These days, everyone knows that change is not only constant, but that the rate of change is accelerating. Customer requirements, competitive forces and technology are all rapidly moving parts that require constant adaptation and upgrades to meet new requirements.

One of the consequences is the possibility of a sudden "communications breakdown" between companies and their customers. What is true today may not be true tomorrow. What one may think of as standard business practice, the other thinks of as "yesterday's news."

This problem is front and center in the gravure printing industry, where the issues of print technology, process and acceptable quality constantly tax the skills and ingenuity of both the printer and customer.

In remarks at the GAA Annual Convention in Nashville, William M. Hines, Jr., Managing Director for Interprint, Inc., stated that investing in the education and training of customers represents a whole new area of opportunity he regards as critical in meeting the challenges of increasing competition and global economy.

The key, according to Hines, is to think of education as a verb rather than simply as a noun. "Interprint conscientiously understands the value of leveraging education as a sales and marketing tool," he said. "I often harp about it," Hines added, "but through a combination of education and training strategies, we have been able to generate remarkable changes across our business."

For years Interprint had been hosting routine visits to their design and rotogravure printing plant in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. "We could have continued these visits forever," according to Hines. We really catered to the customer, and they loved their visits to Interprint. But then we saw the long-term marketing possibilities," he says. "We wanted to take it to the next level...to make it into a business proposition, and not just a nice thing to do."

Hines shared his conviction that companies have a responsibility to strengthen their customer's knowledge and awareness on subjects of common concern. "Even the smallest error in communications can lead to confusion," Hines said. "We needed to find a new way to build complete common ground between ourselves and our customers."

The "new way" is called Interprint Tech, a two-day mini-college course that trains Interprint customers and other industry participants in the complex process of decor paper printing and design. The new school is the first of its kind in the industry according to Hines.

"This is a knowledge-based business," Hines says. "In order to get ahead, you have to know more than the next guy. Everyone talks about how important it is to provide employees with training about products, including developments affecting customers, competitors, distribution and so on. But the key is that companies can no longer rely simply on internal training to sustain success. They have to adopt the same practice with their customers," Hines said.

"A shared vision between company and customer is the underlying motive for long-term success," Hines says. "Until this truth is fully embraced, you will have individual subjective perceptions of designers and project managers and other players continuing to go off in separate directions, which can cost your business money every day."

Seeking to emphasize the collegiate level of the experience, Interprint decided to call the school "Interprint Tech."

"We have banners, notebooks - all kinds of stuff," Hines said. "We wanted to build in as much school spirit as we could."

But it's far from fun and games. Interprint customers come from all over the country for the intensive two-day session." We start with the history of rotogravure and go right through press technology, cylinders, paper, ink, prematch, printing, quality control, statistics and customized quality," he said.

Classes are taught solely by Interprint employees who do the actual work on the floor. In addition to classroom sessions participants engage in "hands-on" workshops in labs and on the plant floor, at least three times a day.

"They get experience in mixing inks and doing 'draw-downs' to get a color," says IP Tech director, Bruce Wooley.  "They also get to experience the intricacies of our decorative rotogravure printing process, which is significantly different from any other type of printing in the world."

Interprint Tech is organized into three courses. The first is a color and design seminar. In this session the company and customers share the ideas and techniques that go into creating new designs for decorative laminates.

Judy Wolgast, design director at Interprint leads the session devoted to color and design. "We're a fashion business," she says. "Everything a designer works with includes color and design." She notes that much of her inspiration comes from following clothing trends and attending trade fairs and paying attention to what's going on in architecture.

Attendees participate in the creation of "lifestyle boards," an activity that involves paging through magazines, and collecting images that in some way strike a chord with the individual. Images are then collected and assembled on poster boards that reflect a perceived design trend or idea.

Wolgast also presents an academic workshop on elements of good design including scale, movement, color play and adaptability to the laminate market.

The design session concludes with tours of Interprint's Color Lab, which consists of three lab machines, over 1,100 lab cylinders and over 400 designs, a color matching exercise and technical facts regarding ink formulas.

IP Tech's printing course focuses on the papermaking process, the composition, effects and storage of inks, and covers wet sample storage and a computerized color match system.

One of the most important elements of any rotogravure printing process is cylinder engraving and usage. Interprint currently has nearly 1,000 production cylinders in its cylinder management program. Customers learn how cylinders are engraved, and see a demonstration of Interprint's Ultrasonic Cleaner, a machine that is designed to quickly and completely remove any ink buildup in the engraved cells of a cylinder.

Interprint takes the same approach in the printing session as in design - the printers teach the sessions on printing. In many cases the printers are the same individuals who print the product for the customer in the classrooms. Customers also meet the printers on the floor following their presentation.

The final course is a half-day segment on quality control, where customers work hand-in-hand with the people who oversee the highly technical job of quality control. "We want them to understand our process, technology and statistical measures," says Roland Morin, Vice President, Operations. He emphasizes that quality control is really the connecting link between Interprint and the customer. "We have to compare expectations and performance standards with the customer, and make sure they match up," he says.

"Our number one goal for IP Tech is to give our customers the opportunity to learn how the decor paper they use is designed and printed," say program director Wooley. "The people at Interprint are the company's biggest asset. Anyone can buy paper, ink and equipment, but our customer service is based on the people who work here."

Not only is the program helping to strengthen customer relations, its building Interprint's internal capabilities as well.  This year the company has added a new element to the program - Interprint Tech Internal. 

Wooley offers modules from the Interprint Tech course to Interprint employees who work outside of the particular subject matter being taught, but who can benefit from the additional information. "We're strengthening and focusing the knowledge of people all up and down the organization," he says.

Hines says, "The emphasis on education may seem like a luxury, but it's essential to the business when you think about our focus on the customer. This training gives all employees a better understanding of the entire process, so they can be more responsive to customer needs."

"We're very focused on meeting customer expectations, and it's much easier when everyone inside knows how all the pieces fit together," he adds.