Where can I find a Job Description for a Sheetfed Second Pressman?
- Thread starter cheetoh
- Start date
Cornishpastythighs
Well-known member
Probably need to ask someone from a Union shop, 2nd pressman position has all but disappeared on sheetfed presses now. I seem to remember that the 2nd pressman was responsible for registration, assisting with load changes, filling ink fountains, mounting plates(pretty much automatic now) Blanket washing(automatic now) Roller and ink fountain wash ups. He was able to do all the functions of a first pressman should the operator be absent.
turbotom1052
Well-known member
there was a time when larger multicolor sheetfed presses ran with a crew of 3 . with all the automation in the industry now that number has been cut down to 2 in most cases. Back when they were manning sheetfed presses with 3 the heirarchy was lead pressman, then 2nd pressman, then feeder operator. Since scaling down to a 2 man operation many companies refer to the number 2 man as a second pressman. There are still some that just refer to him as a feeder operator or as a press assistant. with that in mind please tell us how the company your working for mans its presses? Then perhaps a job description can be offered.
We call them offsider or assistant here in Australia.... but we put off the offsider that was day shift only on a 2 shift press just this week... It was more to do with a downturn on our mid size machinery that saw some printers standing around a fair bit during the day. So now we have no offsiders, but what with automation it doesnt have much of an impact on production levels. I spent years running a 40" sans assistant, so it does not change my day really at all.......except that i can treat the other printers as my lackey if i feel the need 
I have been in the business for forty plus years and the second pressman was mostly responsible for running color while the number one was working with customers, setting register. It was important to have a qualified color man to chase up and down in the units to eliminate too many changes on the keys. Quicker color between pulls meant faster makeready and less waste. With automation. all that is gone, a way to train ones back up has gone out the window but it is cheaper today to run the machine with the two man crew on the 40 inch plus presses. Every shop needs to determine its own needs. IF you have fountain keys that need to be set still and not remote inkers, you may want to add a number two to save you time, but you really need to consider your own environment and what is needed.
duct maestro
Well-known member
We run two Heidelbergs (an xl 105 and a CD 102) with one assistant between both presses. It's a nightmare! Can't really see the logic in it?
ThePrinter
Member
I used to be the in between guy. The two presses I worked on each had a feeder, but when those guys both went on their half hour break at the same time I'd be running the feeder on two 64" presses. In addition, these were 8 color presses so I'd be doing the inks on 16 units and handling the AQ coating as well. We printed all of the Campbell's soup labels, which was a pain in the ass because it was not uncommon to have the 8th unit with Campbell's Soup Red running at 100% sweep. Union shop, so it was not uncommon to have a guy on break at any given time. It also sucked that the feeders were making much more than me (29 bucks an hour), yet all they had to do was throw in a 14,000 sheet load of 60# label stock and wait for it to run out. End rant.
duct maestro
Well-known member
Sorry if I didn't make myself clear! I mean a number 1 on each press and one assistant between two presses!!!! 3 men in total. Doing some of the most prestigious jobs around too.
turbotom1052
Well-known member
duct maestro,
the industry is going in that direction because press personal have allowed it to go there. I cant think of too many company owners that wouldnt love to man their presses with a single guy if they could. they might also like to stick a broom up the ass of all the press personel so that you could sweep up your area as you run up and down on the press. Then they could lay off the porters. Im all for putting forth an extra effort during tough economic times but its gotta be reasonable. i dont care how much automation the new equiptment has its still way too much work to do alone unless its a single or 2 color press.
the industry is going in that direction because press personal have allowed it to go there. I cant think of too many company owners that wouldnt love to man their presses with a single guy if they could. they might also like to stick a broom up the ass of all the press personel so that you could sweep up your area as you run up and down on the press. Then they could lay off the porters. Im all for putting forth an extra effort during tough economic times but its gotta be reasonable. i dont care how much automation the new equiptment has its still way too much work to do alone unless its a single or 2 color press.
Last edited:
duct maestro
Well-known member
Couldn't agree more with the broom comment! If you knew the kind of high quality work we were doing you'd be even more shocked! Let's just say that most are massive names globally not just in the uk
Joe Maldonado
Member
we are in the large format and printing on board most of the time , we tried to run with 2 man Crew but its not possible when the speed on our presses are in excess of 12M/IPH, if we were running only label stock I would say you can get by with a 2 man crew
Similar threads
