The Ultimate Guide to Flexographic Quality

FIRST Live - NEW in-person, hands-on training

Designed to provide foundational knowledge in flexographic printing, FIRST Level 1: Introduction to Flexography is now available as an in-person training experience—delivered at the customer’s facility by an FTA-certified instructor. The new offering is available to any company in the industry and is ideal for groups as small as five employees.

The program covers key concepts such as flexo terminology, printing press components, ink and substrate basics, and print quality evaluation. Companies can use this on-site training to onboard new hires, reinforce internal standards, or build a shared understanding of best practices across teams.

Online FIRST Certifications

FIRST Individual Certifications will help satisfy your customers through employee development with online, self-paced training programs. For more than 20 years, FIRST (Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications & Tolerances) has helped production managers bring their printing processes to the next level by providing the procedures and methodologies necessary to produce high-quality and consistent results, pressrun after pressrun.

FIRST 7.0 book cover small

Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications & Tolerances (FIRST) 7.0

FIRST Provides all members of the flexographic supply chain with the technical information needed to produce high-quality and consistent print, pressrun after pressrun.

FIRST seeks to understand customers’ graphic requirements for reproduction and translates those aesthetic requirements into specifications for each phase of the flexographic printing process, including: customers, designers, prepress providers, raw material and equipment suppliers, and printers. Its intention is to provide all participants in the flexographic reproduction process with a common set of guidelines, tutorials and data to be used as communication and production tools.

Passed your exam and ready to promote your FIRST Certification? Use these resources to get the word out.
Time to renew your FIRST Certification? All you have to do is complete the re-certification exam.
Want to see who has FIRST Individual Certification and FIRST Company Certification? Here’s the list.
Want to know more about FIRST Certification? Get answers to commonly asked questions.

Visit the FIRST comments page to have your voice heard.

Help develop updates to the FIRST by joining its committee.

FIRST Live - NEW In-Person, Hands-on Training

FIRST Level 1: Introduction to Flexography is now available as an in-person training experience—delivered at the customer’s facility by an FTA-certified instructor.

Registration is Open for

FTA Technical Conference