Pittsburgh, Pa., July 13, 2001 — The Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, the industry’s leading developer of process control devices, will be presenting a two-day conference on how to develop a solid process control plan covering each step of the manufacturing process (prepress, proofing, platemaking, and press). The GATF Process Controls Conference will be held at the Foundation’s world-renown training center outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 7–9, 2001. Methods dramatically improve operations, customer satisfaction, and profitability by solving film, proof, plate, and presswork problems. GATF defines process control as "the measurement of production control targets in order to maintain a level of documented and specified acceptable variation in the print manufacturing cycle." Therefore controlling the production process throughout the plant should involve both prepress and pressroom personnel. "Measuring only the color bar on the printing sheets or plate exposure with some type of grayscale isn’t adequate," says Dan Remaley, GATF’s process controls product specialist. "Printers need an overall system in place for process control." Remaley, the manufacturer of many of GATF’s process control devices and the Foundation’s top process control instructor, will open the conference with an overview of process controls. Additional GATF experts will present sessions on color theory, measuring print attributes on film and press sheets, making separations that are easy to control on press, and ensuring consistent and verifiable proofs and plates. Attendees will learn what measurements to take at the press for color control, gray balance, dot gain, print contrast, and more. Presenters during a special session on controlling photography and scanning will discuss proper photographic techniques to make scanning easier. Improving communications between photographers and scanner operators will also be discussed, as well as digital photography techniques. The conference’s second day will again be led by Remaley, this day teaching how to monitor the pressrun. GATF staff will continue to walk attendees through the entire process by next discussing calibrating the press for color management. "According to a recent GATF survey, printers cited excessive color variation as the number one reason that they needed to partially or completely reprint a job at their expense in the last year. But printers shouldn’t rely on color management only to rectify this problem," says Remaley. "Process control is the first step to color management. Color management allows users to produce consistent color, but if their processes are out of control and they produce unpredictable color, color management will allow them to produce consistently unpredictable color." This conference will teach how to control color variables, from scanning and file output to proofing and press. After attendees learn about process control in the bindery, the conference will close with case studies of superior process controls and the role of statistical process control. Additionally, a thought-provoking session will be held on "printing by the numbers" as standards, closed-loop color, and automation initiatives such as CIP4 evolve. Registration fee for the two-day conference is $695 ($595 for GATF/PIA members) for the first registrant and $100 less for additional registrants from the same organization. Included in the conference fee are speaker handouts, breakfasts, lunches, attendance to a dinner cruise on Pittsburgh’s premiere river boat, and transportation to and from the Hyatt Regency Pittsburgh International Airport. To register, visit www.gain.net and choose PIA/GATF and Technical Training. For details about the conference, call the GATF/PIA fax-on-demand line at 888/272-3329 and request document number 13006.