Reprography
Reprography is a collective term for all methods of permanent photometric reproduction of templates. This includes scanning , copying , plotting and printing . A portion, the reprophotography represents.
In addition to just copying or printing documents, commercial reprography also includes further processing and finishing (finishing). In the case of small-format documents, this work preferably includes cutting, stapling, punching, sorting, binding, covering and lamination . In the large format area - i.e. with paper formats from DIN A2 to DIN A0 - and with format-free dimensions, it is often necessary to cut the prints (e.g. technical CAD plans and drawings) and then fold them to DIN. A classic binding margin fold (according to DIN 824), for example, has a 0.5 cm wide margin around the document; on the left side, i.e. at the binding margin, there is a 2.0 cm wide margin. The finished fold should usually be in A4 format .
Reprography is offered by service providers, the so-called reprography service providers or repro companies. Between the early 1960s and the new millennium, the majority of these operations occurred under a common association logo on the market, from the first two letters re (for Re was prografie). Since the mid-1990s, the majority of these companies have been using the term plot service for this. In Germany, these companies are predominantly part of the trade association Copy & Media Technology e. V. (founded in 1913 as the Federation of Blueprint and Plane Printing Institutions in Germany , later the Reprography Association ) based in Frankfurt am Main . Today the chairman is Heiko Schmalfuß from Chemnitz; Achim Carius has been the managing director since 1990. The former Association of Swiss Reprography Companies , on the other hand, has been called Copyprintsuisse since 2007 . In the USA, the former reprographic service providers are united in the Association of Printing and Data Solutions Professionals (APDSP) , the former IRgA . The executive manager there is Ed Avis from Chicago.
A possible entry into the profession is the training to become a media designer / printing technologist specializing in reprography. The training lasts three years and is completed with a skilled worker certificate. In Switzerland, from August 2009 training as a printing technologist specializing in reprography is required. The training lasts four years and ends with a federal certificate of proficiency.