The WOCG was founded at a meeting in Amsterdam in October
1997, where a number of leading suppliers to the web offset printing industry
decided to work together to share best-practice knowledge by
publishing guides that include: Roll to Web Processing, Web Breaks,
Changing Paper Grades, Productivity Maintenance, Colour Approval and
Environmental Considerations.
These best practice guides have grown in popularity and in numbers
and are available in many languages from members, the WOCG group
website and, for North America, via PIA/GATF. For details of all
guides available see www.wocg.info.
At a dinner hosted by QuadTech in Vienna on October 11, which
included members from the original founding meeting, the Champion
Group celebrated its successes to date and declared the intention to
continue its work into the future. As part of the anniversary dinner
the Web Offset Champion Group made Gerhard Tschan of Muller Martini a
new Lifetime Member and Muriel Azoulay of Megtec a Fellow.
The Web Offset Champion Group comprises a number of leading global
suppliers to the web offset printing industry. It is focused on
championing the benefits of web offset prepress, printing and finishing, and
benefits from the combined knowledge of its members:
Aylesford Newsprint, Kodak, MacDermid Printing Solutions, MAN Roland,
Megtec, Müller Martini, Nitto Denko, Quad Tech, SCA and Sun Chemical.
Web Offset Champion Group associates include Eurografica, GATF, Ifra
and System Brunner.
The Web Offset Champion Group also offers seminars presenting the same
best practice guide advice.
The objectives of the WOCG remain as they were first agreed in
Amsterdam in 1997:
- Promoting generic best practice for web offset printing champion best practice in web offset printing, improving productivity, quality and safety
- Focus on total production process — improve overall performance without capital investment, using a cross-industry and cross-process approach
-
Generic easy-to-read content — concise
writing style accompanied by graphics – targeted at all levels from managers to production employees - World-wide review panel — industry specialists, printers, other suppliers and associations review guide content, to ensure industry best practice advice
The Group is a non-profit organisation that is funded by sponsorship from its company members. Best practice information is contributed
free-of-charge by members, other companies, individuals and associations.
Nigel Wells, chairman of the WOCG marked the 10th anniversary in
Vienna by commenting, "No
single company is able to completely address
the entire production process and the strength of WOCG's membership is
their unrivalled expertise across the whole production chain."
Randy Freeman of QuadTech comments, "Web offset printing is a global industry using common machines, consumables and techniques to produce
similar jobs. Our object is to collect and communicate best practices worldwide, which is why we publish in seven languages including Chinese
and Russian."
