TAGA Tech Talks 2022 is a free two-part webinar series that will feature some of the top thought leaders in our industry. Get valuable insights into two hot topics impacting the printing and graphic communications industry: Life Cycle Assessment and Expanded Color Gamut.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Panel Discussion
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systematic analysis of the potential environmental impacts of products or services during their life cycle. While creating an LCA, all potential environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of a product (production, distribution, use) or service are measured. Completing a valid LCA requires following specific standardized guidelines and access to specific training, technical skill sets, and software which require time and financial resources.
During this session, a panel of LCA subject matter experts will discuss basic questions such as when to consider conducting an LCA and the benefits of completing an LCA for consumer products and services. The session will also cover how LCA data can influence consumer buying habits, boost investor confidence, and serve as the basis for informative business decisions.
Gary Jones, Director, Environmental, Health, and Safety Affairs
PRINTING United Alliance
Nikola Juhasz, Global Technical Director, Sustainability
Sun Chemical
There were 20 questions asked during this panel. You can use the chapter markers in the time bar of the video to jump to specific parts. The questions are:
- What is an LCA?
- How often should an LCA be revisted?
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Why would a company undertake a life cycle assessment for a product or process?
- Gary, what has been your experience with requests for LCA information from your PRINTING United Members?
- Are there different types of LCAs?
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Are there different levels that are appropriate for different situations or to answer specific questions?
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Can you please give examples of how LCA data can inform business decisions and companies have used LCAs to educate customers, boost investor confidence, or enter new markets?
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What is an appropriate scope for a product LCA? Is the end of life considered when completing a life cycle assessment, or is it more so a cradle to gate assessment? Is there value to a cradle-to-gate assessment?
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How long does it take to complete a life cycle assessment?
- If a company decides to move forward completing an LCA, is there homework a company needs to think about or do upfront?
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Will life cycle assessments become mandatory at some point in the future, such as commercializing a consumer product or meeting a government regulation? If so, when, and where?
- Do LCA’s need to be approved by an external independent third party?
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Why and who are the relevant external authorities that would need to approve it to be valid and shared outside of your organization?
- Can you name specific academia experts or individuals as the third party?
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Who conducts an LCA? Can it be done with internal resources or does an independent third party have to be hired?
- Where do you go if you’re not confident in the data you have in your own organization to start an LCA? Are there external databases to validate numbers against other organizations?
- Are databases geographically/industry dependent or does it really matter accessing varying databases.
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Is there an ROI for conducting an LCA? Are there any financial or regulatory compliance benefits my company will enjoy after in investing in a life cycle assessment for its products or processes?
- Nikola, does Sun Chemical have their own dedicated LCA team?
- Are there common assumptions among LCA’s?
Effective Implementation of Expanded Color Gamut (ECG)
Expanded Color Gamut is a graphic reproduction approach that utilizes additional colors beyond CMYK, typically orange, green, and violet, to reproduce colors usually outside of the CMYK color range (or gamut). This allows for most Pantone colors and many brand colors to be reproduced without dedicated inks and can help enhance the colorfulness of images and graphics. The significant benefits are cost savings and productivity by greatly reducing the need for ink wash-ups and changeovers and enabling combination, or mixed, forms, thereby reducing the number of makereadies and the associated time and waste.
This session will consist of three presentations covering an overview of the ECG technology, implementation in prepress and the pressroom, and the challenges with (and solutions for) how best to optimize the planning and layout of print forms so you can take the fullest advantage and realize the most benefits from this breakthrough technology.
Andreas Kraushaar, Head of Media Prepress Department
FOGRA
Marek Skrzynski, VP of Technology & Innovation
CSW, Inc.
