PRINTING TO THE NUMBERS
T H E B U S I N E S S B E N E F I T S O F C O L O R Q U A L I T Y M A N A G E M E N T S O F T WA R E
WHY COLOR QUALITY
MANAGEMENT?
It’s 4:00pm and you’ve just been informed that
the spot blue on Acme Food’s new chip wrapper
went out of tolerance during the morning
shift. While everything printed yesterday was
in tolerance, for some reason, this press had
trouble holding the correct blue today.
And, by the way, your customer was promised
the job would be shipped by 5:30pm today.
You have a choice. You can deliver the job
as-is. Not a good solution if you hope for repeat
business from the customer. Or you can scrap
the out-of-tolerance pieces and re-run the job.
However, in an industry with razor thin margins,
that’s a big hit on your bottom line. Either way,
you know it’s not good for business.
What if you could have prevented this situation
from happening in the first place? Keep reading
and we’ll show you how that’s possible.
A PREDICTABLE &
REPEATABLE PROCESS IS
REQUIRED FOR GROWTH
Today’s printing and packaging customers are placing ever
increasing demands for color accuracy and color consistency
on their print supply chain. As brand owners continue to
look for differentiation and easily identifiable brand colors
across their product lines, they are holding printers more
accountable than ever. Many ask printers to provide data
proving the job adhered to color specifications agreed upon
before the work started.
As a result, printing can no longer be considered a
“craft” where “pleasing color” is good enough. Color
reproduction cannot hinge on the eyes of a few highly
skilled pressmen. Instead, keeping color within a client’s
chosen specification, and consistently producing that color
over time, requires a more predictable and repeatable print
manufacturing process.
PRINTING TO THE NUMBERS
For printers, achieving these exacting requirements
introduces significant business risk: longer make-ready
times, increased waste, and ultimately lower profit margins.
But printers can reap significant rewards if they crack the
code and “print to the numbers” every time and over time.
n They will win more business
n They will maintain customers and gain repeat business
n They will increase profit margins
While printers may be reluctant to abandon their
traditional practice completely, the risks are well
documented. This paper discusses the business
advantages of technologies built and optimized
for “printing to the numbers”. The goal is to help
businesses transition to a reliable print solution that
improves the stability of their manufacturing processes.
F O U N D AT I O N S :
USING A MEASUREMENT DEVICE IN THE PRESS ROOM
The densitometer has long been the workhorse of The only downside to using a Spectro-Densitometer as an
operators looking to accurately measure, control, and “instrument-only” solution is that it does not record what
manage color on press. A crucial first step toward “printing it sees and it requires some user intervention to switch
to the numbers”, it can tell you immediately if you are modes and access the various types of measurement
hitting your density targets. Because press operators no results. It gives you the numbers you need only in that
longer have to solely rely on visual assessment, they benefit instance, but you have no history or traceability across the
from better consistency throughout each press run, across press run or job. More importantly, you don’t know when
multiple press runs, and across multiple presses. or why something went out of tolerance, which can lead
In recent years, as the demands of brand owners and print to the scenario described in our opening paragraph. That’s
customers have become more exacting, press operators why printers who go beyond the instrument-only option
have learned they need more than just density readings to and implement a pressroom color quality software tool
achieve job specifications. Therefore, the trend has shifted gain an even bigger advantage.
away from traditional CMYK densitometers and moved
toward spectrophotometer based densitometers, or
Spectro-Densitometers.
This class of instrument can not only deliver density
information, but can also provide precise color
measurements and comparisons to the aim color values.
This makes the Spectro-Densitometer a highly versatile
press side tool that can arm operators with everything
needed to control process and spot color inks.
ADDING VALUE: PRESSROOM
COLOR QUALITY SOLUTIONS
Today’s brand owners are more involved in the print process
and understand its possibilities. They know how printers use
color data and ask for proof that the finished job meets the
color specifications they contractually agreed to. At the
same time, printers need to optimize every step of their
process, from job deployment to delivery, to reduce time and
waste, and maintain already delicate profit margins.
Printers that implement a color quality solution enjoy
significant and measurable benefits:
BENEFIT #1 EASY DEPLOYMENT OF
COLOR STANDARD AND
TOLERANCE INFORMATION
We’ve already discussed the importance of color specifications for the
customer. Contractually agreed color standard and tolerance information
needs to be communicated to each press operator. This is often a manual
process, with handwritten instructions delivered in a job folder.
