Signs apprentice best in Victoria

An employee of Signs Publishing Company has been recognised as the RMIT Apprentice of the Year for the print industry in Victoria. Daniel Menkens is completing the final year of his print finishing apprenticeship with the Adventist church’s Warburton-based printing company, an entity of the Adventist Media Network. He received three awards at The Collie Print Trust Awards held at RMIT University’s International Centre for Graphic Technology on December 6.

“It’s nice to have some acknowledgement because I have tried hard but I have also had good support throughout my training at Signs,” says Mr Menkens, who admits he was pleasantly surprised to receive the awards. “This gives me the opportunity to do more training, travel and, which I hope will be a benefit to Signs as well.”

The apprentice of the year award includes a $15,000 prize for further training and education-related travel. He says he is hoping to visit DRUPA, the international printing industry trade show, in Germany in May.

“This award is something Dan can be proud of but that all of us at Signs are proud of as well,” says Ray Portbury, production manager at Signs. “It demonstrates that what we do here is at least as good as the rest of the printing industry.”

He says this award recognises Mr Menekns’s hard work during the past four years. “He is a problem solver, who has found ways to save money and time on a number of our projects,” says Mr Portbury. “But it was his teachers who nominated him for this award and they think very highly of him as well.

“It is rare for print finishers to win these award because they are compared with other apprentices and trainees across the whole of the print industry,” he explains.

Mr Menkens is quick to give credit to Signs for the recognition he has received. “When one of my teachers came out to do assessment of my work, he was surprised and impressed with what he saw at Signs,” he says. “This award is important industry-wide recognition for Signs, which has gone the extra-mile in providing training for me, and Signs will be featured in a variety of trade publications over the next little while.”

But there is more to this job, according to Mr Menkens. “For many people at trade school, it’s just a job but the mission and the people are an important part of working at Signs,” he says. “It’s like that old story of laying bricks or building a castle—are you just folding paper or are you working on something bigger?”

Mr Menkens began casual work in the office at Signs in 2007. During that time, he also began occasional work in the bindery before beginning an apprenticeship in mid-2008.