TLMI committees meet in Dallas

More than 100 registered attendees representing five different TLMI committees gathered for the event, where the delegates mapped out their respective agendas for the year and fine-tuned strategies to meet committee-specific goals for 2018. The five TLMI committees that met in Dallas were: technical, government and regulations, marketing, environmental and workforce development.

TLMI Chairman, Craig Moreland, said: ‘Workforce development is TLMI’s newest committee and was an idea that was formed at our 2017 Summit. The committee was created to be in alignment with the workforce recruitment pillar of the TLMI strategic plan, put in place by the board of directors in July of 2016.’

He continued: ‘In creating this committee, the association is taking on one of our industry’s greatest challenges: recruiting and retaining employees. This is an issue the TLMI board of directors takes very seriously as so many of us work in companies with workforces that are slowly marching toward retirement. Additionally, our industry is evolving and our need for workers with strong technology skills is increasing. We are entering a phase of ‘Industry 4.0’ with increased digital adoption both in the form of digital press acquisitions, along with more sophisticated production software. Our industry needs to come up with new and innovative ways to brand itself to younger workers with new skill sets and the workforce development committee will create resources to help association members face this challenge and to find ways to bring on, and keep, young talent.’

To further support TLMI’s goals with workforce development, also attending the January Summit was Bettylyn Krafft, chairman of the Phoenix Challenge Foundation, an organization that promotes the growth of the flexographic printing process in high schools and colleges throughout North America. One of the central objectives of TLMI’s college advisory council is to build awareness among students to view the label industry as a potential and rewarding career path and the Phoenix Challenge Foundation will be instrumental in assisting the association’s workforce development initiatives moving forward.

Also attending the Summit was Bryan Vickers, senior associate at PACE, a government relations consulting firm located in Washington, DC. TLMI is working with PACE on external affairs and tracking regulatory issues that are relevant to label converters and industry suppliers. Vickers worked with the government and regulations committee during his time in Dallas.

Dan Muenzer, TLMI president, said: ‘I couldn’t be happier with the member turnout and dedication evident at this year’s January Committee Summit. Attendees repeatedly made a point to declare this as one of the most productive and successful summits they had ever attended. Having Bettylyn Krafft and Bryan Vickers join us reinforces the association’s commitment to prioritizing workforce development and external affairs moving forward. We have some exciting things we will be unveiling to members in the coming weeks including a new association logo, tagline and mission statement. In the coming months we will also introduce the new TLMI website and the member portal. In 2018 we are taking TLMI to a whole new level of communication, collaboration and community connection and the association’s committees will continue to play a central role in guiding our efforts, managing our message and developing our unique membership resources. It’s an exciting time to be a TLMI member and our extremely successful January Committee Summit was a great way to kick off what will be a very positive and productive year.’