Forgra Colour Management Symposium to offer guidance on how to improve efficiency and reduce waste

Paul Sherfield speaks to Andy Kraushaar, Head of Pre-Press Technology at Fogra about the Fogra Colour Management Symposium coming up in February 2024 and why it’s an important event to help you improve efficiency and reduce waste.

Fogra Colour Management Symposium will take place from 21^st – 22^nd February 2024 in Munich. The event that is focused on colour management will showcase the latest trends and offer background knowledge for current and future practice solutions.

The programme will feature speakers who will discuss topics such as customer expectations, colour quality in modern colour workflows, managing decorative surfaces, colour and AI, CMYK and more. For more information on the full programme please see here.

How many times has Fogra organised the Colour Management Symposium and what is its key purpose?

We started 2008 with 330 attendees and host it every two years. So 2024 will be the 9th event.

Who should attend? Is it just for process control engineers or can business owner benefit from the insights shared?

It is aimed at anyone who is interested in the current state of the art both with respect to colour management technology and practical solutions.

Why is Fogra the best organisation to organise such an event?

Fogra is known to be independent as it is owned by its members who represent a diverse range of professional printing businesses. We have decided to focus our programme on presentations by colour management users rather than manufacturers. These presentations will offer great insight into the implementation of both software and of hardware solutions to meet industry needs. 

When and where will the next Fogra Colour Management Symposium (CMS) be held?

You provide reduced pricing for Fogra members, can members of FESPA’s Associations get an early bird discount?

Yes, please don’t miss the early bird discount to benefit from a reduced price until December 15.

The event covers the latest technological advances in colour management – Which topics are you most excited about this time and who are the keynote speakers?

The keynote speaker is Dr. Hanno Hoffstadt from GMG Color, a worldwide recognised colour scientist. He will talk about the beauty and the challenges of fluorescent colours – by the way more and more printing systems provide fluorescing colours such as a fluorescent pink. Understanding and predicting colour appearance for such “neon” colours will be a game changer. Another highlight: For the first time we added a decoration session since here the quality demands are high and our planned forum will showcase the power of visualisation in 3D both by using a rendering and a surface proof. For sure, we will also touch on modern customer expectations and state of the art workflows. And as everyone is talking about AI, this is one topic I particularly look forward to.

On a wider note, good science-based colour management is critical to secure profit and reduce risk in meeting customer expectations. What should FESPA members in screen and inkjet production pay particular attention to increase their success?

They should understand colour objectively to meet their customers’ expectations. So often, materials are wasted due to a lack of clear colour specifications. Next-level colour literacy can help to improve both the sourcing and production processes.

To register for the event and receive an early discount please visit here. For further information on the exhibitors at the event please visit here.