Idealliance has partnered with Microsoft to offer BrandQ Certification and Training on September 18-19 at the Microsoft Global Corporate Headquarters Visitors Center in Redmond, WA, USA. Registration is now open for this in-depth training session.

Microsoft and Idealliance have built a global partnership to best serve the company’s global packaging supply chain through the BrandQ program by offering this training for brand managers and packaging supply chain experts and by aligning the company’s own print supply chain through the global Microsoft BrandQ Color Reproduction Certification program.

Who Should Attend:

• Brand Managers/Brand Owners
• Global Packaging Managers
• Quality Assurance Managers
• Supply Chain Managers
• Color Standards Manager
• CXOs
• Designers/Creatives
• Specifiers
• Packaging Supply Chain Professionals
• Print Buyers
• Packaging Supply Chain Experts/Auditors
• Anyone Responsible for Quality within the Packaging Supply Chain Ecosystem

Earning and retaining certification credentials is a must for anyone providing printing and packaging services to the consumer-packaged goods market and FMCG market. This elite status demonstrates to brands, brand owners and print buyers that a packaging and printing facility meets the highest quality standards. The Idealliance BrandQ Supply Chain Certification is effective, efficient, and aligns the supply chain.

The September training will be led by Ron Ellis, a global brand expert and consultant specializing in brand quality, color management, automation and workflow integration. He is a BrandQ expert program trainer, BrandQ certified supply chain expert, G7 expert program trainer, chair of Idealliance’s Print Properties and Colorimetric Working Group for innovation and standards development, ISO standards expert, and global brand consultant.

The two-day training will be a full hands-on experience and demonstration with the tools used by the print and packaging supply chain for quality management that are critical for brand owners to familiarize themselves with in order to be able to align with their supply chain partners. It also includes extensive open discussion and review of real-world brand management workflow processes, solutions, and implementation experience for collaboration not only between brand managers who will achieve BrandQ Manager certification by attending this training and completing an online exam, but also with their supply chain partners who also participate in training to earn BrandQ certified supply chain expert certification through their extensive knowledge of aligning and serving brands, as well as the print and packaging supply chain, which allows them to audit facilities and certify BrandQ certified supply chain facilities.

BrandQ training is multi-leveled, serving everyone in the packaging supply chain. BrandQ Manager Certification is for brand managers, creatives, designers, specifiers, print buyers or anyone in the packaging supply chain eco-system who has completed BrandQ training in order to improve their knowledge of their packaging supply chain, quality control, and print measurement to effectively communicate with their suppliers. BrandQ Managers are able to determine if suppliers can meet their expectations and manage the many critical components of the print and packaging supply chain, including working with spot colors and effectively assessing print quality and control, plus much more to result in a vastly improved brand/supplier relationship.

BrandQ supply chain certification assesses key aspects such as process capability, performance, process control, color management, ISO standards implementation, proof and press alignment, spot color rendering, pre-media capabilities, and G7 calibration, and includes detailed reports and analyses. BrandQ not only enables a direct channel of communication between the brand owner and the supply chain, but also provides a comprehensive evaluation of suppliers and how they are meeting brand expectations and needs.