PrintAction - October 2009

Beauchamp’s account PRINTING AGAINST THE

(translated from French)

of the competition

and the challenges he

faced when...

by Simon Beauchamp

The offset printing competition was fairly short due to a lack of equipment. We only had two presses instead of four because of the economic downturn. We competed on a 4-colour and a 5-colour Heidelberg 52. Part of the competition involved a virtual examination of press situations using offset press simulators supplied by Sinapse. We also had to cut an already completed job on a Polar 75 guillotine. For demonstration purposes, we had to print with a Xerox DocuColor digital press.

Due to this lack of equipment, we only had one press test, so we had only one chance to demonstrate our talents. Grading on the press concentrated on sheet densities and final quality. Points were also attributed for register, work techniques, press washing according to manufacturer standards, test completion time, etc. Unfortunately, printing flaws – scum, offset, scratch and blanket smash – were not graded. The fact that flaws were not graded did not help me because I am used to producing work without the slightest trace of imperfections.

The job we had to print focused on a light-ink poster in 4-colour process with a fifth colour applied on the second run. We had to control the fifth colour with L*a*b* values, something that I had never done before. The tolerance was Delta E 3 maximum: Delta E 3 and less to earn the highest grade, Delta E 4 to get three out of four points and so on. Due to the use of very absorbent offset paper, we had to judge how much densities were going to decrease, and some colours decreased by 0.15! A lot of people didn’t like that the competition was done on uncoated offset paper. Personally, I found it interesting, and in the industry, naturally we do not get to choose what we print on.

During the competition, we could not observe the others performing because some of us might gain an advantage by seeing what we could do differently. The competitors stayed pretty much to themselves. Some chatted in our waiting room, but most were focused on the job at hand. I was one of the latter: Well-prepared and not there to shoot the breeze with people I don’t know: that’s my way of approaching a world competition of such significance.

The competition made me a better press operator. In one week, I acquired an experience that would have taken me three years or even longer to get.

Beauchamp checks the colour of his work.

Final Result from Category 11 – Offset Printing

542

Switzerland Martin Ernst

501
New Zealand

Royce Richards

541

Japan Noriaki Kikuchi

474
Norway

Martin Blaalid

533

Germany Stafan Groß

473
Belgium

Sébastien Meys

Beauchamp working at one of two Heidelberg Speedmaster 52 presses during the competition. Print pieces produced during the competition awaiting judging. Beauchamp with father Yves Beauchamp and mother Isabelle Tremblay after the event. Competitors celebrate at the closing ceremonies.