SAN LUIS OBISPO -- LAgraphico, a leading commercial printing company in Burbank, Calif., opened its doors to a team of Cal Poly graphic communication students to conduct research on printing press "fingerprinting." The research was conducted as part of a senior project by Mark Levenson, who graduated in December 2005. The research also helped prepare Cal Poly for receipt of a new Heidelberg 29 four-color Speedmaster CD press in early 2006 -- the same press that the team worked on at LAgraphico. The main goal of fingerprinting is to set up a printing press and quantify its parameters so that its output will match a proof approved by the client, according to Bill Jacot, LAgraphico's former vice president of manufacturing and a Cal Poly alumnus. The goal of the research project was to establish the press parameters required to match digital ink-et wide-format proofs, according to Harvey Levenson, head of Cal Poly's Graphic Communication Department. The fingerprinting helped determine the highest quality output for the Heidelberg Speedmaster CD press. To do this, the press was matched to an Epson 9800 wide-format digital printer located in the Cal Poly Graphic Communication Department. "LAgraphico's commitment to the growth of printing is exemplified by its support of education at Cal Poly, making sure that students have access to the company's knowledge base through research at its facility. The company became an extension of our laboratories in this research project," Levenson said. The research was also supported by Gans Ink, Heidelberg USA, and Fox River Paper Company.