The Power of Automation The adoption of automated print color quality control has transformed the printing industry by delivering significant improvements in color measurement accuracy, efficiency and consistency. By utilizing advanced technologies such as automatic scanning color spectrodensitometers coupled with color QC software solutions, businesses can enhance their production capabilities to meet the ever-increasing expectations of today’s customers. Here are some of those advantages go leveraging Automatic Scanning Color Spectrophotometers: Real-time Data Analysis Data plays…

Pictured above is a combination handheld spectrophotometer and densitometer, the SpectroDens 4.  The intent of using deltaE (ΔE) is to describe the distance between two colors. The Just Noticeable Difference (JND) of deltaE is usually 1. In other words, if two colors have a deltaE less than 1 it is imperceptible and larger than 1 is perceivable. Unfortunately, due to the nature of human color perception (our eyes), the visual perception of colors is different….

Improve Pressroom Efficiencies – Part 3 Two weeks ago, we kicked off our 3-part blog series looking at “Good”, “Better”, and “Best” upgrade options for packaging printers to reduce their make-readies, improve their color matching process, and attain more consistent color throughout their pressruns. In part 1, we examined the benefits of switching from densitometers to handheld spectrophotometers in flexographic pressrooms. In part 2, we looked at the benefits of adding press-side color quality software solutions…

Improve Pressroom Efficiencies – Part 2 Last week, we kicked off our 3-part blog series looking at “Good”, “Better”, and “Best” upgrade options for packaging printers to reduce their make-readies, improve their color matching process, and attain more consistent color throughout their pressruns. In part 1, we examined the benefits of switching from densitometers to handheld spectrophotometers in flexographic pressrooms. As discussed, this is a relatively easy upgrade because these instruments still measure the familiar process…

Improve Pressroom Efficiencies – Part I While handheld densitometers have already been adopted in many flexographic pressrooms, it’s important to remember that these devices do not actually measure color and are therefore incapable of reporting the accuracy of brand or spot colors on press.  The best that desitometers can do is to measure and report the densities (ink film thickness) of solid color patches and the tone value increase (TVI) of halftone dot areas.  While these…

“It’s Easier Than You Think!” Is your closed-loop color control system showing it’s age or require expensive repairs? Any chance it was made by that “X” company? Upgrading to a new Techkon SpectroDrive can improve your productivity enough to cover the cost. Find out why KBA, Heidelberg, Manroland, Komori, RMGT, Sakurai, Goss, Akiyama and more are retrofitting their presses with Techkon press-side color measurement solutions. After reading about the advantages for sheet-fed offset presses, use…

When printing colors other than CMYK, many users understandably turn to colorimetric information (CIE LAB, Delta-E). Frequently overlooked, however, is the importance of using optimized density metrics for process control in the offset lithographic pressroom.  One such metric, available on many spectrodensitometers, is spectral density (sometimes called “density-by-wavelength” or “lambda density”). A brief illustration of how a densitometer “sees” color ensues, followed by an overview of spectral density. Consider looking at a printed cyan ink…