Leveraging RIT’s comprehensive collection of full-scale contemporary printing equipment, laboratory instrumentation, and the expertise of RIT’s world renowned faculty and technical staff, the Printing Applications Laboratory provides industry with empirical approaches to control and improve the quality of their products and expand on the knowledge of printing industry professionals.
PAL provides digital media certification programs, product/process auditing, competitive benchmarking, and assistance with product development. PAL also assists the industry with a broad range of both open enrollment and customized corporate educational programs.
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 Fifteen printing industry professionals were certified as Printing Standards Audit (PSA) Consultants at the conclusion of the first PSA Consultant training in North America, held January 16-17, 2013, in New York City’s Time-Life Building.
The PSA consultant certification session was organized by the Printing Applications Laboratory (PAL) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rochester, NY, USA. The training was conducted by RIT Gravure Research Professor Robert Chung, an internationally known authority on printing standards, with the assistance of IDEAlliance, a global community of content and media creators, and their service providers, material suppliers, and technology partners. All 15 attendees were IDEAlliance G7 PC (Process Control) Experts.
Participants traveled from as far as Ireland to take the two days of intensive class work and a comprehensive examination. Post-session feedback was highly positive and included suggestions for additional topics to be included the next time the class is held.
Professor Chung said, “Leading the consultant training was a great experience because the instructional objectives were achieved and appreciated by all, and – although the final exam was tough – each one of the participants passed. I could not have expected more.”
Professor Chung further commented, “IDEAlliance will recognize the printer as the GRACoL Certified Printer if the printer demonstrates GRACoL dataset conformity in a PSA audit and is a G7 Master Printer. A G7 PC Expert, who is also a PSA Consultant, can assist the printer in the G7 Master Printer preparation as well as the PSA preparation phase. Offering the PSA Consultant Training to G7 PC Experts makes perfect sense as RIT introduces PSA into the North American printing market.”
Printing Standards Audit is a rigorous, objective process for assessing a printer’s ability to operate a standards compliant workflow. Such workflows are fundamental to creating efficient print supply chains, especially as printers adopt new technologies and supply chains become more international in character. By attaining PSA Certification, printers can objectively demonstrate that they have mastered the use of standards in the workflows they operate. More information about PSA is available here.
The newly certified Printing Standards Audit (PSA) Consultants are: (first row sitting) Paula Gurnee, Ink Systems, Inc.; Steven Smiley, SmileyColor & Associates; Michael Rodriguez; Tim Quinn, Nazdar Consulting Services; Javier Robles, Inx International Ink Co.; Ron Ellis, Ron Ellis Consulting LLC; (second row standing) Bruce Bayne, Alder Technology; Marc Levine, Schawk, Inc.; Jeff Collins, Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA; Dan Wilson Pressroom Colour; Matt Fehn, The Mosaica Group; session leader Professor Robert Chung, Rochester Institute of Technology; Larey Kauffman, FUJIFILM North America Corporation; Don Hutcheson, HutchColor, LLC; David Hunter, Pilot Marketing Group; and Pierre Urbain, Kee Consultants.
| April 23, 2013 | to | April 26, 2013 |
This highly specialized seminar – designed for new examiners as well as experienced analysts who want a technology update – explores the full range of image, ink and substrate variables that are key to determining the authenticity of currency, stamps, passports and other legal documents.
You Will Learn
- Imaging characteristics of traditional and non-impact printing systems, including the newest digital technologies
- The interrelationship of the imaging process, ink and substrate, and how to evaluate all three
- Technical knowledge to help you differentiate between an authentic document and a fraudulent replica
Who Should Attend
- Questioned document examiners
- Forensic document examiners
- Forensic scientists
- Criminologists
- Fraud investigators
- Government employees who work in or with crime labs
Instructors
Milton Pearson has a career spanning more than 30 years at RIT, most recently as a principal imaging scientist at the RIT Research Corporation. Prior to that he was a color reproduction expert at RIT’s Graphic Arts Research Center. He has authored and co-authored many papers in the areas of color gamut of ink sets, comparison of color images in different media, optimum color reproduction, determination of printed colors and color measuring instruments.
Majid Rabbani is a Kodak Research Fellow and head of the image compression and video processing technology areas in the Imaging science division of Eastman Kodak Co.
Tom Jay is Vice President of SICPA Securink USA, a global provider of ink-based anti-counterfeiting and anti-forgery security solutions for bank notes and other valuable, high-risk documents. He manages the Document Security Ink division and is responsible for all security printing applications, including intaglio, lithography, flexography, gravure and screen printing processes.
David Tobin is President of Foster & Freeman USA. Foster & Freeman are innovators in the design and manufacture of systems for the examination of question documents, latent fingerprints, trace evidence and shoe prints. David’s experience ranges from technical sales engineer, technical support, systems installation and training.
Owen Lang is Senior Applications Engineer for Foster & Freeman. Owen has an MS in Forensic Science from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. His responsibilities include installation and training, technical presentations, product development and customer support around the world.
Mike Caffrey is Business Development Manager for Security Products for Appleton. He is responsible for developing security solutions and specifications for all federal, state and commercial applications, developing third party technology and strategic partnerships throughout the US, Canada, South and Central America.