Color quality solutions allow color standard and tolerance information to
be entered outside of the press room. The information is then delivered –
via software - to the press operator who will immediately see it in his or her
job queue. Not only is this faster, more effective, and eliminates potential
communication breakdowns, it also ensures consistency across multiple
operators, presses, and locations.
Because jobs are stored in a cloud database, they are easily accessed by any
press operator, anywhere in the world. Permission controls ensure proper
access and that operators only see jobs they are responsible for.
Software is simply the fastest way to deploy customer color specifications to
multiple operators, wherever they are located. It ensures press operators are
targeting correct customer
standard and tolerance
information and ultimately
guarantees that the final
printed product meets
customer requirements.
BENEFIT #2 EASIER ON-PRESS MONITORING
Because the specifications for each job are automatically delivered to
the press, operators can see at a glance what’s happening. Rather than
making numerical comparisons themselves using measurements from a
densitometer-only solution, the software shows them a simple PASS/FAIL
indication for all of the key color attributes that were entered into the job.
This could include target solid ink densities for process and spots colors,
CIELab color values for substrate, process, spot, and overprint colors, target
TVI (or dot gain) for tint patches, trap values for overprints, conformance to
industry standards like ISO and G7, and more.
The beauty of the software is the ability to present all of these key color
metrics in an organized way so it is readily available, easy to digest by
the operator, and actionable with specific density, dot area, and color
adjustments to quickly achieve the desired color targets.
Real-time press room monitoring means operators detect problems early
and can easily make the necessary adjustments before waste starts to eat
into profits.
BENEFIT #3 ACCOUNTABILITY & TRACEABILITY
OF COLOR RESULTS
When printers enter into a contract with a customer, they are accepting an
obligation to deliver a product that meets agreed upon color specifications,
within stated tolerances. Proving adherence to these specifications is only
possible with software that tracks and stores every measurement.
While the printer is ultimately accountable to the customer, accountability
begins at the press. We’ve already seen how software allows job information
to be entered and delivered via the cloud. Color measurements taken
throughout the press run are stored in the same manner. They can be
accessed and reviewed at any time, so internal stakeholders can audit
work and ensure compliance with job specifications before delivering the
printed product. This enhanced traceability means a more predictable and
repeatable print manufacturing process.
Automated customer reports clearly illustrate conformance of printed
products to the customer’s color specifications. Delivering these with each
job builds a level of confidence and trust that can only lead to happier
customers and better printer-client relationships.
BENEFIT #4 DATA MINING FOR CONTINUED
PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS
The power of software lies in its ability to store enormous volumes of data
and then analyze that data, over time, to spot trends and find opportunities
for improvement. In addition to the original color target specifications and
measurement data, color quality software captures valuable data related to
each press, operator, shift, paper stock, and more.
Advanced data-mining tools then make it possible to analyze the data and
develop key learnings for continued process improvements. Over time,
this data delivers invaluable – and actionable – insights to help ensure
more accurate and repeatable color results and continued savings through
reduced make-ready times, less waste, and fewer job re-do’s.
CONCLUSION
Brand owners will continue to place ever increasing demands for
color accuracy and color consistency on their print supply chain.
Achieving these exacting requirements is not only challenging, it
can mean turning away, or losing business if existing technologies
and processes are not able to meet the customer’s quality
specifications and pricing expectations. Luckily, delivering the
right product at the right price, on every job, is easily within reach.
The combination of easier color standard deployment, real-
time monitoring, traceability and process improvement benefits
made possible by color quality software offers printers a tangible
opportunity to improve both their top and bottom line. Printers
who can demonstrate a process optimized for “printing to
the numbers” are able to win more business, maintain happy
customers who give them repeat business, and maintain a decent
profit for each job they deliver.
Ready to Learn More?
ChromaQA, Techkon USA’s affordable color quality
software, provides a powerful set of tools for printers to
monitor the color quality of jobs on press, reduce the
number of re-makes, and recognize a significant savings
in ink and paper by detecting color problems early in the
print production process. ChromaQA has been designed
so that members of a printing team with different roles
can be connected through a single-color quality system.
While all functions can easily be performed by a single
person at a smaller printer, ChromaQA is also scalable to
large enterprises with multiple printing locations.
Visit Techkon to learn more and
download a free – NO OBLIGATION –
trial version of ChromaQA to
experience its ease of use,
powerful functionality, CLICK
HERE
and flexibility.
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