Will “Press Technician” be Automated?

Core Skills & Abilities

• Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.

• Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment.

• Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.

• Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film.

• Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing.

• Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths.

• Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes.

• Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced.

• Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate.

• Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making.

• Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece.

• Analyze originals to evaluate color density, gradation highlights, middle tones, and shadows, using densitometers and knowledge of light and color.

• Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels.

• Set scanners to specific color densities, sizes, screen rulings, and exposure adjustments, using scanner keyboards or computers.

• Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer.