Clark was guest speaker as Printing Industries New Zealand and the Printing and Allied Industries Training Council were revamped and integrated under the new name PrintNZ, ahead of the Printech’s opening.

Clark spoke for about 10 minutes, focusing on the need to continue to encourage industry training, in which the printing industry has been a prime mover. She then spent around 20 minutes touring the exhibition halls and chatting with exhibitors about their businesses and the industry in general.

Clark congratulated PrintNZ and its chief executive Joan Grace for its role in industry training and keeping the print industry moving forward, while acknowledging the importance of the organisation’s revamp.

Grace had earlier launched the new look PrintNZ to around 100 guests, emphasising that the organisation is all about people. With the catchline ‘Our industry, our people’, the new image for PrintNZ is simply a case of “restating what our brand stands for,” according to Grace.

“Every day, everyone in our organisation is working for you,” she told members.

PrintNZ is a truly umbrella organisation now, Grace says, and the level of integration across the former PINZ and PAITC is exceptional, with most staff involved in both training and member services.

The new logo for the organisation is a depiction of New Zealand, which has the appearance of two blobs of printer’s ink.

As the launch finished, Printech kicked off, and crowds flocked into the exhibition halls at the showgrounds, surprising many exhibitors who were expecting a quieter Sunday with the bulk of visitors arriving on Monday and Tuesday.

Uniscreen’s Adrian Bennett summed things up on Sunday, saying that “many of the smaller business owners have been coming to have a look today – the one, two and three man bands that can’t afford to have exhibitions impinging on their business week.”

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *