MEETINGS · INFORMATION · ACTIVITIES · MEMBERSHIP

Supporting the gravure

industry

n ERA arranges conferences, including the Annual Meeting, interna-tional Packaging Conferences, Technical Commission meetings, and dedicated seminars. Experts from both within the membership and outside it present first-hand information on the latest developments in both technical and business areas. These meetings provide all participants with an unparalleled opportunity to pool their ideas and experience. Within the framework of the commissions, project working parties may be formed, involving members of one or more of the com-missions along with selected external specialists.

n ERA maintains constant vigilance in Environment, Health and Safety matters, working with relevant bodies at the EU and national levels when new legislation is being prepared that would affect the gravure process.

n ERA participation in international standards committees on behalf of its members helps gravure remain at the forefront of the printing processes.

n ERA conducts special projects on topical problems, carried out either internally, with the help of special working groups, or exter-nally, with the help of other research institutes.

n Every second year ERA, in conjunction with the Eurographic Press, the association of 16 leading European magazines of the printing industry, organises the European Publication Gravure Award for the best gravure quality in publication printing. Entries are categorised according to paper grade. Printers and suppliers can also compete for the Innovation Prize, awarded in recognition of a significant development in the technology or application of gravure processes for publication printing.

n ERA also organises the biennial ERA Packaging Gravure Award for the best quality in gravure packaging printing. Categories for entry include flexible packaging (subdivided into paper, foil and film), cartonboard, speciality, and technical innovation (as above).

n The ERA magazine Gravure News, with a circulation of some 1 500 copies, is published twice a year. It covers trends in and information about the gravure industry and is distributed to all members and other selected recipients.

n ERA regularly publishes a list of all installed publication gravure presses worldwide, as well as a list of all packaging and decorative gravure presses in Europe.

Promoting GravureThe European Rotogravure

Association, ERA, founded in

1956, has developed into the

leading international organi-

sation of the gravure industry.

Members include publication,

packaging and decorative gra-

vure printers, paper, ink and

press manufacturers, cylinder

engravers, prepress and finish-

ing equipment manufacturers,

and catalogue and magazine

publishers, both within Europe

and overseas. It is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting gravure and to supporting users of

the gravure printing process. ERA is the industry representative body in all legislative and EU matters, and

a discussion forum for economic and social concerns as well as the technical development of the process.

Gravure in daily life:flexible packaging for food products; magazines, catalogues and flyers; laminates for flooring and furniture; cartons, labels and gift-wrap: almost every area of daily life involves products printed in gravure.

ERA – a force in the industry FACTS AND FIGURESn Publication gravure prints some 4 million tonnes of paper annually in Europe.

n All major European catalogues and maga-zines are printed in gravure. ERA represents a significant proportion of the European media industry.

n ERA Publication Printers include some 40 printing plants in Europe, as well as Overseas Members in Brazil, Japan and South Africa.

n Packaging and Decorative Gravure members include the largest packaging printing groups and European cylinder engravers, including companies in Turkey.

n ERA has some 45 Associate Members (sup-pliers of equipment, materials and services) with headquarters throughout Europe, the USA and Japan.

MANY YEARS OF PROGRESSn The European Rotogravure Association was founded in 1956 as the result of a chance meet-ing between two of the leaders of the gravure printing industry. This led to the formation of ERA as a technical association of European pub-lication gravure printers.

n In 1969, ERA membership was extended to suppliers of paper and ink, presses and elec-tronic equipment of all kinds, machinery for binding and handling, prepress equipment and the accompanying materials under the category Associate Member.

n Packaging Members became a separate category in 1996, underlining the increasing importance which the Association gives to this area of the industry: ERA also addresses Decora-tive Printers.

n Always leaders in technical progress, ERA Members installed the first electronic press con-trols, the first colour scanners, the first colour page composition systems and also the first electromechanical engraving systems and laser engraving systems.

n New generations of faster and wider presses were pioneered in ERA Member plants in co-operation with the Associate Member press manufacturers. Currently the introduction of the Aurora press – developed by the Italian press manufacturer and ERA member Cerutti – marks the latest generation of flexible and highly ef-ficient mid-size presses capable of economically producing even small print runs.

Despite the structural changes in its markets, gravure printing has kept a strong position: although European demand has reduced due to the recession and on-line publishing activities, magazine paper sales were still 10 million tonnes in 2011. In flexible packaging, while the US is a stronghold of flexography, gravure is strong in Europe and key in the growing markets of Asia.

Flexo Gravure

Europe

50 50

North America

20

80

South America

65

35

Asia

80

20

MARKET SHARES OF PRINT PROCESSES IN FLEXIBLE PACKAGING WORLDWIDE IN %

Web offset Gravure In million tonnes per year

2

1

3

4

5

6

7

8

6

6,6

7,5

6,5

4,5

3,8 3,73,5

’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’11’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10

Germany 1 579

Italy 658

France 490

Great Britain 400

Netherlands 300

Poland 219

Spain 214

Belgium 151

Finland 86

Austria 55

Denmark 11

PRINT CAPACITY IN PUBLICATION GRAVURE IN EUROPE: 4,1 MILLION TONNES

MAGAZINE & CATALOGUE PAPER DEMAND IN EUROPE

In thousand tonnes per year

SOCIO-ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL THEMES

ANNUAL MEETINGExecutive briefing and exchange of management infor-

mation on political and economic matters; strategies

of major publishing houses and catalogue publishers;

developments in print and on-line media, overview of

advances in gravure technology.

INTERNATIONAL PACKAGING & DECORATIVE GRAVURE CONFERENCEDevelopments in the market for packaging and decorative

gravure printing, strategies and requirements of the brand

owner, growth of »private label« (own-brand) products, na-

tional and international supply and demand, market percep-

tions of traditional and digital print processes.

