MONTREAL, QUEBEC-- The Quebec Institute of Graphic Communications (QIGC) is pleased to announce the development of an innovative tool to ensure the consistency of printing ink performances. Quebecor World is the chief sponsor of the QIGC for this project. A drop of ink and one minute are all that is needed to obtain an answer! The QIGC has developed a technology, for which a patent is pending, making possible to quickly and reliably analyze the consistency of ink performances. When it comes to printing, ink is the second main component after paper and is certainly the most difficult component to control, which explains the enormous interest in this new method. The technique is based on mid-infrared spectrophotometry technology. Upon delivery of the ink and prior to its use on press, a single drop of ink is analyzed to determine if the ink meets the printer's performance standards. The test takes just one minute. The first version of this process guarantees the printer consistent ink consumption from one runto the next (in the case of similar impressions). In an on-going effort to limit and control its operating costs, Quebecor World understood the implications of this new technology and made it possible to develop by becoming the project's chief sponsor. As a result of this major contribution, Quebecor World benefits from an exclusive right to use this new technology during its first year of commercialization, namely until January 2005. After that date, the technology will become widely available. "This new process will allow Quebecor World to reduce costs and improve efficiency by ensuring we make an optimal use of ink in our printing process in terms of both quality and quantity," explained Jean Neveu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quebecor World Inc. "Quebecor World congratulates the QIGC on having achieved this major development in our industry. We are very proud to have sponsored this study and we are convinced that the exclusive use of this ink analysis system over the next year will give us added value in the marketplace." The Quebec Institute of Graphic Communications is a Montreal-based non-profit organization dedicated to the graphic arts industry. It provides training, conducts practical consultations in the field, and carries out applied research and development projects for the printing field and its related sectors.