Amanda Moffett is a Document Analyst with the United States Secret Service. She earned her M.F.S. from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. She has been with the Secret Service for over five years and has worked as a Document Analyst for three of those years. Her specialization is in document authentication and instrumental analysis with an emphasis on toner, ink, and paper examinations.
Joseph Stephens is a Document Analyst with the United States Secret Service. He earned a Bachelor of Chemistry from Roanoke College and a Master of Science in Forensic Science (M.S.F.S) from The George Washington University. Mr. Stephens conducts ink, paper, and toner comparisons as well as document authentication examinations on an array of submitted documents using scientific instrumentation. He has given dozens of presentations, lectures, and workshops and has actively participated in the training of numerous forensic document examiner trainees.
Program Fee
$1395
Pre-Registration
Online registration for this program will be available in early February. For additional information, please email Barbara Giordano or call her at (585) 475-2687.
Lodging
RIT does not make hotel reservations, but has made arrangements for attendees to reserve rooms at the Radisson Hotel Rochester Airport. Rooms will be held only until two weeks prior to the seminar date. After this time, rooms are reserved on a space-available basis only. Please call (585) 475-1910 and give the hotel the code 0413RITFOR for a special rate. The Radisson will also offer free shuttle transportation to and from the program each day, as well as transportation to and from the airport.
Research into the use of filter paper as a blood specimen transport medium is the subject of “Hepatitis B Assays in Serum, Plasma and Whole Blood on Filter Paper,” published in BMC Clinical Pathology and coauthored by PAL Lab Manager Daniel M. Clark. Clark designed and coordinated research involving the material properties related to the paper and biomaterials used in the study to determine if filter paper can be used as a blood specimen transport medium.
Another RIT co-author was Dr. Scott A. Williams, Professor of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science. Dr. Williams served as team leader and project organizer. He described the work of Dan Clark and PAL as “instrumental in experimental design and analysis in order to correlate the medical results with paper properties.”
The other coauthors of the paper are: Theodor K. Mayer, Roberto L. Vargas, Ann E. Knebel, Sean P. Culver, and Louise R. King. Meyer, Vargas, and Knebel are with nearby Rochester General Hospital, and were responsible for handling the medical samples and measurements.
The full text is available online here.
Rochester Institute of Technology has announced the commercial launch of PSAsm Certification. PSAsm Certification, or Printing Standards Audit Certification, is a rigorous, objective process for assessing a printer’s ability to operate a standards-compliant workflow.
To read the full release click PSA Press Release
On April 14 Professor Robert Chung gave on presentation at the TC 130 WG13 meeting in Berlin, Germany. The presentation helped push CIEDE2000 into the revision of the ISO 12647-2 printing standard.
Go here to view Robert Chung’s Presentation.
RIT is developing a Printing Standards Audit (PSA) program that certifies printing companies who have demonstrated their abilities to conform to ISO printing requirements. RIT is also contributing to the development of printing standards at the national and international level. A reason that RIT is engaged in these activities is because of its expertise and curriculum in print media technology. Understanding variation in printed products through database analysis and utilizing statistics to make decisions in tolerance settings and in printing conformance are central to the mission of the PSA program.
The objective of this report was to analyze the variance of the PSA database. The source of the PSA database was a survey of 35 printing companies (N=35 jobs, with two samples per job). Each printing company submitted five sample sheets. Two of these sheets were measured by two instruments twice. Therefore, there were a total of 8 sets of measurements for each printing company (2 sheets x 2 instruments x 2 times). The printing target was IT8.7/4, which includes 1,617 patches. The measurement instruments were two X-Rite i1 iSis with M0 mode and white backing.
The analysis was focused on data variance as supplied in the files of (1) measurement summary, and (2) data set analysis. In order to summarize measurement variation, this project reports deviation conformance of the database to ISO 12647-2. Continue reading this report.
Print buyers are asking printers to have their printing processes certified in order to become preferred suppliers. Comprehensive process certification is something new to printers in the US. A successful certification program requires that the certification body is independent and is technically capable, as well as a market that demands the certification.
A number of printing industry influencers approached RIT in December 2008 and asked RIT to offer a process certification program to the U.S. printing industry. In 2009, a committee was formed of faculty and staff from the School of Print Media and the Printing Applications Laboratory to investigate this proposal. The committee submitted a research project proposal to the Printing Industry Center in November 2009 with the goal of conducting a printing standards survey in order to capture the view of printing companies regarding the role of printing standards applicable to workflow from data reception to printing.
A questionnaire was designed to assess the role of standards that impact five areas of workflow: file creation and data reception, contract proof, CTP/press calibration, process control, and workflow efficiency. An Internet-based survey tool was used to implement the survey worldwide. A total of 117 companies (including 90 printers) from North America, Europe, Asia, and Mexico participated in the survey. This report provides the complete results of that survey.
On October 13, Robert Chung gave a presentation in Sao Paulo, Brazil, regarding the PSA Certification benefits and process. It also highlighted RIT as the center of US certification activity. Use the links below to view it.
Robert Chung’s First Presentation [PDF]
Robert Chung’s Second Presentation [PDF]
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