This year the Graphic Communication Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo hosted their 25th annual Gravure Day in conjunction with International Printing Week. This day was dedicated to several professionals from the gravure industry who spoke to students and faculty on many topics involving their industry.

The event began with Walter Vail of St. Mary’s Paper Ltd. whose experiences with paper engaged students by helping them underst and how the process of gravure moves from the beginning sheet all the way to the end gravure cylinder. He also discussed other factors, such as the Gross Domestic Product, which can be used to predict future changes in the Graphic Communication industry. One change that is taking place is the decline in newspaper and newspaper advertising sales. With many students interested in newspaper production, as well as advertising in general, this news was interesting to hear.

The following speaker was Allison Eckel, Editor of Gravure Magazine. She spoke of her background as a journalist and how she became involved with the gravure industry. She also focused on the changes she has made to the magazine; most importantly getting young people excited and involved in the industry. One way that she is doing this is by the recent creation of an intern position with Gravure Magazine. Carol Pan, a Graphic Communication student at Cal Poly, is the current and first intern to hold this positionRobert Sheridan, Director of Development for the Gravure Education Foundation, spoke of the need to provide gravure resources to schools to encourage interest in the industry. He communicated to the audience his plan to reach out to GAA schools including Cal Poly. One of the main goals of the GAA/GEF is to provide a gravure simulator to every resource site in the country. This idea excited faculty and students at Cal Poly, as traditional print is an area that is slowly losing student interest in a largely digital-media age. Mr. Sheridan also covered scholarships that are available to students to help them become more aware of the possibilities available in the world of gravure.

The afternoon speakers began with Bill Staab, the Operations Manager at the R.R. Donnelley Reno, Nevada plant. He discussed the R.R. Donnelley gravure printing facilities and the areas of business in which the company is involved. He specifically focused on the capabilities of the Reno plant. Mr. Staab talked extensively about gravure trends, including a greater focus on customer differentiation, printed results being as predictable as possible and gravure as a process that continues to innovate. He concluded his presentation with a short video touring the R.R. Donnelley plant in Spartanburg, North Carolina. This plant is over 800,000 square feet and showcases state-of-the-art equipment and processes.

Two of our very own professors shared their experience at the Professor University at Quad Graphics. Professors Lorraine Donegan and Xiaoying Rong spent three days at the Quad Headquarters in Sussex, Wisconsin attending seminars and touring the facilities. Their presentation included a lively slide show of photos from their trip and a question/answer session. Lauren Struckmeyer, a 2006 Cal Poly graduate and new Quad employee, finished up the presentation by speaking very enthusiastically about her interview and hiring process experience with the company.

Tom Stokes, the Vice President of West Coast-Flint Group, finished up Gravure Day explaining his company, Flint Ink, trends in gravure, and also the trends beginning in the flexible packaging industry. The closing presentation gave room for questions and discussion for students, faculty, and the guest professionals from industry. At the end of the day, students from various Graphic Communications classes left from this last presentation with a clearer idea of the role of Gravure in current markets, as well as the direction Gravure is headed in the future.