Toronto, ON November 16, 2007 - The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization and Ryerson University announced a free "JDF Education Event" to be held at Ryerson University in Toronto on Tuesday, 19 February 2008. 
This one-day program will covers all aspects of print process automation, CIP4 and the Job Definition Format (JDF), and is hosted by Ryerson University's School of Graphic Communications Management. This JDF 101 Education Event was "sold out" in 2007, and is back by popular demand. "This year a room full of printers and print buyers came and learned a lot about JDF and saw a live demonstration staged by Ryerson with their equipment," said CIP4 executive director James Harvey, "but for me the best part was the real-world questions they brought to the event and the meaningful discussions that their questions sparked. Printers who strive to maximize production efficiency, but have questions and find it difficult to get answers should not miss the 2008 event." Speakers will identify the benefits of JDF-enabled process automation experienced by small and medium sized commercial offset and digital printers, and will provide an introduction to how JDF works and its function in the m
 odern printing plant. Speakers include:
- Dr Mark Bohan, Vice President, Research and Technology, PIA/GATF
- Patrick Bolan, President and CEO Avanti Computer Systems
- James Harvey, Executive Director, CIP4 Organization
- Lesley Hepditch, Workflow Specialist, Agfa Inc., Canada
- Kelly McCathran, Adobe Service Provider Evangelist, Adobe Systems
- Dr Abhay Sharma, Chair of Ryerson University's School of Graphic Communications Management
- Mark Wilton, CIP4 Education and Marketing & Director, Partner Initiatives Enterprise Solutions, Kodak Graphic Communications
The JDF specification is intended to enable the entire industry, including designers, publishers, printing and graphic arts companies and others to work with software and systems from different manufacturers in an integrated workflow facilitated by a common data interchange syntax.
This event is sponsored by Avanti, AGFA and Kodak, and is intended for senior management, middle management, workflow consultants and prepress professionals of small and medium-size printing companies. Each attendee will receive a free copy of the MIS Guide for Managers and the BRIDG's JDF Guide for Managers.
"Profitable printing companies will learn ways to improve profitability and to create printing workflows that are fast and reliable enough to compete with electronic and broadcast media," said Mark Wilton. "Just as important, printers who have struggled with profitability will learn about ways to turn the corner and compete more profitably."
The JDF 101 Education Event has a nominal charge of $25 for the general public and $10 for students/educators. For registration and complete program details go to http://ryerson.eventbrite.com/. For questions about the program contact Abhay Sharma of Ryerson University via email at [email protected].