Prepress
Mellow Colour gives Printers control of ISO standards Introducing the Powerful New PrintSpec
Tuesday 13. May 2008 - At DRUPA 2008 in Dusseldorf Germany, Mellow Colour Ltd will release the latest version of the popular PrintSpec ISO 12647 colour quality control & verification software.
ISO may be the current buzzword of the industry but some printers are mystified at exactly what they need to do in order to meet the ISO print standard 12647.
PrintSpec allows Printers to generate comprehensive ISO 12647 pass/fail reports generated from the small PrintSpec strip placed along with production CMYK printed work.
Printers requiring a system for straightforward ISO verification will need PrintSpec software plus a spectrophotometer for measuring the PrintSpec strip printed along with the job.
PrintSpec Reports include ISO12647 pass/fail information about the CMYK inks, the overprinted colours, the Dot Gain (TVI) and Grey balance. A configurable percentage of ISO Excellence scoring system is built in.
The targets and tolerances of ISO 12647-2, 3, 4, SWOP and GRACol are selectable from pull down menus, and custom in house standards can be generated for special applications.
For printing companies requiring a more powerful set of colour quality control tools, PrintSpec Colour QA Manager and PrintSpec Colour Consultant have new features added for launch at DRUPA 2008.
These include:
Calibration Manager – for tuning the CMYK printing process, using TVI (Dot Gain) or grey balance methodology
Curve Tuner – for fine tuning of TVI curves printed from non-linear plates
Neutralise – for generating TVI curves that produce neutral three colour greys calculated from the standard PrintSpec strip
Match Curve – for matching print appearance from ISO standard paper types to different stocks
Averaging of multiple reports, historic analysis and advanced trending tools have also been enhanced for the DRUPA version of RetroSpec.
The benefits of printing accurately to an independent, international standard offers huge benefits to printers. Colour quality control brings reduced make ready times, reduced waste, quicker turnaround, effective communication and therefore, increased customer satisfaction.
PrintSpec is also a distinct marketing advantage in colour critical printing. Printing to common standard ISO 12647, is attractive to the Print Buyer, who can then rely on a supplier to offer consistent colour, job -to job, and to international targets and tolerances.
Mellow Colour has established a Proficient Printer Program, recognising printers around the world that have received training in the practical implementation of ISO 12647 and operation of the PrintSpec Colour QA System. Print Buyers use the Proficient Printer Program to recognise and monitor a print suppliers performance to ISO 12647.
Mellow Colour Quality Control System is not just about consistency and performance. Mellow Colour is focused on improving communication. PrintSpec generates a comprehensive but clear report that acts as a benchmark everyone can refer to address quality issues.
“To implement PrintSpec and meet ISO standards a printer is demonstrating technical commitment & a progressive approach towards standardisation.” Stated Alan Dresch, Director of Mellow Colour.
Dresch went onto say “This is a simple approach to the complex issue of implementing process control over the entire production workflow. We do see customers with concerns about adopting new standards, but Mellow Colour are probably the most experienced in the field and go the extra mile, to carefully guide printers through the procedure logically.
By the end of an implementation, we usually find our customers are inspired & motivated by this structured approach to colour quality control.”