Toronto, ON (November 14, 2008) - 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 Thursday, 19 February 2009.  

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 2008 and is back by popular demand. "This year a room full of printers and print buyers will learn a lot about JDF and see a live demonstration staged by Ryerson with their equipment," says CIP4 executive director James Harvey, "but for me the best part will be the real-world questions and the relevant discussions. Printers who strive to maximize production efficiency, but have questions and find it difficult to get answers should not miss the 2009 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 modern printing plant. Speakers include:

* Dr Mark Bohan, Vice President of Research and Technology at PIA/GATF
* Patrick Bolan and Josh Perkins of Avanti Computer Systems
* James Harvey, Executive Director of CIP4 Organization
* Lesley Hepditch, Workflow Specialist at Agfa Inc., Canada
* James Lockman, Adobe Certified Print Specialist at Adobe Systems
* Peter Aston of Heidelberg Canada, Toronto
* Nick Benkovich of Kodak Graphic Communications, Vancouver
* Jason Lisi, Thomas Sprinzing, and Dr Abhay Sharma of Ryerson University, Toronto

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 Adobe, AGFA, Avanti, Heidelberg 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 $50 for the general public and $25 for students/educators. For registration and complete program details go to http://ryersonjdf.eventbrite.com/. For questions about the program contact Abhay Sharma of Ryerson University via email at [email protected].