FQC/SWG Updates: Looking Toward Forum 2019 & Spring

In our last FQC update, we communicated the importance of the Standards Working Group (SWG) and its impact on developing standards that may affect our industry. We reached out to you, the membership, to take an active role in the discussions.

There are several items under current discussion that will shape how we work in prepress and the pressroom, and how we communicate with brand owners (please see the last update for details).

We have a portal for you to submit your thoughts, questions or ideas right to the FQC and SWG. Make your voice heard as these standards are refined for our industry.

The FQC is very excited about our upcoming session at Forum 2019, taking place at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, May 6! We will be featuring several student research projects and the High-Resolution Printing Project final report. And, for the very first time, we will be the stage for the winning team from the Phoenix Challenge College Competition as they present their solution to this year’s challenge: rebranding a company through flexographic printing. You will be amazed at the students’ research, creativity and resourcefulness in their interpretation of the challenge. These students are our future workforce. The breadth of their insight and maturity in problem solving will open your eyes to tremendous possibilities. See you there!

Those interested in getting involved can contact any FQC Executive Team member or sign up through the FQC volunteer portal.

SWG Updates

The holiday season is normally a slow time for standards activity. The transition from 2018 to 2019 has not been an exception.

With the approach of spring, however, activity is picking up, and there are a lot of projects getting started and being completed before the next meetings, which will be held May 27-31 in Hong Kong. The fall meeting is scheduled to be held Oct. 27-Nov. 1 at the Adobe facility in Lehi, UT.

ISO/TC 130 Graphic Arts – Standards of Interest to Flexography

• ISO PAS 15339-1 Graphic technology — Printing from digital data across multiple technologies — Part 1: Principles
• ISO PAS 15339-2 Graphic technology — Printing from digital data across multiple technologies — Part 2: Characterized reference printing conditions

These two publicly available specifications were up for their system review. At the meetings last fall in Tokyo, the committee decided they should be promoted to standards. This was a huge shock to the US delegation, as back in 2015, they had fought long and hard to have these documents published as standards while the Europeans and some Asian delegations fought against. These specification codify the press calibration method based on printing to neutral balance and to certified printing conditions. Now it seems that enough have actually tried the method to become as convinced as the US that it offers many advantages over the traditional density and dot gain approach.

• ISO 19302:188 Graphic technology – Colour conformity of printing workflows. This standard was published at the end of 2018. It describes the requirements of printing workflows and evaluation methods for their tone and color reproduction. This is one more guide toward making the printing workflow more predictable
• ISO/DTS 23564 Image technology colour management – Evaluating colour transform accuracy in ICC profiles. This new Draft Technical Specification (DTS) is out for ballot with a completion data of Feb. 22. This document contains the instructions on how to assess the quality of the various colorimetric rendering intents contained within an ICC profile. This can be important in flexographic printing where the reproduction may contain process color images that will need to be rendered relative to the substrate and spot colors or brand colors that need to be reproduced with high fidelity
• ISO/PWI 21328 Graphic technology – Requirements for multicolour printing. This proposed New Work Item (NWI) had been out for ballot and was approved by the ISO TC 130. The draft will need to be edited and submitted for a Committee Draft (CD) ballot this spring. This was good news, as the proposed project had languished and those who volunteered to lead it did not make a strong effort to get a draft completed

If you would like to review and comment on any of the upcoming ballots on these standards, please contact FTA Director of Education Joe Tuccitto.

About the Author

Jean Engelke is the chair of FTA’s Flexo Quality Consortium and a member of FTA’s Board of Directors and FFTA’s Board of Trustees. She has earned an AAS in graphic and design technology, a B.A. in printing management, an MBA and an M.A. in industrial engineering management. Jean started her career teaching printing and paper science at Western Michigan University. She has held positions in R&D, engineering and global product marketing with Appleton Papers, Alcan Packaging and Kodak. Most recently, she served as the business development manager – packaging group for RR Donnelley. In 2017, she received the FTA President’s Award.

About the Author

Dr. Danny Rich obtained a master’s degree in physics in 1977 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA, and in 1980 completed a Ph.D. at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 1998, he joined Sun Chemical Corp to direct the Sun Chemical Color Research Laboratory in the Daniel J. Carlick Technical Center in Carlstadt, NJ. He has been awarded the Nickerson Service award from the Inter-Society Color Council in 1999, the National Printing Ink Manufacturers award for Technical Achievement in 2008, a Thomas Alva Edison award for innovation by the Research Council of New Jersey in 2008, the Robert F. Reed Medal from the Printing Industries of America in 2013 and the Mattiello Memorial Award from the American Coatings Association in 2015.