Graphic Arts Technical Foundation is a nonprofit, scientific, technical, and educational organization which promotes the technological advancement of the

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

industry worldwide. The Foundation fulfills its missions through its five divisions: research, training, consulting, quality controls, and publications. Its headquarters in

Sewickley, Pennsylvania Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 according to the 2010 census. The Sewickley Bridge crosses the Ohio ...

, a suburb of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, includes state-of-the-art prepress, pressrooms, testing laboratories, libraries, and classrooms that provide a platform for sheetfed and web printing research. GATF's research activities include waste control, environmental studies, press and prepress research, and quality control. Educational activities include a large graphic arts library, a publication program, career and curricular consultation for schools and universities, and seminars, workshops, and conferences for the graphic arts community. In 1999 GATF consolidated with the

Printing Industries of America Printing Industries of America was a nonprofit trade association which advocates for the United States printing industry. It was the world’s largest graphic arts trade association, representing more than 6,500 member companies and an industry ...

becoming Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF) using a logo that was a combination of the two independent organizations logos. In 2009 after an extensive re-branding initiative, the association changed its name to Printing Industries of America and unveiled a new logo. The Graphic Arts Technical Foundation has subsequently become a division of Printing Industries of America known as the Center for Technology and Research. GATF was established in 1924 as the Lithographic Technical Foundation when

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

was a relatively new commercial printing process. It was headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

for many years until the 1960s, when it was renamed GATF and moved near to Carnegie Mellon University, with whom it often partnered.

References

External links

Printing Industries of America homepage
Arts and media trade groups Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Organizations based in Pittsburgh Non-profit organizations based in Pennsylvania {{pittsburgh-stub