The two-day forum was scheduled to open on September 21 in Wuppertal but was cancelled a week ago by the event organisers, bvdm and ECI, saying that a majority of the proof system manufacturers were not able to participate on the basis of the agreed test specifications.
AGFA, CGS, EFI, Fujifilm, Kodak and PerfectProof say this is simply not true, and the cancellation took them completely by surprise. They only found out about it through a bvdm press release.
The companies say they still consider that the event a valuable exercise and had made constructive suggestions for improvements. It was their view that a decision had not been made on the arrangements and test specifications.
“At the last (Digital Proof Forum) event, the focus of the results for the comparative tests concentrated increasingly on the figures after the decimal point in respect of the Delta E values. This is why the manufacturers recommended that the focus should be on other criteria that are of equal importance for the quality of the proof system.
“For this reason various alternatives were discussed at the preparatory meetings. The user tests (tests in the companies of users, who have the appropriate test systems) introduced by the event organisers were not mentioned until discussions were at an advanced stage.
“Valid reasons exist why these tests should not be used. A host of additional variables would influence the results and make them unusable. It is regrettable that a call by the manufacturers to take account of this in the event concept, which would create sensible prerequisites for participation, was answered in the form of a public statement canceling the event at short notice.”
In future, they said, the Digital Proof Forum should be not only an aid to decision-making, but should provide users with effective benefits for dealing with new proofing challenges.
