manroland's Print Technology Center in Westmont, Illinois is hosting the spring session of the IDEAlliance G7 Expert Training. Printers, educators and consultants are trained at these sessions held around the world each year. Participants learn to perform the G7 process and to implement the techniques for a pressroom operation to meet the quality criteria described in the G7 "How To" publication. The Print Technology Center's high performance manroland R708PLV DirectDrive press will be used for the class.

"Print buyers rely on the consistency of color across printing plants and across printing companies, " said Mr. Joe Fazzi, Vice President Print Media, IDEAlliance. "Printers can achieve process efficiency by establishing a common vocabulary around the color evaluation process, the whole company from CSR to press operator speak the same language on color."

manroland's advanced technologies provide the tools to implement the G7 process. The ROLAND 700 DirectDrive platform is known for its consistent dot gain and superior register even at full press speeds.

manroland's OK Balance is a key component of the ColorPilot module that manages color to an optimal gray tone. "manroland has been a part of the G7 program for many years. We have developed our quality assurance systems with the G7 methodology in mind." Said Hal Stratton, Director of New Technologies for manroland. After initial calibration, manroland's ColorPilot and OK Balance ensure that G7 calibration is maintained. ColorPilot monitors Lab values and the OK Balance measures gray balance.

"The G7 program is now well established in the printing industry. There are now over 500 G7 Master Printer companies and over 250 G7 Expert consultants who have already passed the certification exam." said Mr. Don Hutcheson, the inventor of the G7 calibration menthod. "A printer that decides to invest in G7 calibration gets more than just classroom training. They receive real hands on training with state-if-the-art press equipment like the Direct Drive press here at manroland, and the result is they leave with real world skills."