Graphic Arts Alliance Offers Image Test Labs Service
- Published: June 03, 2015
WEST CHESTER, PA | Graphic Arts Alliance (GAA) and Image Test Labs, Springfield, VA, (ITL), a div. of Technology Watch, announce that the Image Test Labs Image Grader press grading service will be available to members of the buying association at a reduced cost.
John G. Braceland, managing director for Graphic Arts Alliance, says, “By working with ITL, we offer the opportunity for our members to receive independent feedback about the quality of their presses, and to compare them with comparable as well as the full range of available presses. Our members believe strongly in process control, and ITL's Image Grader is an important new tool that verifies how well the press delivers the printed image to the customer and how they are doing across their entire printing process."
GAA is a purchasing cooperative of printers and packaging companies whose mission is offer a wide variety of quality products at pre-negotiated quantity discounts. GAA reports it enjoys national account status with its vendors and works to maintain excellent relationships. As its membership grows, it is able to renegotiate contracts to provide even better savings. They says they are constantly working on new contract areas, expanding existing contracts and looking for other opportunities that will add to the bottom line of each member company. In 2013 GAA distributed an average of more than $14,000 in rebates per member, not including up-front savings.
The seven-member board of managers makes recommendations on contract areas and final decisions on vendor selection. Unlike many other purchasing groups, there is no obligation to buy from any group contract. This allows members to maintain control over their own purchases by selecting whichever contracts benefit them.
"GAA has a standard process that we undergo in terms of deciding which vendors to work with,” says Braceland. “ITL contacted us about their product, and I discussed the opportunity with our manager group about it. Two managers conducted some testing with it and wholeheartedly decided that ITL services would benefit our group."
The ITL Image Grader is a patent-pending technology that grades all types of conventional and digital printing presses, wide-format printing systems, photographic printing systems, and government and scientific print imaging systems. Reportedly, the ITL Image Grader report is an objective, repeatable evaluation of the press output quality and shows exactly where a particular press stands compared to similar and also other types of presses. ITL says print providers and major equipment manufacturers use this service to make educated decisions and operating procedures about their equipment. Customers have used the reports in a variety of ways, including for fine-tuning the press, press maintenance and repair, and evaluating the quality of a potential purchase.
Testing is called a simple process. Users load the PDF target provided by ITL onto the press and print three sets, returning two to ITL and keeping the third. ITL does the rest.
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