Prinect Color Solutions

Inking standards
The demand for standards in offset printing is set to rise further in future - bringing with it changes to the way in which cutting-edge print shops operate. The reasons behind this are clear - using binding standards means predictable results and comparable quality across the board, regardless of location or output device. The desire of print buyers for greater independence from print shops, not to mention pricing, will also be crucial factors when orders are awarded in future. There are many factors that can influence the final coloring result along the way from the digital draft to the printed sheet. These can include the dot gain resulting from a new range of inks or a printing plate with altered ink trapping performance. Sometimes, the customer might deliver data and proofs that leave the printer struggling with color specifications that are difficult to achieve on the press. Whichever way you look at it, "lithography on the printing press" is an expensive and inefficient process that often delivers unsatisfactory results. And if, in spite of all the efforts made, the printed result does not match the proof, the door is wide open for complaints. Reliability and stability in inking are therefore essential for every printer.

Benefits

• Productivity improvements over the whole value-added chain
• Detailed coordination of the entire process - from prepress to press
• True-color proofs
• Increased process reliability and better consistency in print quality thanks to systematic quality control
• Improved ink presetting on the press
• Provision of tools supporting calibration, profiling and control of the entire process

Stable inking from the outset
Prinect Color Solutions make it possible to achieve color fidelity throughout the workflow. They offer a whole host of products and solutions to deliver true-color, cost-effective production. By ensuring that all components work efficiently together and by taking control of fine-tuning, the system offers maximum color fidelity, top-quality standards in the printing process and significant advantages in production. These are advantages which are only available from Heidelberg, the only manufacturer in the world to offer a complete color management system from prepress through to press.

Targeted color management
Proof, plate and print should deliver an identical color result. To achieve this, we need to look at color from the perspective of the press and to factor in the interplay between the upstream components. This means integrating the "fingerprint" of the printing press into the prepress stage so that any changes to print conditions automatically result in the proof and printing plate creation process being adapted accordingly.
Presetting, measuring, calibration and profiling are therefore integrated into a cycle that leads straight to the desired inking result.

Prinect Color Solutions in action
Perhaps you would like a more concrete example of how this kind of process works? PDF documents supplied by the customer are verified for integrity and printability using the Prinect Printready System. Colors which do not match the current printing inks are adjusted using the appropriate ICC profile.
Prinect MetaDimension then outputs the print-ready document for checking on a proofer. The profiles of the interfaced printing press and the proofer are used to provide a definitive simulation of the print. If the proof is up to scratch, Prinect MetaDimension passes the data to the connected imagesetter so that the printing plates can be prepared. The correct calibration characteristics are selected automatically.
At the same time, Prinect MetaDimension generates digital documents with presetting parameters for the printing press and provides digital reference values which allow the print sheets to be checked using Prinect Image Control. The proof, printing plates and preset data are transferred simultaneously to the pressroom. The Prinect Calibration Toolbox and the Prinect Profile Toolbox generate calibration characteristics for various output conditions and ICC profiles. Measurements can easily be taken using Prinect Image Control or other colorimeters.

Color fidelity in printing
In the next step, Prinect Prepress Interface calculates the zonal ink coverage values for the printing press from the prepress data and transfers these together with the register marks and other presetting values to the Prinect CP2000 Center. This allows a high degree of automation in the inking process during setup, considerably reducing make-ready time. The correct ink presettings are selected on the printing press based on the ink and paper grade to be used. Once the consumables have been taken into account, optimized inking can then be achieved very quickly. At the same time, Prinect Image Control receives the reference values from prepress and uses it to generate a digital OK sheet. Measurement results from the production run are returned to prepress by Prinect Image Control so that adjustments can be made if production conditions change. It is only by closely interlinking the press and prepress stages in this way that you can respond quickly to changes in print conditions.