SAN LUIS OBISPO - A consortium of leading print communications companies has reaffirmed its commitment to gravure education at Cal Poly by donating equipment to improve teaching gravure engraving technologies. "For decades we've been committed to teaching all of the major printing processes, and gravure has always been a core technology in our curriculum," said Harvey Levenson, head of the Graphic Communication Department. "With this new technology, we pledge to continue promoting gravure as the process for high-quality and long-run print production, and to encourage our students to look to the gravure industry for career opportunities." The donation includes a refurbished MDC B710 gravure cylinder engraver, which replaces a 1960s-vintage Helioklishograph the department has used since the early 1980s. The B710 is an electromechanical cylinder engraver used to create the printing cylinders for packaging and product printing. It can receive all common digital file formats. Southern Graphic Systems donated the engraver, Max Daetwyler Corp. reconditioned the engraver and added its Collage software, Xitron Inc. donated the RIP to pass files onto the engraver, and Chardon Tool donated the diamond tooling needed to complete the system. The Gravure Education Foundation provided grant money to help complete the installation. The entire system is valued at more than $150,000. Cal Poly is one of just handful of universities that has a gravure cylinder engraver for educational purposes, said Malcolm Keif, who heads-up gravure education at Cal Poly. All of Cal Poly's Graphic Communication majors are required to learn the engraver's operating procedures and capabilities as part of their core education. The system was dedicated at Cal Poly's recent annual Gravure Day on Nov. 2, where Walter Siegenthaler of Max Daetwyler Corporation was on hand for the dedication. "This acquisition of modern technology is a giant step for students preparing for careers in graphic communication and the gravure industry," Keif said. Peter Daetwyler, president of Max Daetwyler Corp., said, "The addition of the MDC B710 cylinder engraver to Cal Poly's Graphic Communication Department is another step toward keeping the gravure industry on the forefront of the printing processes."