Workflow
Stewarts takes control of colour and plans upgrade to Prepress Manager
Wednesday 10. September 2008 - Stewarts of Edinburgh has undertaken a Print Colour Management programme to ensure its print is consistent and meets the companys high quality levels. It will be an early adopter of Heidelbergs new Prepress Manager 4.0 and Signasation 4.0 this autumn.
The ISO 12647 accredited business places great emphasis on mitigating risk and its colour management programme helps it to do just that.
“Print Colour Management is a journey not a destination,” says operations director Kenny Murray. “Because we hold an annual Heidelberg Maintenance and Software Agreement we get automatic upgrades. This means we will be among the first to receive Prepress Manager 4.0 (which replaces Printready 3.5), Signastation 4.0 and the latest MetaDimension, MetaShooter and MetaPreparation packages.
“In the past theres been a lot of subjectivity to quality. Everyone sees colour differently; it even varies with age. Now we work in a more sophisticated way and we can prove conclusively that we have worked to a specific standard should a dispute arise,” Mr Murray says. “Everyone knows that there is incremental degradation and a printer producing six repeat jobs at different times will see some colour variation. By working strictly to LAB colour measurement values with Image Control you can fan the six versions out on a table and there will be no difference.”
The company has closed loop colour, with Prepress Interface connecting prepress and press seamlessly. Image Control scans the printed sheet using spectrophotometry to automatically control colour output within precise tolerances on the press and can feed information back to the prepress area. On press colour consistency is underlined using Heidelbergs Saphira range of inks and consumables and colour stability is further enhanced with the use of a newly installed technotrans reverse osmosis system.
“Like most printers we get our water from the mains but this can be supplied by more than one water company and that means it can be variable,” says Mr Murray. “By controlling the pH and quality of the water with reverse osmosis we have a more controlled process. This prevents emulsification which can mean loss of dot sharpness. It reduces waste and protects us from any reduction in quality but it also protects the value of the press itself by preventing depositions on the rollers or corrosion.”
Stewarts of Edinburgh argues that this is the type of risk mitigation product that safeguards its standards and its business. . Image Control can keep quality to quantifiable and consistent industry standards. Likewise it uses remote service and recently when it had an issue with a line appearing on some work on press it was able to contact a Heidelberg engineer who dialled in and made an adjustment to the CtP device and work continued. Mr Murray estimates this saved five or six hours downtime over having to call out an engineer in person.
“We look at the quality of everything we do and the reliability of our output. We work to consistently high standards and our closed loop colour and quality control is understood and respected by our customers,” says Mr Murray.