your job and doesn't match up each separation of CMYK by precisely lining up the document's registration marks, you'll likely see ghosting of one or all of C, M. It might take more time, paper, and energy to print it correctly, but your printer will do it well regardless. It's unlikely that your vendor will use the settings that allow you to create registration marks and color bars for your document.

Prepress operators try to fit as many files as possible on the size of paper their job will run on in an effort to be as cost efficient as possible. They add registration marks and color bars to the sheet after they've done that. It's likely that your prepress operator will remove registration marks and color bars from your document before it's printed.

It's still smart to ask your vendor if they require "trapping" with your documents, since only older presses or some less experienced press operators might need you to. It might beneficial for you to know why it's necessary. If you want to print your text, you should first create it in Illustrator and then use the software to create it in aPhotoshop file.