A Passion for Print
Printing is not just a business for many print professionals. It is a passion. People have made printing an integral part of their lives, and we want to highlight some of these individuals as part of our 125th Anniversary here at Printing Industries of America.
Watch as Brad performs quality control ink testing.
Few people are more passionate than Brad Evans, Senior Research Technician/Lab Coordinator at Printing Industries of America, who has spent three decades performing various testing to make better, higher-quality materials for print production. One of the ways his department serves the printing industry and our members is by analyzing issues such as ink tack for quality control. He is truly devoted to his trade and to assisting printing companies. Here, he shares with us some highlights of his career:
Tell us about our testing facilities here at Printing Industries of America.
We are able to do all of the Napiri and Tappi test methods to test ink and paper qualities here at Printing Industries of America.
One of the services you provide is to perform ink and paper tests to help printing companies with various issues. How many companies do you regularly assist and how have they benefitted?
We have two to three dozen companies that regularly use our testing services. Most companies call on us for quality control testing for raw materials such as ink and paper. Other companies order testing for conflict resolution.
In one case, a company had a conflict with basis weight (or the weight of paper). If there is a variance in the basis weight, it causes a difference in mailing costs. We are currently testing their unprinted paper to resolve this issue.
How long have you been performing this kind of research?
For 30 years I have been performing research here; first as GATF, then as Printing Industries of America.