Like many manufacturing fields, the ink industry is facing a problem when it comes to attracting younger employees. This is a critical issue, as the workforce in the ink industry is aging somewhat and there needs to be an influx of talent.

One approach that can be useful is internships. In a recent talk during the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers’ (NAPIM) 2022 Technical Conference, Dr. George Glisan of Appalachian State University spoke about the advantages of having ink companies and universities partnering as a way of bringing in interns.

We’re not talking about having people come in and doing menial tasks or picking up lunch. The interns are looking for significant things to do, and companies need to have plans and the right people in place to make their programs work.

Can it work? Of course it can.

One of the highlights of the annual NAPIM Technical Conference is the prestigious Annual Lawter Lecture Award. This is presented to the best technical paper given at the conference.

This year’s honoree was Laura Schultz, whose talk was “Quantifying and Qualifying Risks Associated with Photoinitiators in Cured Ink.” A student at Loyola University in Chicago, Schultz presented the talk on behalf of INX International Ink Co., where she was interning.

A veteran of the printing industry, Dr. Glisan knows what students can bring to the printing and ink field.

“Internships have challenges and opportunities – you get a chance to bring someone in and do a look-see, just as they do with you,” said Dr. Glisan.

When it comes to an internship, all the stakeholders have responsibilities.

“An internship is a course that we offer, but it is also a two-page contract between the company, university and the student,” Dr. Glisan said. “Everyone has responsibilities. The company is required to have an on-site supervisor. There must be defined duties, expectations and hours, and you must evaluate the student performance. The company has to provide a safe, secure, non-discriminatory workplace, and it doesn’t always work out well.”

What can ink manufacturers do draw students to internships? Dr. Glisan noted that one challenge is that students do not know the ink industry.

“They know ink and they know substrates and color theory, but they don’t know the industry,” he added. “One opportunity is to show the brand, maybe supply ink or toner to the school’s lab, participate on career fairs, establish dialogue with the academic program, invite faculty to visit your company, volunteer speakers to come to campus and provide resources to the university that facilitate learning of inks and coatings. Remember that interns may become future employees or future customers.”

There is also a significant gender imbalance to consider.

“Our enrollment is two-thirds women, and the ink industry is predominantly male,” Dr. Glisan observed. “You have to know what are the limits and identify women in your organization to mentor and encourage.”

Above all, showing the interns that they have an opportunity to contribute is critical.

“You have to show that they are wanted,” Dr. Glisan said. “Give interns the opportunities to do something. One problem is giving them a task but not setting up specific directions or people to go to.

“What do students want from an employer? Money still matters, and student debt is a huge burden. They want to know if you are profitable, and they also want to be convinced that you have a position for them that gives them a chance for personal growth and success.
They want to like the people they work with,” Dr. Glisan added.

Wikoff Color and Internships

As Dr. Glisan noted, ink companies can work with universities to help students become aware of their company. For example, Wikoff Color helped Appalachian State build out its ink lab.

“At Appalachian State, George is very much involved, so we have contact with him more frequently than others,” said Chuck Forbes, human resource director at Wikoff Color. “He is a good resource for recruiting. We do provide product on request from time to time. We allow on-site tours at the request of the university. We receive an invite to participate in the career connects for the universities we recruit, we sign up and then attend.”

Forbes spoke about the benefits of internship programs.

“We receive the work they produce, which from our experience has been very positive,” said Forbes. “These students are excited and motivated and want to soak up as much knowledge and experience that they can during the internship.”

Forbes also pointed out that the student being energy to the workplace.

“They bring infectious life into the company,” he said. “The work they produce is creative and unique. Our employees enjoy training them, interacting with them, and learning from them. At the end, the students present to our executive team, and they bring excitement and life into this group. It sort of serves as a reminder of what being young and ambitious is all about. The presentation session is fun and the students, although nervous, take it serious and most do a great and creative job.”

Forbes noted that there is preparation in terms of planning projects that is put into place prior to bringing interns in.

“During our budgeting processes, we establish how many interns we plan to hire for our summer program,” said Forbes. “We have meetings with our regional leaders to determine which sites may have an interest in an intern.

“We recruit off-site, so there is travel time and expense associated with recruiting,” he added. “We set up a booth on-site during university career/intern day. We have purchased banners, tablecloth, and trinkets to hand out. We hand our samples of our work. Usually, two or three of us attend. We include HR, a senior employee, and a new generation employee, usually someone who has recently graduated and joined the company.”

Once the intern is determined, Forbes said that the site manager produces a summer work plan that must be approved by HR.

“Interns report to the site manager with a dotted line to HR,” he continued. “There is time associated with onboarding, etc., as well as end of summer reporting to the university, which is minimal.”

Forbes said the most important aspects to having a successful program with internships begins with commitment to the person.

“You have to pay attention and make the intern feel a part of the company and provide them work that is meaningful so they can see that their work is adding value,” he said. “Provide a variety of work and activities so the intern can gain a broad understanding of our industry and enable them to interact with all levels of the company. We have two key people over the program that take a high-level of interest in the program and the student – myself and Beau Snider, director, Tech Service. Above all, let them know that there is a future for them with the company.”

Forbes noted that the internship program has been a huge plus for Wikoff Color.

“In fact, we have made offers at the end of the internship contingent on the student completing their education,” Forbes said. “We currently have four active employees who went through our internship program.”

INX and Internships

Laura Schultz, the intern who earned the Lawter Lecture Award for her summer research, spoke about the benefits of her internship, and how she chose to work with INX.

“I was struggling to find an internship that met up with my qualifications,” Schultz said. “I wanted something to do with chemistry and research as well as having an independent process. I went to one of my professor’s office hours, and Dr. James DiFranceso gave me a list of eight or nine internships with no information, just the title of the internship. I went on Google and INX drew me in, as I felt it would definitely challenge me. I did the interview process and fell in love with the people there.”

At INX, Schultz worked with Russ Szadowski, director analytical R&D at INX International Ink Co., and Natasha Banke, INX R&D analytical lab manager.

“I am quite impressed with the preparation we put in, which will pay dividends for many years,” said Szadowski.

Banke has developed cutting-edge research in this field for a number of years and proved to be an ideal mentor on this project.

“I had an outline – these were the steps we were going to do, beginning with learning how to use the instrument and make a solution, and I let her do what she needed to do,” Banke added. “I gave her space to figure it out – it was tough on her at times, and she figured it out. I look at the internship program as a place to learn from mistakes.”

“I think with a lot of research it requires an acceptability of failure,” Schultz noted. “Natasha really showed me how to accept failure with grace and how to move from there. There’s a humanness of taking research to the next level, but having mentors as successful as Natasha, you can navigate to where the error began and navigate from there.”

“What made it really ideal for us is that we have researched this project for a number of years, and we had a structured project that made it so successful,” Banke noted. “We made sure the project was not open-ended. I knew her professor and said to him we are starting this internship program and want to have a relationship with local universities. I think we got good applicants because we talked with the professors.”

“Laura was amazing and very good – she was open to learning from her mistakes and followed the opportunities in front of her. You have to because you might end up where you might not expect,” Banke observed.

Schultz said that interning at INX proved to be an excellent learning experience.

“When I returned to the university, I brought back a lot of experiences, and everything is applicable, especially persevering through the rough times. I took back a lot of niche knowledge, as well as other broad lessons, such as the professional world isn’t as scary as I thought it would be,” said Schultz.

“Everyone was incredible,” Schultz added. “I never had a feeling of there being closed doors. I always understood what I was doing through talking with people. I was very surprised to receive the Lawter Award, and I’m very proud to see my research get this far.”