Without doubt colour management at the press is getting more sophisticated. Working with standards such Without doubt colour management at the press is getting more sophisticated. Working with standards such as JDF and database driven press control systems, printers can deliver a better and more competitively priced product, particularly for short run colour work. This is because press manufacturers are constantly updating their software to make conventional print even more competitive, with improved productivity throughout the data supply chain from prepress to press. Quality assured process control with tools for calibration, profiling and colour accurate proofing are getting closer and closer to the press.

Standardising printing conditions is a key part of efficient colour management and print quality. It's possible to work with custom tailored ICC-profiles for a certain combination of press and paper, but for most jobs accepted industry standard profiles will give an accurate end result as long as the process is well managed. A standardised printing condition is just the start. Process control becomes even more urgent as designers start to take full advantage of what is possible with the latest layout and imaging tools. Fine tuning of ICC profiles normally happens in the prepress department but the more advanced press control systems have started to take over this role, to make last minute compliance to a given print standard, such as ISO 12647/2-2004, SWOP or GRACol happen on press instead. Colour management at the press is one of the final pieces in the colour management puzzle. Several developers are leading the way using database technology and JDF to manage data interactions.

Heidelberg Prinect
Heidelberg has the unique advantage amongst press manufacturers that it develops and manufactures both prepress equipment and printing systems. Prepress and press technologies are tightly integrated, with colour management tools for calibrating and characterising monitors, digital cameras, scanners, proofers and presses. Standards are the basis for print predictability and quality control, giving print buyers more flexibility when it comes to choosing a printer. The concept of tight integration based on standards is fundamental to Heidelberg's philosophy and the Prinect Colour Solutions toolset of colour management technologies. The Prinect Image Control system is a spectrophotometric measurement system for controlling colour on press. It also gathers quality data and is the most important component of closed loop colour management from plates to proof to press. One of Heidelberg's most recent additions to Prinect is Mini Spot technology, which is used to check colour values. The colour values of randomly selected spots, small areas or colour bars, on sheet or proof are measured as part of Prinect's control for dot gain and inking.

Prinect Profile Toolbox, for calculating ICC profiles uses Mini Spots measurements for checking the quality of the printed sheet. With it, Heidelberg combines the principals of digital colour management with adaptive process control that responds according to how the press performs.

This can yield considerable savings in time and effort, because all print profiles are being constantly updated. Since it was introduced Heidelberg has installed its Mini Spot technology as part of Prinect Colour version 4.0 at 140 sites worldwide. Mediahaus Biering in Münich, Germany has been using Prinect since 1994 and Mini Spots since its introduction and staff working with it, both in prepress and on press, are competent within two months. According to production manager Vitali Rosenfeld the the Mini Spot technology has provided “fast quality control of all single process steps, for example PSO (Process Standard Offset ISO 12647-2).” It has also helped with “generation and editing of ICC profiles, simplified operation [because of the] accustomed GUI, [and] printing office and prepress move together more closely.” Adding advanced colour management to the press clearly makes sense, but Heidelberg is not alone in its efforts.

KBA Logotronic and Qualitronic II
KBA (Koenig & Bauer)'s Logotronic Professional controls all KBA presses and links to subsidiary systems such as MIS using JDF. Production data including press and individual colour conversion curve data are taken into account for setting ink keys. Jobs are presented on the press console along with all presetting data which can be adjusted if necessary. After the run operational data are returned to the MIS where they can be used in the future as the basis for costings and job estimating. Logotronic Professional can preset virtually all electronically controlled parameters on the press, including blower air parameters, powder spray amount and required print pressure.

As far as we are aware, Logotronic is the only press control system capably of adapting to how a press operator uses the various control parameters. When the same changes are consistently made, the system automatically adjusts the general settings for that operator. We tried many times to get more details about this from KBA, but the company did not respond to our persistent requests for information.

