Color Management

Printing Color Management

OEM SUPPLIER

Color management is a systematic project that requires pre-press and printing to work closely to establish color standards through a series of testing instruments and the synergy of color management software. At the same time, regular maintenance is required to meet the established standards. Optimized color management process can reduce makeready time and waste, and improve printing productivity.

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Accurate & Vibrant & Consistent Labels Every Time:
Our Color Management Process

In order to gain consumer preference, brand owners need to update the design of their packaging more frequently and require strict color consistency for packaged products, which includes color requirements for personalized label printing.

The whole process of color management is the process of developing color standards, testing color standards, determining reasonable tolerances and improving color standards in the printing plant.

1. Printing Color Standard

The printing color standard can be the factory's custom color standard, or the standard required by customers, or international standards, such as ISO 12647-2. The following color management workflow are all around the selected printing color standard.

2. Soft Proofing - Prepress

Soft proofing is to match the printing color standard. By professionally calibrating the monitor, the ICC for chromatic aberration correction and the ICC for printing standard are loaded, thus achieving the consistency between the color displayed on the screen and the printing color standard.

digital proofing system for color management

3. Digital Proofing - Prepress

The digital proofing system for prepress consists of a wide gamut printer, color management software, and color inspection instruments. The printer prints the color block set, such as TC1617, etc.; the color detection instrument (such as i1iO, etc.) carries out the color detection of the color block; the feedback is fed back to the color management software and compared with the target color of the printing, and if the color difference is out of the tolerance range, the software adjusts the proportion of the color according to the color difference value. Then make a new proof until the digital proof matches the printing standard.

4. Regular Inspection and Calibration

It is necessary to carry out regular inspection and calibration for both soft proofing and digital proofing, by which the color is always consistent and match the printing standards. If the color cannot meet the standard or inconsistent, then it is necessary to consider changing the printing conditions to make it meet the standard.

regular inspection and calibration of colors

5. Plate Inspection

After meeting the standards for both soft proofing and digital proofing, it is necessary to carry out the testing of printing plates.

First, through the standardization of pre-press publishing operations, the aid of the printing plate curve, the deviation of the dot of the printing plate can be controlled within tolerances, such as deviation of no more than 0.5%.
Secondly, regular inspection should be carried out to ensure that each printing plate is up to standard. Once the problem is found, it should be dealt with timely to eliminate the problem.

6. Standardized management of printing presses

When managing color on the press, the press itself needs to be standardized before printing standards can be matched. Only under the premise of ensuring that the printing press itself meets the standard, the printing standard matching is meaningful, and can achieve accurate and consistent color reproduction.

The composition and condition of the fountain solution significantly influence print quality.
Parameters like pH, conductivity, alcohol percentage, and tank temperature must be strictly controlled to ensure stability and consistency.

The inking system is responsible for evenly transferring ink to the printing plate. Maintaining inking stability requires attention to:

The condition of water and ink rollers, including cleanliness, dampening, and surface smoothness.
Proper pressure between ink and water rollers.
Smooth bearing operation for seamless roller rotation.
Correct ink key settings to prevent ink starvation or piling.

The blanket cylinder transfers ink from the printing plate to the substrate (label material). Its quality and condition significantly impact print clarity and color uniformity. Key parameters include:

Blanket stretchability, hardness, resilience, and how these change over time.
The type of underpacking (sheet underneath the blanket), as specialized or general paper types affect blanket performance.
Blanket surface roughness and hardness: excessive roughness can lead to “hickeys” or “slurring,” while insufficient roughness can cause image distortion.
Thickness loss rate and print durability, which influence blanket lifespan.

Beyond the factors mentioned above, other press components like registration systems, ink fountain and key functions, and chilling and recirculation systems for the fountain solution, also require standardized management to ensure proper function and expected performance.

In essence, only through rigorous standardization and control of each stage of the printing process can press stability and consistency be assured, laying the groundwork for achieving high-quality color reproduction.

7. Matching Print Standards between Presses

After the first press has been matched to the print standard, a lateral operation is performed to match each press to the print standard. The operation method is the same, but pay attention to the following:

The dot gain and gray balance of each printing press is managed correctly and cannot be mistaken.
Clearly and correctly manage the dot correction curve of the pre-press publishing machine and the dot gain and gray balance plate curve of the printing machine, understand their functions, do not use the wrong.

color consistency between printing preses

8. Maintain the Consistency of Printing Conditions

Maintain the consistency of printing conditions: such as ink, fountain solution and other printing materials, pre-press plates, developing, ink, digital printing paper, etc.; the operation of the method, such as the printing of color sequence, etc.; the brand of the paper, etc.. Changes in printing conditions during the printing process (including pre-press) will affect the success or failure of color management.

9. Regular Maintenance of the Machine

The machine should be regularly maintained after the completion of the printing standard matching, just like the pre-press. According to the standardized management of the printing machine, the parameters of the standard, quantitative monitoring. It is necessary to regularly match the printing standards of the printing machine, correct deviations, verify the match with the printing standards, to maintain the match of the printing standards.