The Proof Is in the Results

Session 5 at Fall Technical Conference 2023.

Tuesday, October 10

12:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

Marriott Ballroom VI-X

About This Session

The print project team discusses the conversion tools used for EG, the conversion process and the overall converted results.

Panelists

William Birkett

Engineer at Doppelganger LLC

Panelist Bio

About William: William Birkett has engineering degrees from the University of Michigan. After a short stint in the automotive business, he started a prepress company, Precision Color Inc, which prospered for many years. He and a colleague, Charles Spontelli, got involved with print standards in 2003. Together, they developed a press calibration technique based on measurements of near-neutral colors. Since 2005, William has worked as a print quality consultant. At the TAGA annual meeting in 2018, William and Charles introduced an improved calibration technique known as The Optimal Method. Since then, they’ve developed an open-source software tool, PressCal, to implement this improved technique. William is glad for the opportunity to apply his math and engineering skills to help the printing industry.

Bobby Congdon

Clinical Assistant Professor and Internship Coordinator for Clemson University Graphic Communications

Panelist Bio

About Bobby: Bobby Congdon is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Graphic Communications Department at Clemson University, where he teaches the Inks and Substrates course, as well as manages the student internship program. He also directs the STRIPE virtual flexo press simulator program, which aims to provide highly accessible print training to students and professionals. Previously, he was the Assistant Director at the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics at Clemson University, managing a small but capable team providing world class training, research and services to the printing and packaging industry.

Catherine Haynes

VP of Growth & Development at All Printing Resources Inc

Panelist Bio

About Catherine: Catherine Haynes is the VP of Growth and Development for All Printing Resources. She has more than 25 years of experience in the printing industry, has been a certified G7 Expert for over 14 years, and is a certified FIRST Implementation Specialist. At APR, she assists sales technicians as a technical representative for various customer projects related to training, characterizations, prepress and pressroom assessments, color management, digital workflows, platemaking and implementation or expansion of in-house prepress capabilities. She is a member of the Women of Flexo Mentorship Committee. She also coordinates and conducts industry online and in-person training programs and has been a regular speaker/chair at FTA, Clemson, TLMI, FLAG and other industry events.

Steve Smiley

Principal at SmileyColor & Associates

Panelist Bio

About Steve: Steve Smiley is a 50-year veteran from print, premedia and packaging brand solutions. Steve’s previous position was managing color across all printing types, commercial, direct mail and packaging, managing print globally. Steve is a proud member of the FTA family, participating at annual FORUMs. As a brand manager, Steve has developed the tools for physical and digital standards to define common ingredients and aims across supply chain partners, along with supporting documents like ISO 12647-6 Flexographic Prints, ISO 17972-4 CxF X4 Spot Color Characterization Exchange Format and ISO 19303-1 Guidelines for Schema Writers Packaging. He is the recipient of the Holzinger Award, FTA President’s Award and the Clemson Top Cat Award. Steve has a degree in photography. In 2017, he was inducted into the FTA Hall of Fame.

Charles Spontelli

Associate Professor Emeritus at Bowling Green State University

Panelist Bio

About Charles: Charles has worked in some facet of the printing industry his entire career. He is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, with a Master of Science from the School of Printing. He is an associate professor emeritus at Bowling Green State University. Charles taught courses in printing technology and color applications. Charles and William Birkett have collaborated on color calibration for printing research since 2003. William and Charles created the Colorimetric Tone Value which is now Spot Color Tone Value (SCTV), an ISO standard. Their color calibration research has evolved to become “The Optimal Method” for making calibration curves. These curves direct a printing process to optimally match any ICC or proprietary color reference.

Kenny Tucker

Project Coordinator at the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics at Clemson University

Panelist Bio

About Kenny: Kenny is the project coordinator at the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics at Clemson University. He is a Clemson graphic communications graduate and started his career at Sealed Air Corp working on prepress, color management, proofing, workflow automation, expanded gamut, press characterizations and management of graphic technologies. At Anderson & Vreeland, he was a technology specialist installing plate making equipment, RIP software and inkjet proofing solutions. Most recently, at Frontier Label, Kenny was a production manager overseeing purchasing, production of narrow web labels, projects and maintenance. He joined Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics at Clemson University in 2019, where he coordinates projects, industry seminars, research and workshops.

Steve Upton

President, CHROMiX Inc

Panelist Bio

About Steve: Steve Upton is president of CHROMiX, the 25-year-old Seattle-based firm providing color management products, consulting, training, and technical support to visual content creators in various industries. He is the creator of the award-winning ColorThink color profile graphing and analysis package, the architect of the Maxwell online color management system and co-developer of Curve, the de facto G7 calibration toolset. With years of computing and photographic experience, and a degree in computing science and optics, Steve is uniquely qualified to manage color fidelity in the digital realm.

The Proof Is in the Results

Session 5 at Fall Technical Conference 2023.

Tuesday, October 10

12:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

Marriott Ballroom VI-X

About This Session

The print project team discusses the conversion tools used for EG, the conversion process and the overall converted results.

Panelists

William Birkett

Engineer at Doppelganger LLC

Bobby Congdon

Clinical Assistant Professor and Internship Coordinator for Clemson University Graphic Communications

Catherine Haynes

VP of Growth & Development at All Printing Resources Inc

Steve Smiley

Principal at SmileyColor & Associates

Charles Spontelli

Associate Professor Emeritus at Bowling Green State University

Kenny Tucker

Project Coordinator at the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics at Clemson University

Steve Upton

President, CHROMiX Inc

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