Future Print has announced that leading innovation and business transformation expert Allan Ryan has been appointed Lead Advisor to the new Future Print Business Transformation Project, which is designed to help businesses across the graphic communications spectrum transition to meet the market of the future.
Mr Ryan is one of Australia’s leading authorities on innovation and leadership. He is Adjunct Professor at the UTS Business School and an Executive Director of the Hargraves Institute, which was formed to help Australian companies become more innovative by creating and promoting collective wisdom in this area.
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Printing Industries CEO Bill Healey said Mr Ryan’s broad experience and knowledge will be an enormous asset to the project. He said Mr Ryan has worked across a diverse range of industries from aerospace and automotive to food and manufacturing working on transformation projects with leading names such as Coca Cola, Cochlear and Blue Scope Steel,
“Allan is familiar with the graphic communications sector, having worked with Printing Industries on its Innovation Project in 2012 and we are delighted to have him on board to direct the critical implementation phase of this important project,” Mr Healey said.
Mr Ryan has been appointed for 12 months to oversee the start-up and implementation phase of the Future Print Business Transformation Project. This will include leadership briefings, industry benchmarking, business diagnostics, individual business reviews, facilitated workshops, one-on-one business mentoring and subsidised training.
“When we talk about industry transformation, we are really referring to the transformation of individual businesses within that industry, which has the flow-on effect of change across the entire sector,” Mr Ryan said.
“The Future Print Business Transformation Project will bring together the best people and the best tools to help individual businesses across the entire graphic communications spectrum – from graphic designers, to paper companies, to print service providers – to plan and manage the transitions which are required for them to build a successful future.”
The program structure, which uses tools already proven in practice in some of Australia’s most innovative companies, is predicated on the assumption that participants will be busy people.
“We all know it’s important to work ‘on’ the business as well as ‘in’ the business, but we are realistic about the time people can spend on the process, particularly as most graphic arts businesses are SMEs. We have deliberately designed this program to be very efficient so participants can enjoy maximum benefit from a minimal time investment,” Mr Ryan said.
Importantly, Future Print has appointed seven Advisors nationally, whose expertise covers a wide range of areas from managing technological change to investment, superannuation, partnerships and mergers, and even business exit strategies.
“As well as gaining access to valuable information, tools and resources, businesses who take part in the Business Transformation Project will be supported every step of the way by our Future Print Advisors, whose role it is to help participants assess their own business position, evaluate the learnings and how they apply to their individual business situation, formulate plans to address specific challenges and then manage the implementation of those plans in their own workplace.”
The initial stage, to commence in August, will provide the opportunity for 350 businesses across the country to attend leadership briefing sessions and get some help understanding their business and its performance as measured against industry benchmarks. From there, 200 businesses will be able to move on into more detailed planning and implementation stages, where they will gain access to a total of 500 subsidised training places.
Mr Ryan expects places at the Leadership Briefing Sessions to fill quickly, with demand almost certain to outstrip supply.
“Qualification criteria for this project are very broad and the reality is that there are only places for some 10 per cent of industry businesses. And, of course, as a government funded project, resources are finite. There are no guarantees of any extensions or any further projects in future,” he warns.
“So, if you are feeling that you’d like some help with how to deal with this period of rapid change at your own, individual business level, there will probably never be a better opportunity than this – but you’ll need to move fast and register your interest on the Future Print Website.”
For further information or to register directly for a Leadership Briefing in your State, go to the
Future Print Website or contact Peter Mansfield or Kay Scutter at Printing Industries on (08) 8373 0622.
