What are the responsibilities and job description for the Production Artist position at PPC FLEX?
Job Summary:
The role of the Production Artist is to adapt art files to press specifications while ensuring customer expectations are met and to produce flexo-friendly separations for plating. The Production Artist may work directly with the client or through the Graphics Account Specialist or Sales staff. A successful Production Artist must possess a mix of both creative and technical skills. They must be able to work quickly but also remain extremely detail-oriented. They must also adhere to company standards and policies relating to quality and cost efficiencies.
Responsibilities and Duties:
- Collaborate as needed to determine best approach for building flexo-friendly separations while meeting customer expectations
- Create PDFs for print review and customer approval
- Retouch process images to match customer-provided target
- Output contract proof to be used for customer approval and adjust color as needed per customer feedback
- Clean, trap and separate 1-up art files
- Create dielines, step & repeat 1-up artwork to approved dielines, and add press marks such as microdots, guidelines, bearer bars, control strips, etc.
- Prepare final press-ready files based on supplied specifications
- Troubleshoot problems as they arise with Graphics and/or Printing
- Communicate informational changes to the Graphics Account Specialist as they relate to design-specific work instructions
Minimal Job requirements:
- Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Communications
- 5 years of production art experience in packaging graphics
- Esko experience preferred
Required Skills:
- Design software experience (Adobe CC, Photoshop, Art Pro , etc)
- Color retouching/editing experience (must pass color shades test)
- Separation software experience, preferably Esko’s Automation Engine
- Strong understanding of artwork requirements for flexographic printing
- Willing and able to learn new graphic design tools and adapt to new procedures
- Strong analytical skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Detail-oriented with a high level of organization
- Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment to ensure customer deadlines are met
- Microsoft Office experience (Word, Excel, Teams, Outlook)
