Cal Poly Receives Grant to Acquire Gravure Proofer

Cal Poly Acquires Gravure Proofer Through Inaugural Grant From PGSF Gravure Education Foundation Endowment

Pittsburgh, PA — October 19, 2021 — The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) announces that California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo became the first school to receive a grant from the PGSF Gravure Education Foundation Endowment. With the funding, the Cal Poly Graphics Communications Department acquired a K Printing Proofer from RK Print Coat Instruments Ltd. The new equipment gives Cal Poly staff and students the ability to learn about the strengths of gravure. 

Rod Sosa, Walter Vail, and Todd Luman, three Graphic Arts Association representatives, are on the PGSF board. The GEF (Gravure Education Foundation) endowment resides with the PGSF. They were fundamental in facilitating the equipment acquisition for Cal Poly.

“The GEF Endowment was created to support and promote education in the gravure industry. We understand it is difficult for schools to acquire tools and equipment for hands-on teaching.  Knowing this, we adapted and created a new program to equip printing schools with a gravure proofing press. We are delighted that Cal Poly was the first to receive one, and working with PGSF has made this process so much easier,” said Rod Sosa, Director of Operations, Fres-co System USA, Inc.

“Part of my role on the advisory board at the Graphic Communication Institute at Cal Poly is to bring opportunities to the students through my business and volunteer relationships,” comments Jules VanSant, Chairperson, PGSF. “Updated technology is key to attracting the future innovators and creators into the print industry via programs like Cal Poly’s. I am thrilled to see firsthand how excited the professors and students are to have this cutting-edge technology installed!”

“Cal Poly’s Graphic Communication Department is so thankful that PGSF and GEF support schools such as ours,” says Colleen Twomey, Cal Poly Graphic Communication Department Chair. “Learn by Doing is our motto, and including the K Proofer in our labs will help our students comprehend and develop mastery of gravure technology.”

The K Printing Proofer produces instant high-quality proofs using gravure, gravure-offset, or flexo inks. The equipment features electronically engraved printing plates and variable printing speeds of up to 40m/min. Ink is transferred from the printing plates directly onto the substrate, which is attached to the rubber impression roller. The K Printing Proofer is ideal for R&D and computer color-matching data, quality control, and presentation samples.

About Cal Poly Graphic Communication

Founded in 1946, Cal Poly’s Graphic Communication Department represents one of the best-known programs of its kind in the nation. The discipline includes media and mass communication involving the creation, production, management and distribution of advertising, marketing, web sites, books, magazines, newspapers, catalogs, packages and other media in printed and digital form.

About PGSF

The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation is a not-for-profit, private, industry-directed organization that dispenses technical and college scholarships and assistance to talented youth interested in graphic communications careers. The mission of PGSF is to promote the graphics industry as a career choice for young people, and then to support them through their education process.

Contacts:

Bernie Eckert, Managing Director
Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation
724-553-4028
Bernie.eckert@pgsf.org

​Colleen Twomey, Department Chair
Cal Poly Graphic Communication
805-756-7385
ctwomey@calpoly.edu