Printing Technology


Printing Technology I:  1 year - 3 credits

Printing Technology is a comprehensive program designed to train students in all aspects of the graphics industry. Students will learn basic design, desktop publishing, darkroom techniques, stripping (film assembly), plate making, operation of offset presses, bindery equipment, dye sublimation and screen printing. Students create their own business cards, greeting cards, stationery, flyers, coffee mugs and t-shirts. As training progresses, students will work on real customer printing jobs. In the second semester, students may be eligible for Co-op (learning on the job while being paid). There are many employment opportunities after completing high school. Interested in college? Printing scholarships and articulation (college credits) are available to students who successfully complete one or two years of Printing Technology.  Students are highly encouraged to participate in extra curricular activities such as Co-op, SkillsUSA competitions, Michigan Industrial Technology Education Society (MITES) and Gutenberg Awards.

Printing Technology II:  1 year - 3 credits

Prerequisite: Certificate of Completion from Printing Technology I and instructor's recommendation

Advanced students are in charge of running a printing business within the classroom. They work with customers, fill out work orders, produce real printed jobs, learn estimating, inventory, equipment maintenance and basic press repairs. Students will be expected to take a leadership role in the program. Students rotate where needed to complete jobs, but may choose to spend most of their time specializing in one department to advance their skill level for employment. Students are highly encouraged to participate in extra curricular activities such as Co-op, SkillsUSA competitions, Michigan Industrial Technology Education Society (MITES), and Gutenberg Awards.

Specialized Equipment:

Pre-Press

  • Macintosh computers
  • Scanners
  • Digital cameras
  • Acti Horizontal process camera - 24" x 24"
  • Itek Silvermaster plate camera
  • Nuarc - Platemaker
  • Xante' Platemaker
  • HP Laserjet 8150N printer
  • Light tables

Register Punch Systems

  • Stoesser
  • Heidelberg

Screen Printing

  • Hopkins 4 color press with baseball hat attachment
  • EypoLite Screen Exposure

Printing Presses:

  • AB-Dick 9970
  • Ryobi 3200
  • Heidelberg QM46
  • Itek 975 with T-Head
  • AB-Dick 9810 with T-Head
  • Itek 3985 2-color

Bindery

  • Challenge 30" paper cutter
  • Standard Horizon 30 bin collator with stitcher and folder
  • Wire stitcher
  • Challenge drill
  • Baum table air feed folder
  • Baum floor folder with right angle attachment
  • Thermographer
  • Rosback Perfect Binder
  • X-Rite shrink wrap

Occupational Options:

  • Pre-Press, Electronic Publisher, Pre-flight, Electronic Stripper
  • Offset Platemaking/Processor
  • Offset Duplicator Operator
  • Offset Press Assistant
  • Press Operator
  • Copy Camera Operator
  • Bindery Worker
  • Stripper
  • Estimator
  • Equipment Repair Technician
  • Sales Representative
  • Front Counter - Customer Representative

Skills Taught

Basic Shop Procedures

  • Shop safety
  • Printers measurements and terminology
  • Copyright ethics and counterfeit laws

Electronic Publishing/Pre-Press

  • File management on the Macintosh
  • InDesign and PageMaker
    • Creating/editing documents
    • Creating/editing text and placing images (links)
    • Working with various pallets; ie: tabs, color, links, layers, transform, and pages
    • Pre-flight management and packaging (links and fonts)
  • Photoshop
    • Color management; ie: converting from RGB, CMYK, bitmap, grayscale
    • Saving documents in different formats
    • Basic editing; ie: eraser tool, paintbrush, clone, crop, fill selecting images
  • Scanning images
  • Digital cameras
  • Printing to laser printer, color sublimation printer, and platemaker

Darkroom

  • Setting up/shut down chemistry
  • Operating camera and tray develop litho film

Stripping

  • Stripping single and two-color unruled masking sheets
  • Stripping process color (2nd year students only)
  • Use of screen tints, rubylith and proofing material

Platemaking

  • Identify/use processing chemicals
  • Burn, develop, preserve metal plates
  • Photo direct platemaking (Silver Master camera - paper plates)
  • Direct computer-to-platemaking (Xante Platemaker3 - mylar plates)

Press

  • Operate and maintain offset duplicator and offset presses
  • Print single, two and three color jobs
  • Print process color (2nd year)
  • Identify/mix Pantone Matching System
  • Print various stock sizes and weights; ie: bond, offset opaque, card, and carbonless

Bindery

  • Power paper cutter
  • Standard Horizon 16 bin tower collator with stitcher, folder, and trim attachment
  • Drill
  • Stitcher - side and saddle stitch
  • Folder - various folds; single, letter, fan and double parallel
  • Count paper using paper scale
  • Perfect binder
  • Cerlox binder and therm-a-bind process

Management/Supervisor

  • Inventory, ordering, contacting customers, filling out work-orders, supervising and assisting other students
  • Estimating, manual/computer assisted


"Wages of vocational-technical graduates increased at a more rapid rate than those of other high school graduates."
Source: The Impact of Vocational-Technical Programs: Labor Market Outcomes, Northeastern University

See Class Syllabus

Articulation Agreements

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This site is designed and developed by the staff and students at the William D. Ford Career-Technical Center. E-mail questions and comments to wdfordctc@wwcsd.net.