Ahead of a global announcement, APN Print New Zealand has revealed that it has qualified for membership of WAN-Ifra’s International Newspaper Color Quality Club.

It is the first offset newspaper printer in the country to do so.

Operations general manager Dan Blackbourn says that with entry standards “exceptionally demanding”, securing membership is a tremendous achievement.

“It recognises an ongoing commitment from both staff and the management team,” he says. “While it took some to reach this status, learnings gained over the period have proved invaluable for everyone involved in the process.”

He says membership – along with other quality awards collected over the years – is testimony of the pursuit of excellence by the APN Print NZ team. “Our commitment to quality and service is at the forefront of everything we do, and we believe that quality print is still a viable carrier of advertising and news.”

Membership has been secured for work produced on a 19-year-old Goss HT70 double-width press.

WAN-Ifra is about to announce memberships following scrutiny of entries (pictured) and certificates will be presented at the World Publishing Expo 2014 in Amsterdam on October 15.

Blackbourn says membership puts APN Print “halfway towards obtaining certification to the ISO 12647-3 printing standard”. Securing a WAN-Ifra certificate for standardised Printing will require an on-site audit, with a test production run attended by one of the organisation’s consultants as well as additional evaluations of the ‘cuboid’ test element.

The Ellerslie plant is the first within APN’s Australasian Print Group to gain inclusion, and only the second in Australasia.

Pictured: Jury members Magdoom Mohamed (left) and Paul Casey check copies against a list of possible defects