Moving forward – The Chairman’s Perspective

I am delighted to accept the responsibility of Chairman 2008/09 and consider it an honour to build upon the strong foundations championed so astutely by outgoing Chairman Bob Lamont.

This is an exciting time for the industry and one which demonstrates its maturity and willingness to embrace change. Implementation of this new Australian Standard will ensure that Australia remains competitive against its European counterparts, lessens the reasons for clients to seek overseas quotations, and delivers a new level of quality control management to our industry and their clients.

Just as in building a house, getting the foundations right is critical. Now that this has been achieved, the building blocks can be completed. The Committee must act as a cohesive, representative team to interpret and educate the industry about standards based printing. We need to guide you in its implementation so that once completed, you can stand back with pride and admiration in the finished printed product in full knowledge that it will pass any objective test based upon the new Australian Standard.

There is no legislative obligation to adopt this Standard. What there is however, is increased professionalism for your business, and the industry collectively, as you value add for your clients. Not to far away, compliance with this Standard will be the industry norm.

As Australia’s voting representative to the ISO for this suite of Standards the AU/TC 130 Committee will be vigilant in looking after the interests of the industry and guiding it into the future.

It is the leaders of the industry who will be the early adopters and who will reap the greatest gains as they champion their results from implementing the Standard.

Philip Andersen
CEO Printing Industries Association of Australia