ERA

Gravure at your fingertips

On February 2021, the ERA is organizing the basic gravure seminar “Gravure at your fingertips - An introduction to gravure cylinder preparation and printing with demonstrations and practical exercises” (Source: ERA)

The European Rotogravure Association (ERA) is organizing a basic gravure seminar. Called “Gravure at your fingertips – An introduction to gravure cylinder preparation and printing with demonstrations and practical exercises” the seminar will take place at the Stuttgart Media University (HdM) on 09–11 February 2022 (English language seminar) and 23–25 February 2022 (German language seminar).

Each seminar takes 2,5 days and the target group are employees from gravure production and supply chains needing a general overview of the process. The number of participants has been limited to seven participants per course. This enables each participant to take an active “hands on” part in each production step, which will enable a better understanding of the complete process. Closing date for registrations is January 28, 2022 and online registration as well as the booking form is available at the ERA website.  

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 Gravure in theory and practice

 The seminar covers gravure in theory and practice, from the galvanics for copper plating of a cylinder, through surface processing and finishing, preparation of a layout and the subsequent electromechanical engraving process, to printing on several papers with different ink viscosities. Besides electromechanical engraving, all workflow processes for other modern gravure cylinder engraving procedures such as laser assisted etching and laser engraving are explained.

 All process steps are tried and tested on equipment in the cylinder preparation laboratory and in the gravure printing department. Participants will design a layout, help prepare and engrave a cylinder with it, and print it on different types of paper. These steps will be accompanied by quality control with the corresponding measuring equipment.

 A practical overview of the whole process chain

 The course is designed to provide a practical overview of the whole process chain for employees of gravure printers, cylinder engravers and reproduction studios, from paper, substrate and ink manufacturers, and also for newcomers to the industry coming from a different field. This course does not include advanced operator training and so is not intended for the experienced technical staff from gravure printers.

 The Stuttgart Media University 

The Stuttgart Media University (HdM) is the only university in Europe which operates a complete gravure line, from cylinder preparation through to a rotogravure printing press. Hence, the cylinder preparation and gravure printing department at HdM is unique in European further and higher education. In the labs all aspects of gravure can be closely experienced and tried out, and the quality of all production steps can be tested with special measuring methods.