The future of the printing industry and the use of digital technology were up for discussion during a recent summit at Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for Print Media.

More than 30 people, including students, faculty, staff and printing industry professionals, discussed printing from digital data across multiple marking technologies at the 2012 Gravure Day on March 15 at RIT.

“The printing industry is at a crucial point with the integration of digital platforms,” says Bob Chung, Gravure Research Professor. “The industry as a whole is trying to maintain its viability in the digital age.”

David McDowell, visiting scholar and standards consultant, discussed the emerging international printing standard, ISO 15339 Printing from digital data across multiple technologies.

Elie Khoury, CEO of KEE Consultants and Alwan Colour Expertise, was also a guest lecturer at the event via Skype from Lyon, France. Khoury took a close look at how different digital print production workflows could conform to either process control standard or product conformance standard.

Professor Robert Eller discussed the relevance of the two previous presentations in relationship to conformity assessment and the development of the PSA project, Printing Standards Audit, at RIT.

The Gravure Day was concluded with a presentation, “Gravure Education Foundation: What It Can Do for You,” by Mike Green, vice president of sales, Flint Group. Students gained a heightened awareness of the gravure printing industry, scholarships and career opportunities.

All four presentations were videotaped by RIT for classroom use and can be accessed, along with photos and presentation slides, at cias.rit.edu/~gravure/gravure/gravure_day.html.