This summer, FPA converter members American Packaging Corporation and Technipaq, Incorporated participated in the Flexible Packaging Association’s 2013 Flexible Packaging Internship & Academic Scholarship Program, and each hosted a student intern at their converting facilities. The FPA Flexible Packaging Internship & Academic Scholarship program provides printing/packaging school students with opportunities to participate in career-enriching internships that provide hands-on work experience in the flexible packaging industry.
Student interns included William Howell, a packaging science major at Clemson University, who completed a three month summer internship at American Packaging Corporation in Story City, IA. Howell shared with FPA his summer internship experience and explained that the structure of his internship constantly allowed him to learn and see new things. “During my internship, I worked in various areas including graphics, the ink and quality control lab, and the press department. When I started this internship, my knowledge of the flexographic printing process and the flexible packaging industry was limited. But, this internship was instrumental in improving my understanding of flexible packaging and printing processes,” says Howell.
Kyle Stephenson, a packaging major at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, is participating in a six month internship with Technipaq, Incorporated at their facilities in Crystal Lake, IL. He also discussed his internship experience with FPA and shared that the knowledge he acquired while working at Technipaq will be helpful to him in both his academic and professional careers. “Actually working with the materials and machinery that I learn about in the classroom and read about in text books, has been an invaluable experience. I’ve enjoyed working with my Technipaq mentor, and learning about machinery inspections, and conducting material quality assurance tests," says Stephenson. Technipaq process engineer and Stephenson's mentor, Sara Firestone notes that “Kyle has exceptional analytical skills in that he can take a large amount of data and distill it to find root causes using Minitab and Excel. He is also very innovative and develops out-of-the-box solutions to problems. He’s a great addition to our team!”
For more information on the FPA Flexible Packaging Internship and Academic Scholarship Program, contact FPA at (410) 694-0800 or visit www.flexpack.org.
