The first signing of a PSO certification contract: in the middle is Kulakkada Pradeep (CEO of Future Schoolz), on the right next to him, Shekar Balarishna (Managing Director of ImPrint TechnoPack), on the left next to Kulakkada Pradeep Jürgen Gemeinhardt (Fogra Head of Printing Technology).

First PSO certification agreements signed with Indian printers

Aschheim—drupa 2024 was a great success for the Fogra Research Institute for Media Technologies. The first four contracts for ProcessStandard Offset (PSO) certification with printing companies from India were signed directly at the Fogra booth. These include Pragati, the most awarded printer in the South Asian country.

To meet the strong international demand for PSO (ISO 12647) certification, Fogra has been running a partner programme in non-German-speaking countries for several years. Future Schoolz became a Fogra PSO partner at the beginning of 2024. Since then, the India-based company has been using its excellent network in the Indian printing industry to support Fogra in promoting PSO certification.

Four agreements were signed during drupa 2024. The first was signed with Imprint Technopack Private Limited in Karnataka for full PSO certification and the second with commercial printer Orange Printers Private Limited from Thiruvananthapuram for reduced PSObasic certification. Shekar Balarishna, Managing Director of ImPrint TechnoPack, said he was very proud to be the first company in India to be associated with Fogra PSO certification. This is particularly important, he added, because "standardisation is the need of the market and the future".

This historic signing was followed by two others. The first was with Pragati Offset, based in Hyderabad and winner of numerous awards, including the SAPPI "International Printer of the Year" award. Narenda Paruchuri of Pragati Offset signed the agreement with Fogra's managing director, Dr Eduard Neufeld. "Pragati follows the mantra: Quality first. Fogra PSO certification is the natural choice because we believe in print research". DC Books from Kerala signed the fourth contract during drupa. Negotiations are underway for another ten PSO contracts with a leading Indian newspaper printer.

In addition to these positive developments, the eleven days of drupa were a great success for the research institute. Steve Upton of Colorthink presented his new Colorthink 4.0 programme together with Dr Andreas Kraushaar, Fogra's head of Prepress Technology. At the Touchpoint Sustainability, Fogra presented its approach to sustainability in three presentations. The topics ranged from energy consumption in offset and digital printing, CO2 reduction by switching to UV LED in heatset printing to mineral oil-free newspaper printing inks. All presentations are available on the Fogra website: https://fogra.org/en/drupa 

Another achievement was to increase Fogra's recognition and to attract new members. In addition, interested parties, customers, and members were informed about the various certification services such as PSO, PSD (ProcessStandard Digital), and the printing programmes for offset and digital. Visitors also got insights into Fogra's various testing services. These included the 54 paper tests, the various analytical and technical printing tests and the hue test, which could be carried out on-site. Visitors also had the opportunity test the current ISO standard on graininess or their knowledge in the daily quizzes. The lucky winners received a 10% discount on Fogra services or participation in the Fogra Web Academy.

For more information about drupa:

https://cloud.fogra.org/s/AHyxakiw3ZLaNEQ