Topics for the presentation will include:

• Domestic Manufacturing and International Manufacturing
• Supply Side Adjustments
• Mill Closures
• Machine Repurposing
• Logistics
• Demand versus Supply
• Price Changes — WHY?
• 2023 Projections
• Questions

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology’s Graphic Communications and Printing program’s curriculum requires pencils, wrenches, sketch-pads, cameras, keyboard shortcuts, and buckets of ink as students are immersed in real-world projects that provide them opportunities to find their strengths and refine their skills. Students from all backgrounds learn the principles of graphic design, and the role it has in supporting marketing and communications through various channels ranging from web to print.

At the same time, students learn about the vast opportunities within the printing industry. Students will have first-hand experiences with several printing processes, including operation of the lab’s Heidelberg VersaFire digital press or the HP 315 Latex. These experiences are a blend of class projects, live work and personal projects. Students also gain an understanding of the roles in print manufacturing as second-year students overseeing production of The Great Commoner Press, the inhouse print facilities for the College. Students engage with the campus community by designing and producing live work for the College. These projects include the President’s Holiday Card, The College yearbook, and admissions materials.

Please be sure to join us to visit the lab and meet our current students.

Please join us for the Susquehanna Litho Club’s Social Event & Trivia! We will be gathering to network together as members and play Trivia for a cash prize. Please invite any new perspective members or anyone who is interested or already involved in the printing industry. A drink voucher will be given to any member who invites a new perspective member to attend the event. Anyone to sign up to become a new member will also receive one free drink voucher.

The Susquehanna Litho Club is always looking for new members and this is a perfect time to explore and see if you will be interested in joining us. We will have information and benefits on becoming a member, along with discounts on membership if you sign up at this event.

Tell your friends, tell your students, tell a small business owner near you.

Grafika was founded in 1963 by my grandfather, Bernard J. Elzer, Sr., Rudolph M. Mosteller and William A. Kreitler. They invested $500 and their vision to be a screen-printing company producing storefront advertisements for businesses in the Berks County area. My father, Bernard J. Elzer, Jr., was the first employee. He succeeded in transforming a simple ping pong table into their first screen press. From there, the company as we know it today was born with its can-do attitude and the spirit of innovation. This inventive spirit fueled the initial growth phase of the company with the development of an acid-resistant car battery label that garnered Grafika a United States patent.

Over the next 40 years, Grafika grew into a medium-sized print manufacturer with its diverse print capabilities. Working side-by-side with my grandfather and father was more than just a blessing to me; it gave me a one-of-a-kind perspective on how to carry the third generation of growth forward. In 2010, I was able to purchase the business from my father. My vision has been to transform the company into an industrialized print provider by standardizing our diversity. Our primary products are paperboard packaging and labels for the food, medical and industrial markets. We continue to offer Conventional and UV Offset, Flexographic, Screen and Digital print options for our customers.

Grafika prides itself on being a visionary in our industry, utilizing the most current and technologically advanced equipment available. We believe our future is intertwined with the continuous investment in our people, facility, equipment, automation and data analytics. As an industrialized print manufacturer, data is at the heart of what drives us forward, and it fuels our culture of continuous improvement. The result is a cost-effective system that produces high-quality products with short delivery cycles. Our mission and core values are as strong and visionary today as they were 59 years ago.

The printing industry features many unique stories of how printers started, how they survived, and how they thrived. We look forward to sharing our uniquely successful story with you on February 23, 2023.

Expanded gamut printing is an approach in color reproduction that expands the color gamut of conventional CMYK printing processes via the use of additional colorants, such as Orange, Green, and Violet inks. This study evaluates the ability of commercial color management software to create an accurate solution for an expanded gamut printing system. In this study, two printing processes were used, an Epson SureColor P9000 inkjet printer/proofer and an HP Indigo 7900 digital production press, both with 7-color expanded gamut ink sets. Software solutions from Alwan, CGS ORIS, ColorLogic, GMG Color, Heidelberg, and Kodak were evaluated. The systems were tested to see how well they could reproduce the colors in the entire PANTONE+ Solid Coated spot color library. It is shown that the solutions are able to reproduce 89% to 94% of the spot colors on the Epson P9000 inkjet printer and 77% to 87% of the library on the Indigo 7900, both to less than two CIEDE2000 (a typical tolerance in label and packaging work). The number of color patches in expanded gamut characterization test charts was noted, as this is still an area of proprietary, nonstandardized working practice. 

There are many different colorant combinations that can make the same color in expanded gamut printing. The ink build created by the different software solutions was studied, as it relates to press stability through appropriate choice of colorants. Pantone and Adobe provide everyday commercial tools for expanded color workflows. The study identified some issues with products from these companies that could confuse a less-skilled user in a busy production environment. The conclusion of the study is that expanded gamut solutions for spot color printing produce totally acceptable results for digital printing processes; expanded gamut printing is ready, here and now. The findings show that expanded gamut printing can replace cumbersome conventional spot color workflows creating considerable savings and advantages, especially for label and packaging printers..

Founded in 1957, Phillips Graphic Finishing LLC. is a full service trade binder and finisher located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. You won’t find better service anywhere that delivers a quality product on the customer’s timeline. Our quality can’t be matched with any competitor, and our team is the best of the best. That means that after you experience us once, you’ll keep coming back for more.

We operate a two-shift schedule with approximately 44 employees. Our goal is to provide the highest quality and fastest turnaround times available. We offer a wide range of services including foil stamping, embossing, perfect binding, saddle stitching, die cutting, gluing, folding, auto-inserting, wire-o and spiral binding and much more. 

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology’s Graphic Communications and Printing program’s curriculum requires pencils, wrenches, sketch-pads, cameras, keyboard shortcuts, and buckets of ink as students are immersed in real-world projects that provide them opportunities to find their strengths and refine their skills. Students from all backgrounds learn the principles of graphic design, and the role it has in supporting marketing and communications through various channels ranging from web to print.

At the same time, students learn about the vast opportunities within the printing industry. Students will have first-hand experiences with several printing processes, including operation of the lab’s Heidelberg VersaFire digital press or the HP 315 Latex. These experiences are a blend of class projects, live work and personal projects. Students also gain an understanding of the roles in print manufacturing as second-year students overseeing production of The Great Commoner Press, the inhouse print facilities for the College. Students engage with the campus community by designing and producing live work for the College. These projects include the President’s Holiday Card, The College yearbook, and admissions materials.

Please be sure to join us to visit the lab and meet our current students.