LOBBYINGERA lobbies at the EU level to ensure that the gravure

industry is fairly treated in EU Directives and Regulations.

ERA also works closely with other international associa-

tions, for example Intergraf, which represents the printing

industry as a whole. ERA has achieved an acceptable

classification and labelling of toluene. ERA followed and

influenced the preparation of the EU Risk Reduction strat-

egy for toluene: there are no restrictions on the use of

toluene in rotogravure or the distribution of rotogravure

printed matter. ERA has achieved Occupational Exposure

Limits for toluene that guarantee the health of the work-

ers and at the same time allow efficient production. ERA

participated in the EU working group preparing the BREF

(official EU reference document for the Best Available

Techniques) for »surface treatment with solvents«. ERA

represents the gravure printers’ interests in the carbon

dioxide reduction discussions. ERA has achieved modifica-

tions to the new (2012) EU Ecolabel for printed products,

so that it is now possible for gravure printers to apply for

the Ecolabel.

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY AND PROCESS ORGANISATION

PREPRESS AND CYLINDER COMMISSIONForme layout, hard-copy and monitor proofing, digital

networks, communication, data transmission and

management, pre-flighting, data formats, colour

management, font management. Plating and surface

finishing of gravure cylinders, forme preparation by all

forms of imaging (mechanical engraving and other

technologies), cylinder proofing, cylinder storage and

handling.

PRINTING COMMISSIONPublication gravure presses and all ancillary equip-

ment – construction, performance and layout, produc-

tion scheduling and surveillance, design and use of

equipment and ancillaries for stitching, trimming and

adhesive binding, product transportation, handling

and dispatching. Fundamental aspects of the inter-

action and influences between ink, paper, cylinder,

doctor blade and impression roller: process and print

quality control (ISO 9000).

MATERIALS AND ENVIRONMENT

ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMISSIONToluene, hexavalent chromium, Occupational Exposure

Limits, EU »Best Available Techniques« applicable to

gravure printing, BAT Associated Emission Levels, EU Risk

Reduction Strategy for toluene, environmental manage-

ment and audit schemes, occupational safety and health

management schemes, environmental labels and decla-

rations, publication gravure plant and workplace environ-

ment, energy cycles, plant solvent air and water cycles, life

cycle analysis, VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) balance

calculation, emission allowance trading, deinkability and

recyclability, substance classification, REACH (Registration,

Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals),

carbon dioxide calculator for gravure printers, energy

saving measures. Representation of the gravure industry

in the discussions around the REACH authorization of

chromium trioxide so that CrO3 can still be used in the

galvanisation of gravure cylinders.

PAPER COMMISSIONManufacture, properties and use of paper for pub-

lication gravure printing in all their technical and

economic aspects. Plus all paper-related printing

problems. Certification systems. Environmental aspects

of paper production, sustainability, paper in carbon

dioxide calculations. Consumables and auxiliary mate-

rials in paper production. Supplied minerals. Cores for

paper reels. Absorption capacity of paper for toluene.

Paper classification. Deinkability and recyclability.

PACKAGING AND DECORATIVE GROUP

All aspects of packaging gravure printing, including

packaging design, pre-press, data formats and colour

management, cylinder imaging (mechanical engraving

and other technologies), lightweight cylinders and sleeve

systems, press developments, inks and substrates. Devel-

opments in decorative printing markets (base papers for

lamination, floorings, wallpaper, textiles, furniture, gift

wrap), materials (substrates and inks) and processes. The

»Pro Tiefdruck« group holds informal round-table discus-

sions in the German language.

STANDARDISATION

ERA participates in standardisation activities relevant

to its members, including the ISO Technical Committee

(TC 130) on Graphic Technology, the European Color

Initiative (ECI) and the Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG).

ERA is the secretariat for the Gravure Working Group of

the ECI, which has developed the »Process Standard

Rotogravure« (PSR) series of proofing specifications

(ICC profiles and proofer characterisations) for publica-

tion gravure printing on different paper grades. The

ERA Packaging Colour Management group has defined

PaC.Space, a »common repro colour space for packag-

ing« for all members of the supply chain. Representa-

tion in ISO/TC 130/WG 11, which is establishing a me-

trology for the calculation of the carbon dioxide impact

of printed products.

Association ActivitiesMembershipERA MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES

ACTIVE MEMBERS

European companies engaged in publication

printing using the gravure process.

OVERSEAS MEMBERS

Companies engaged in publication

gravure printing outside Europe.

PACKAGING & DECORATIVE MEMBERS

Companies engaged in packaging or decorative

gravure printing and/or cylinder engraving.

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Companies engaged in manufacturing equip-

ment or materials for use by the gravure indus-

try; companies providing services to the gravure

industry.

AFFILIATE MEMBERS

Magazine publishers without a printing facil-

ity, catalogue publishers, advertising agencies,

repro houses, packaging brand owners.

GLOBAL LINKS

ERA has a long-standing exchange agreement

with GAA – the Gravure Association of America

– in the USA. With this exchange, the growing

trend towards international partnership has

been followed with the aim of enriching and

expanding the roles of both Associations and

encouraging the cross-pollination of ideas.

ERA also maintains close contact with other

relevant international associations such as FIPP

(the worldwide magazine media association)

and PLGA Global (the packaging and label gra-

vure association).Ap

ril 2

012Ink transfer from the cells in the gravure cylinder: the smaller

the volume of the printing cells, the lighter the tone which is reproduced by them

European Rotogravure Association (E.R.A.) e.V.

Swakopmunder Strasse 3, 81827 Munich, Germany

Tel: +49 (89) 439 5051 · Fax: +49 (89) 439 4107

E-mail: info@era.eu.org · http://www.era.eu.org