Post-Press Technician Level 3 Apprenticeship

What you will study

• Pre-press and post-press processes and equipment and how their role will
  impact upon others.
  
• Properties and structures of materials, adhesives and various other
  chemicals and able to explain them in detail.
  
• Physical properties of the numerous paper/plastic stocks and their
  benefits & constraints, including weight, grain direction, coatings and
  how this affects the final product.
  
• How to convert sheets into pages and products for example ‘sheet-work’,
  ‘work-and-turn’, and ‘work-and tumble’.
  
• How to safely and effectively convert the source materials into the
  customer’s specific product by using a combination of machinery and processes.

• The benefits and constraints of the many different folding types including
  parallels, gatefolds, barn door flap folds, and letter folds.
  
• How to apply different finishes to different substrates e.g. scented
  varnish, holographic foiling, soft-touch laminate, near-field communication
  sticker etc.
  
• How the final product is expected to perform and the process by which it
  is to be received by the customer.

Set up, run and maintain a specific range of finishing equipment at the appropriate speed and at quality levels a set out by the work instructions and company guidelines, such as: guillotines, stitching-trimming machinery, binding machinery, laminating equipment, die-cutters. This can include cleaning and servicing key elements or preparing the machine for the next shift.

• Observation at work
• Online exam at a GQA centre
• Professional discussion at work

Maths and English at level 4 or above.