Epson the leading supplier of inkjet devices for proofing and colour management to the printing industry has taken a decision
Epson becomes main sponsor for the industry training event

Epson the leading supplier of inkjet devices for proofing and colour management to the printing industry has taken a decision to sponsor the upcoming Colour Management Certificate Courses being held in Delhi and Chennai in July. Mr. LK Vasudevan of Epson India in Bangalore stated that "it is a pleasure to partner this worthwhile activity that is bringing together some of the best teachers, institutions, and printers in the printing industry. Our support to this course is a part of our commitment to strengthen colour output technology, standardisation and knowledge throughout the industry. We are sure that the industry will respond to IppStar's long standing efforts to develop human resources."

The Colour Management Certificate Course to be held in Delhi from July 10 to 14 and in Chennai is an attempt by IppStar to provide printers and publishers international quality training in India. Interest in the 5 day courses, is picking up with one newspaper threatening to enrol six candidates. Commercial printers from Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bangalore have also shown interest.
The seats are limited to 20 each at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Delhi and the Department of Print Engineering at Anna University in Chennai.

Pragati Offset which always manages to be first has already registered two persons for the course in Chennai. Among companies that have shown strong interest so far are HT Media, Gopsons, Express Colour Scan, Kumar Printers, K Joshi, Aegean Offset and several other printers as well as publishers. Since the seats are limited it would be best to register participation at the earliest.

Course fees are Rs. 25,000. IppStar and Indian Print Export Forum members will be charged Rs. 20,000 per candidate. All candidates will be colour vision tested and only those who pass the final exam will be given colour management certificates. The main course instructor is Paul Lindstrom, who teaches Colour Management at Malmo University in Sweden. Paul has over the years done a lot of scientific testing and evaluation of digital cameras, scanners and digital presses for his articles in AGI and Digital Dots special publications. His articles on colour management in the Digital Dots Technology Guides have kept up with increasing availability of hardware and software that combined with a systematic approach, good training and some care, can make this technology work for printers and bring them the benefits of their investments in CtP and new presses. Paul will be assisted in the teaching of the course by Pongtorn Juntarrawat of GretagMacbeth. Both Paul and Pongtorn took part in the live colour management demonstrations at the IPPX conference in Delhi in December 2004. The certificate course is organised by IppStar with Epson as the sponsor. Other organisations cooperating with the practicalities to make it happen are Bodhi Solutions, GretagMacbeth, DonBosco Technical Institute and Anna University.

Owners and senior managers in the printing and publishing industry in India are becoming increasingly conscious of the print quality of their output. Naresh Khanna of IppStar says, "To achieve better quality printing, extensive understanding of colour and standardisation is required. Our printers and publishers would have had to spend an enormous amount of money in providing training overseas to their printing professionals, because no such training was available in India. Now that we are trying to strengthen the local schools and colleges and create knowledgeable and articulate trainers and technicians at their doorstep, we do hope that the industry will respond by taking the opportunity and sending the right kind of personnel to the course. We are hoping that industry will increase its support to IppStar as well. Epson has stepped in to help us with a crucial sponsorship so that the course can be conducted at the highest level of professionalism and so that we can also fulfil our mission of training the printing college teachers and some of the interested students. IppStar's mission is to strengthen institutions and to help them gain the expertise and tools to do their job."