When there is no agreement between customer and printer or finisher about the technical grounds for a complaint that may often entail costs, Fogra is frequently called in as a neutral expert. Each year, nearly 600 expert opinions were prepared. Through constantly being called on to deliver expert opinions, Fogra remains in very close contact with actual industry practice, and a high incidence of problems in particular areas may reveal the need for research projects to investigate them.

Fogra – your independent expert.

Fogra members receive a 30 % discount on the hourly rate for expert investigations.

 

Organization and contact

For further information about the time scale, specimen materials and our testing capabilities, as well as a rough idea of cost, please contact the respective department of Fogra. Complying with your request Monika Al Dossary and Johanna Geiser [Tel. +49 89. 431 82 - 115] will put you through. We will happily provide you with a quote for the standardized tests requested by you, without any obligation.

 

Overview of problem areas

Offset

In sheetfed offset, complaints primarily relate to the abrasion and rub resistance of the prints, the set off of the ink and slow drying. Other problem areas include lack of flatness, picking/build up/repulsion, uneven impressions and dust.

In web offset, fold breaks have for years been the commonest fault and this has not changed despite the use of re-moistening systems. Abrasion and rub resistance, as well as problems due to web breaks are also common. Other areas of concern are the formation of waves and blistering, picking/build up, dust and uneven impressions.

Gravure

Given its substantial share of printing, gravure is relatively under represented in terms of problems. Expert opinions produce by Fogra increasingly use the gravure specimen printing device that is equipped with an ESA system and digital viscosity measurement and control.

Paper and board

Fogra offers printing trials of paper and board in order to assess print- and runability. In the main, it is paper merchants and manufacturers who are interested in such trials and they generally submit several papers for assessment. However, printers also use these trials as a means of selecting the right substrate.

Finishing

As a consequence of the shorter and shorter times between printing and finishing, complaints and the demand for expert opinions have become concentrated in areas such as the blocking of laminations, bonding failures between inks and coating and reduced bonding of films.

Bookbinding

The perfect binding of catalogues and products with short lifespans bound using hotmelt or dispersion adhesives continue to be a focus for complaints. Complaints following the production of covers often relate to adhesion problems with strongly coloured illustrations in the spines of the book blocks.

ID cards

Besides the tests that are necessary for the certification of health insurance or bank cards, the Fogra card testing laboratory is also involved in new card developments and in investigations into the functional suitability and tests in accordance with the requirements of the relevant card standards [eg. ISO/IEC 10 373].

 

A word of advice

When complaints arise it is often happens that there are problems in pursuing them due to a failure to retain specimens. For the same reason, Fogra is often unable to produce an expert opinion on the exact cause. A printer may very well therefore have to pay damages, for example, or suffer serious financial loss, whether or not the fault was print related. Consequently, it is vital to retain samples of the materials that were used to serve as evidence, until there is no longer any risk of a complaint.