Ereview

Abstract

Every industry needs an educated workforce to stay competitive in the marketplace. This is especially true for the printing industry because of the vast technological changes experienced in recent years. An educated workforce comes from college graduates as well as from skill updates of existing employees. As a vital ingredient in keeping the workforce current, curriculum and training materials must reflect technology and industry advances. Rochester Institute of Technology has a long history of offering printing degrees and industry training programs. Faculty in the School of Print Media and professional staff in the Printing Applications Laboratory (PAL) work diligently to stay ahead of the curve so that degree program students and industry seminar participants who successfully complete their programs can help their employers get ahead. In 2005, RIT completed a three-year project for ExxonMobil Corporation to develop an engineered approach to achieving repeatable and predictable color for the package printing industry. The strategy for achieving color faster, better, and cheaper is to rely on science instead of crafts. One of the key ingredients is the use of color measurement tools for press-side color control instead of visual based color adjustment that is subjective, dependent on viewing conditions, and difficult to document. RIT showcased the repeatable and predictable color methodology at a daylong symposium in November 2006. A number of case studies described how RIT extended the methodology from press laboratories to commercial settings with success. Based on the documented success of this research, RIT has developed three new industry education programs to enable the printing industry to optimize, standardize, and control their print production workflows. Ultimately, the industry as a whole can achieve a more agile process that better serves their client’s needs.