Twelve Fuji Xerox Australia employees become country’s first DPEs

Sydney, Australia – 02 November, 2011 – Twelve Fuji Xerox Australia employees have become Australia’s first certified Fogra Digital Print Experts (DPEs) following successful completion of training and certification in mid-October.

The DPE certification 'Digital Print Expert' relates to an individual’s capabilities in setting up systems to meet certain requirements, and in doing so, complies with the validation print according to ISO/CD 12647-8 standard. To successfully become a certified DPE, participants need to demonstrate extensive practical experience with digital output systems and PDF-based workflows, rich expertise in (ICC) colour management and communication, and colour difference evaluation, and an understanding of how ISO standardisation works and the current status of important ISO standards in graphic technology and related areas.

Andreas Kraushaar from Fogra’s headquarters in Germany came to Sydney to conduct the training and certification. “In 2008, Fogra launched the Digital Print Experts certification program with three modules. Whilst the DPE certification is the prerequisite, there are three additional modules namely VPC (Validation Print Creation), CPC (Contract Proof Creation) and PSD (Process Standard Digital),” said Kraushaar.

“I am pleased to grant all the students from Fuji Xerox Australia the DPE/VPC certification. They showed a rich background in their field and were extremely eager to update their knowledge,” he concluded.

“Andreas’ depth of knowledge in the field of colour science is extraordinary, and the topics covered were a testament to that,” said Duncan Bray, Colour Management Specialist at Fuji Xerox Australia. “It was fantastic to undergo the training with someone so knowledgeable and to now have the ongoing ability to leverage the Fogra resources as DPEs is a great thing for us and for our customers.”

The certification means the Fuji Xerox Australia DPEs are able to set up and evaluate a digital printing system according to ISO 12647-8, and offer a profiling service certified by a professional body to ensure colour quality and accuracy from their customers’ print devices. DPEs are also able to support their customers in getting prepared for a Fogra Cert Validation Print Creation as well as access discounted rates through Fogra for the certificate.

The DPE certification is a very new credential and while certification like this has existed for some time for offset print, nothing of a comparable level has existed for digital before.

“Implementing colour management processes for our clients has been one of our key initiatives over the last few years,” said Simon Lane, National Manager, Graphic Communications at Fuji Xerox Australia. “The investment in having our people certified at this level is part of our ongoing commitment to adding value to our clients - not only the technology that we sell but the support and consultancy that we offer.”

Fuji Xerox Australia is the second Fuji Xerox operating company to have employees certified, following a group of employees from Fuji Xerox in Singapore completing their training earlier this year.