The Fogra Research Institute has become a new liaison member of the Ghent Workgroup (GWG). The international assembly of industry associations, suppliers, educators, and industry members was formed in 2002. Its goal is to establish and disseminate process specifications for best practices for PDF exchange in graphic arts workflows.
The touchpoints between prepress, printing techniques and print finishing with PDFs are vast. Therefore, joining the Ghent Workgroup (GWG) was a logical choice for the Fogra Research Institute. As this assembly develops practical tools for automating processes, testing, and establishing consistent PDFs for print, publishing, and packaging production, it is essential for Fogra to actively contribute to this development. As a liaison member, Fogra and the GWG work closely together.
“The concept of liaison memberships allows GWG to work closely together with other industry organizations that work around technical and scientific progress,” says David L Zwang, Chair of the Ghent Workgroup. “It is amazing that Fogra has been doing this for almost 75 years already, and we’re honored to be able to work closer together in the future. The mission statements of both organizations are wonderfully aligned, and our respective focus on PDF and color is nicely complementary. We could not be happier to be able to support each other going forward.”
“For many years, our preflight recommendations were based on the well-established PDFX-ready specifications. With PDFX-ready becoming less active, aligning with GWG is a natural and forward-looking step. GWG not only offers robust, up-to-date preflight specifications but also provides them in English, making them accessible to the broader international audience we aim to reach through standards such as ProcessStandard Digital (PSD).
“We look forward to contributing to and benefiting from GWG’s global expertise and collaborative spirit in the service of print quality and standardisation,” adds Dr Andreas Kraushaar, head of prepress at Fogra.
One example of how cooperation can benefit both sides is a joint technical meeting. The GWG intends to organise one of its technical meetings at the Fogra headquarters in Munich-Aschheim, Germany, in early 2027. This will allow experts from both organisations to meet and work closely together. It will bring together a wealth of printing knowledge for the kind of educational events that GWG typically combines with its technical meetings.
