FOGRA's tasks consist of:
1. Research
2. Development
3. Transfer of know-how
4. Standards work
5. Consultancy and technical reports
Research departments:
- Printing techniques
- Print finishing/ ID-card
- Materials
- Quality management
- Special projects
- Prepress technology
- Environment/ Chemistry
1. FOGRA Research
The companies that make up the printing industry are predominantly medium-sized and they differ greatly in their target markets and production processes. This is also true of their interests in FOGRA and explains the multiplicity and variety of our research projects.
Besides the 30 or so projects that are commenced each year, about 15 completed ones move on to the transfer stage, whilst for a similar number funds are applied for for a further year. These 60 or so projects are all equally important in the eyes of the research organization and the institute.
2. Development Projects
The development projects are particularly closely linked to the research. Here the emphasis is on aids to quality control such as control strips for the various printing processes, which enable companies to produce products efficiently, more and more reliably and to higher and higher levels of quality.
Control aids are on the one hand indispensible components in production and on the other hand they provide a basis for measurement in research projects. It will be possible to control the work sequence in film-less production better with the new Ugra/FOGRA CMYK media wedge and the Ugra/FOGRA digital plate wedge that were developed in 1997.
A testing case distributed by FOGRA makes it easier to check the quality of printed products or assess claims.
3. Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge transfer is the most important task of every research project. The results of research that are not published or discussed are hidden from public view. However, even publication does not bring the results to life. It is only if the results are taken on board and used by the industry that they become relevant.
In this connection the institute needs to act as a transmitter broadcasting to the aerials of the industry. However, since these aerials are very varied, it is no simple task. FOGRA works to transfer knowledge through a range of different publications, talks, consultancy and seminars.
The literature database is another important tool. Every manager attends symposia and reads the trade press in order to keep informed. In order to make decisions for the solution of problems, managers need to be familiar with a wide variety of material, including old sources. This is where a literature search through our database helps, since it stores 50,000 important entries covering all the key themes of prepress, printing and finishing over recent years in abstract form. The manager can then select the relevant articles based on these abstracts and order them in full from FOGRA. The complete literature database is available on CD-Rom and on-line searches can also be carried out.
4. Committee Work
Knowledge transfer also involves committee work and FOGRA is represented on numerous standards committees. This also represents a financial commitment, since we run two member work groups of the International Standardization Organization (ISO). However, the fields being covered by these two groups (standardization, repro guidelines, ink standards up to blankets) are of great importance to the German printing industry.
5. Consultancy and Reports
The consultancy services and the reports are of immediate use to the printing industry. On the one hand, the expertise of the company is promoted through the close contact with FOGRA during consultancy work and on the other hand, every year a considerable amount of expenditure is saved in several hundred cases because the parties in a dispute settle out of court on the basis of a FOGRA report.
These activities constantly draw on the results of current research, and one should bear this in mind when considering whether it might be possible to reduce research expenditure. Involvement in the certification of quality management systems is a new field of activity for FOGRA's expert auditors.