KBA also has a special module for quality control. Qualitronic II is a high resolution video camera mounted on the press (two on a perfecting press) for measuring print quality, register and paper handling. The data collected is fed back into Logotronic and is the basis for further adjustments during the print run if colour quality starts to drift. We also tried relentlessly to get some response from KBA about the number of users of Logotronic but they never replied. That tells us enough!

Komori KHS
Komori's High Performance System press control system connects to external systems such as prepress and MIS via proprietary interfaces and JDF. Komori's Digital Open Architecture Network technology uses JDF to provide an infrastructure for colour management throughout the workflow. JDF allows Komori to integrate its own technologies with those from other manufacturers. The number of users of this architecture is as far as we understand, small.

MAN Printnet, Pecom, and Colour Pilot
MAN Roland along with Heidelberg is a market leader for this technology. MAN Roland's Printnet is a customised workflow environment which uses different task modules to link the entire data chain. As with the Heidelberg and Komori technologies Printnet uses JDF to manage data transports across subsidiary systems such as prepress, press, postpress and MIS. MAN was one of the founding members of CIP4 and was deeply committed to JDF's predecessor, CIP3's Print Production Format (PPF). There are over 2000 users of MAN's Pecom technology which manages links between prepress and press using PPF. MAN has 28 customers running JDF integrations with sheetfed presses, and we were able to speak to one customer in Scotland who neatly summed up the reality of working with JDF in day to day production. 21 Colour in Glasgow has seen quicker turnarounds and makeready times dramatically cut. John McManus, production director, says, “We have been working with the JDF side of things for about six months and we still are finding our way. In the company we have MAN Roland, Tharstern and Kodak [Prinergy] so it's getting everything to come together. Terminology is the biggest factor, that's the biggest problem. Working with JDF works well for simple sheet work, but we are finding problems with multiple sheet work.” Colour management has also got simpler and JDF together with MAN's Colour Pilot technology has made a substantial improvement to production. John said that: “Colour Pilot is fantastic and we've now got 15 minute makereadies compared to 30-45 minutes last year.”

Mitsubishi IPC Server
Mitsubishi's IPC (Intelligent Press Control) Server is the heart of Mitsubishi's press control system which includes colour management, plus a variety of additional modules, Mitsubishi links its press control system to prepress and MIS through the Mitsubishi MAX Net (Mitsubishi Accomplished Extensible Network). IPC Server technology now supports CIP4 JDF/JMF send and receive functions, providing a hub for both MIS and MAX Net. It complies with the CIP4 Interoperability Conformance Specification (ICS) defining how press control systems should converse with MIS. The MIS is constantly advised of press status for efficient cost control and press operators can readily access job management functions for all print jobs, as well as production control functions. Around 50 of these servers have been shipped to customers worldwide.

All of these manufacturers are providing modules that handle a diversity of tasks, from setting up and managing job tickets, to logistics. Not all of them make a direct contribution to colour management but many of them do. Some companies, such as MAN Roland are also working on intelligent materials processing and even transport and delivery management. Where all this leaves traditional prepress is a little blurred. It is unlikely that full responsibility for colour management is going to be handed entirely to press operators. There are still many colour management issues to resolve and much of this work is better done early in the workflow. However if colour management can make a press more productive and produce optimal quality work, then so much the better. The fact that press manufacturers are taking such pains to embrace colour management and JDF bodes well for the future for print buyers.

Everyone wants faster production throughput and improved quality control, with less waste and full cost accountability job to job, but there is only so far that a press control system can go, especially in complex, collaborative workflows where many people contribute to a job's development and preparation for output. Standards help, but there is unfortunately no such thing as a standard print job or even a standard printing condition. As long as people come up with creative ways of using print and as long as printers keep printing those jobs, colour management will be problematic and required throughout the workflow. The database and JDF are fundamental to the process; together they help store and manage all critical process data including job metadata, ink setting, machine settings, with Pantone spot colour library data, data on different paper stocks, ink data and of course, colour management. Well deployed colour management and JDF help make print more economically viable and printers more productive. There is every reason to embrace them because as John McManus of 21 Colour says: “We as a company are turning out 30 per cent more work.” And that's what it's all about.