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Colour Control

Various panels and presentations discussed the state of the art applications and several successful benchmarking case studies for colour management and closed loop colour control. Larry Warter reported on the progress toward a GRACoL Version 7, which is expected out after the first of the year. More than eight printings have been prepared on differing papers and qualified inks in preparation for this update. Future tests are planned for Germany and Japan. Printing Across Borders has been participating and meeting so that this GRACoL standard for general commercial printing can be adopted throughout the globe.

Warter outlined the key steps that a printer must follow to assure successful implementation of GRACoL as part of a thorough colour management program:

1. Make sure the press is mechanically sound.
2. Use only ISO standard inks and papers.
3. Print within the GRACoL ISO density tolerances to consistent gray balance.
4. Compare “CMY neutral print density curve” to standard PDC.
5. Adjust PDC to standard using CTP curves.
6. Print to target value for midtone gray patch.
7. Use process control points (density & dot gain) to determine printing is within a reproducible range for future prints.
8. Profile new printing condition for other colours.

Panelist Mike Graff, Sandy Alexander’s Senior Executive Vice President, said, ”We used to wrestle the press into proof compliance.” Colour management has been the facilitation to achieve the strategic goal of being a manufacturing driven rather than craft driven business. “Our former 6+% plate remakes are now down to 0.6% due to colour management and all within months of the transition!”

“The weakest link,” commented Graff, “are pockets of resistance against colour management, which can unravel the entire effort.” The key is to have a stable platform. At colour management meetings to address potential problems the first question asked, “Has anything changed?” “The theory and practice does work,” concluded Graff, “but it requires a way of thinking” and even an ingrained culture.

During networking conversations it was interesting to hear Graff say, “We’re selling work flows now, not printing.”

Jim Sewell, Vice President of Technology for L.P. Thebault Company in Parsippany, New Jersey, also endorsed colour management and said, “Historic plate remake experience tracked for twelve years fell by 75% in less than a year” after implementing colour management. A repeated vital application where colour management proves its worth involves the more complex printed jobs. For example, eight colour printing with UV coating has no contract proof available! With client education and colour management expectations are being met. He further commented that by following the international density standards of 50 for cyan, 40 for magenta and 40 for yellow the midtone gray densities are the same for all substrates. Therefore, “SNAP, SWOP and GRACoL are getting closer” to one another.

Closed loop colour (CLC) control is increasing in use according to Bill Pope of RIT’s Printing Application Lab. He said there are 980 CLC installations in 2005 up from 273 in 2001. “46% of these are in publications and catalog printers and 32% in general commercial printing operations.”

Banta’s Allen Nielson described their CLC experience at their Liberty Press Missouri plant. Make ready times have fallen from 25.2  to 21.0 minutes which totals 183 press hours a year and is worth $32,000 annually. Start up waste reduction of 530 impressions/make ready will total 1,387,000 impressions saved in 2005. The result is that “customers now demand CLC presses.”

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