Flexo has a math problem. For every operator the industry hires, it loses two. That single stat, pulled from the 2026 FTA AI survey and discussed at April’s FTA event in Milwaukee, explains a lot about why platerooms and pressrooms are rethinking what “efficient” even means this year.

When people leave, they take years of muscle memory with them. Nearly half of surveyed converters (46.6%) called themselves “highly vulnerable” to that kind of knowledge loss, and another 43.2% said, “somewhat vulnerable.” Add those together, and roughly nine out of ten printers are exposed if their most experienced press operator walks out the door tomorrow.

3M innovations built for the skills gap, not around it 

Innovation in flexo right now isn’t happening because the technology is exciting for its own sake. It’s happening because printers need equipment and materials that don’t depend on a decade of hard-won experience to run well. 3M has been building toward that for a while, and a few of its innovations are worth a closer look if you haven’t evaluated your plateroom setup recently.

The labor gap is reshaping what “good equipment” means

The flexo industry needs an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 new press operators every year just to keep pace, according to that same FTA AI survey. Most of the people getting hired into those roles have never touched a flexo press before. They’re learning on the job, often without the person who used to train them still around to do it.

This changes the calculus on materials and equipment. A tape, plate, or workflow tool that requires a seasoned eye to use correctly is a liability now in a way it wasn’t five years ago. The products worth evaluating are the ones that build consistency into the process itself, so results don’t swing wildly depending on who’s running the shift.

Make-ready is where the real losses hide

At FTA’s Make-Ready session in Milwaukee, one point landed harder than the rest: profit isn’t only about press speed. It’s built (or lost) in the gaps between jobs. Make-ready time directly affects uptime, waste, and your bottom line, and shorter run lengths are only making that truer. Shorter runs demand faster, more repeatable changeovers, and the highest hidden cost isn’t the equipment. It’s the variability between operators and how each one handles the same job differently.

The fix isn’t more training manuals. It’s simplifying the process enough that variability has less room to creep in. That’s exactly the problem 3M’s Cushion-Mount plate mounting tapes were built to solve. The tapes use a crosshatched, air-release liner that lets trapped air escape during mounting instead of leaving bubbles that a less experienced operator might not catch or know how to fix. Mounting gets faster and more forgiving, and demounting is clean enough that plate removal doesn’t turn into its own five-minute ordeal.

3M tape innovations that are worth your attention

3M’s Cushion-Mount Plus line has expanded well past a single foam density, and the differences matter more than they might seem at first glance.

The L-Series is the one to watch if plate removal has been slowing down your changeovers. 3M’s advanced adhesive technology on this line makes plate removal about 78% easier compared to earlier E-Series and H-Series options, which matters a lot when a new operator is trying to pull a plate without damaging it or losing time.

The broader E-Series and EH-Series stickyback tapes round out the range with foam densities built for everything from fine halftone work to heavy solids, so you’re not forcing one tape to do a job it wasn’t engineered for. If you’ve been running the same tape across multiple job types out of habit rather than fit, this is worth a second look.

None of this replaces good training. But it does mean the equipment itself carries more of the load when experience is thin on the ground, which is exactly the point.

Regulation is quietly driving a lot of this innovation

Labor isn’t the only pressure reshaping the industry. Regulation is pushing real change into ink formulations, substrates, and workflow automation, and it’s not slowing down.

California’s SB 343, the “Truth in Labeling” law, is a good example of how fast this can move. The law bars use of the chasing arrows recycling symbol on packaging unless the material is actually on CalRecycle’s approved recyclable list. If a printer or brand owner puts that symbol on packaging without meeting the criteria, the label itself becomes noncompliant. That single rule is already changing how converters think about substrates and the materials they specify further upstream, including plate mounting and finishing.

This is where staying current on 3M’s material innovations pays off twice. You get equipment that’s easier to run with a less experienced crew, and you get a supply partner who’s tracking where regulation is headed before it becomes a compliance scramble.

Where do you go from here?

Businesses that adapt quickly to shifts like these, whether it’s a labor shortage or a new labeling law, tend to come out ahead of competitors who wait to react. That’s not a platitude; it shows up directly in uptime, waste numbers, and how fast a new hire can get productive on press.

If it’s been a while since you evaluated your plate mounting setup against what’s actually available now, that’s a good place to start. Anderson & Vreeland works directly with 3M’s Cushion-Mount and stickyback tape lines every day, and our team can walk through which series fits your run lengths, substrates, and crew experience level best.

Reach out to Anderson & Vreeland to talk through your plateroom setup, or explore the 3M mounting tape options built for your plateroom directly.