FQC/SWG Updates: A Recap of Forum & Looking to the Future

Flexo Quality Consortium FQC LogoThe Flexo Quality Consortium (FQC) Executive Committee would like to extend its thanks to all Forum 2016 attendees who came to the FQC preconference session and the main FQC session. Both were well attended and delivered important information.

Session Summaries

The preconference session, Corral the Process and Ride the Workflow, took us from color definition by the brand owner, through the production process, all the way to the certificate of analysis that confirmed color reproduction accuracy. It was a hands on look at managing and executing expectations.

Monday’s FQC session, Preparing for the Future, showed us how the world is changing printing. It started with the Standards Working Group (SWG) update and the High Resolution Printing Project update. Then, we heard about research ranging from screening techniques to conductive inks and finally, continuous improvement in practice. The FQC Committee hopes everyone who attended the sessions learned something new to take back to their own operations and prepare for what is an exciting future for flexography.

New Projects

The FQC is very excited to be starting three new projects. The first, CxF Characterization Comparison, will compare the profile accuracy of a CxF characterization to the Standard IT8.7/4 characterization process. Press characterization is a lengthy process and variability can affect the accuracy of the press profile. The industry needs a faster, more accurate way to characterize its presses, leading to more accurate color reproduction and increased press productivity.

The second project is The Flexographic Plate and Stickyback Optimization Project. Plate technology has changed dramatically over the past several years. The industry needs a clear picture of how those changes affect historic plate/tape choices and their effect on print quality, ink transfer, mottle and density. Optimizing plate/tape choices may increase print quality, press speed and productivity.

The third project is The Impact of Ink Temperature Change on Print and Productivity. Both environmental and production conditions can create changes to pressruns and the resulting print results. This project will start by looking at the impact of ink temperature on print characteristics and pressroom productivity. It will look at the components that impact temperature along with the resulting graphic and print results.

With the start of these projects, the FQC is always looking for membership support. Thank you to those who volunteered during Forum! For those that missed the opportunity, you can sign up to get involved. Interested parties can sign up and be ready when project teams are being formed, or be contacted if we need extra hands on deck. A huge thanks goes out to Tom Grovogel and his team at WS Packaging Group! They stepped up and ran a press trial for the important High Resolution Printing Project. Thank you for getting involved as a member company to support our mission!

SWG Update

The spring of 2016 has been fairly quiet for the Standards Working Group (SWG), though we had a good presentation at Forum. The ISO TC 130 held its most recent meeting May 23-27, at DIN in Berlin, Germany. The ANSI/CGATS met April 5-7, at Konica Minolta in Vienna, VA and made preparations for the May meeting.

A large number of standards were sent out for ballot after the fall meetings and were due to close in late January and early February, after the last SWG update in March’s FLEXO Magazine. Some of the results were presented at Forum and the rest are covered in this update.

The ISO TC 130 Graphic Arts standards committee met from May 23-27 in Berlin and will do so again from Sept. 12-17 in San Jose, CA.

Working Group 1

The terminology group continues to work on and further expand the documents related to graphic reproduction, including prepress function, on press activities and postpress processes. Additional updates:

  • ISO 5776, Graphic technology – Symbols for text proof correction. After three proofs, there have been direct discussions with the editor at ISO/CS and it was hoped that publication would take place in early 2016, but this has not yet happened. There continues to be ISO HQ editor mistakes introduced into the document. The logo graphic charactersare causing problems and the images for Chinese and Japanese characters are of different resolutions. A WG1 team is working on updating the images to a consistent high resolution image
  • ISO 12637 Graphic technology – Vocabulary – All parts. At the meetings in Seoul, South Korea, it was decided to try to combine all parts of ISO 12637 into a single document. Currently, there are four parts covering fundamental terms, prepress terms, printing terms and postpress terms. In moving to a single document, there was concern the terminology would not be current, as standards are normally only revised every five years. But the printing industry is changing much faster, so it has now been decided to convert 12637 from a standard into a Technical Report. The structure of the report and the process for the conversion will be discussed at the next meeting

Working Group 2

The prepress data exchange working group had a relatively quiet fall and summer in 2015. The following WG2 projects were reported at the meetings in Seoul:

  • ISO 12641-1, Graphic technology – Prepress digital data exchange – Color targets for input scanner calibration. A ballot was distributed in February with a closing date of March 4. So far, the results of the ballot have not been disclosed
  • ISO 12641-2, Graphic technology – Prepress digital data exchange – Advanced targets for scanner calibration. Currently a new project; a working draft is in preparation. It will be presented at the meeting in Berlin
  • ISO 20616-1, Graphic technology – File format for quality control software and metadata – Part 1: Print requirements exchange (PRX). A draft is still being developed and will be discussed at the meeting in Berlin
  • ISO 20616-2, Graphic technology – File format for quality control software and metadata – Part 2: Print quality exchange (PQX). The new work item, working draft (NWD) is being prepared and will be discussed in Berlin
  • PDF/X – WG2/TF2

» ISO 19593, Graphic technology – Use of PDF to associate processing steps and content data. A DIS draft was distributed for review but no ballot item has been sent out yet

  • PDF/VT – WG2/TF3

» ISO 16613-1 Graphic technology – Variable content replacement – Part 1: Using PDF/X-4 for variable content replacement (PDF/VCR-1). A revised ballot was sent out and closed on April 15. The U.S. voted to approve and had no comments. This standard should now move to the DIS phase

» ISO/FDIS 19445 Graphic technology – Metadata for graphic arts workflow – XMP metadata for image and document proofing. The ballot closed on March 18 but results of the voting have not yet been reported

Working Group 3

The process control and related metrology group saw updates to:

  • ISO/CD2 12647-7 Graphic technology – Process control for the manufacture of halftone color separation, proofs and production prints – Part 7: Proofing processes working directly from digital data. The ballot on DIS was distributed and closed March 11. The U.S. voted to approve but had some additional comments on the document. ISO TC 130 has reported the ballot was approved
  • ISO/DIS 13655, Graphic technology – Spectral measurement and colorimetric computation for graphic arts images. The revision of ISO 13655 was approved by the U.S. and ISO with many pages of comments. The revision has become quite major with the goal of making the requirements for instruments in the graphic reproduction workflow to be more in conformance with CIE recommendations and thus improve the agreement between different models. The success has prompted the German delegation to request a new section on color from diffusely back lit signage. Adding this new use case will require a second DIS ballot. This will be discussed in Berlin
  • ISO/DTS 15311-2, Graphic technology – Requirements for printed matter utilizing printing technologies for the commercial and industrial production – Part 2: Commercial production printing. A ballot was distributed and the ballot closed on March 25. The U.S. voted to approve with only a few editorial comments and the ISO secretariat has reported that the document was approved
  • ISO/NWI 20654, Graphic technology – Spot color tone value. The draft was revised and submitted for a ballot as a NWI/ CD this fall and the ballot closed on Jan. 11. The U.S. and ISO approved the draft with comments. The comments will be discussed in Berlin and a DIS ballot prepared ISO PWI 21328. Proposed new work item on expanded gamut process printing. The working committee has been formed and is preparing a proposal for the meeting in Berlin. There were two action items to be completed prior to the meeting

Working Group 4

Convener Dr. Berthold reported the following status information to the TC 130 plenary session in Beijing:

  • ISO 2846-1 Graphic technology – Color and transparency of printing ink sets for 4-color printing – Part 1: Sheetfed and heat set web offset lithographic printing. A minor revision was submitted for ballot and the U.S. voted to approve with comments. All parts of ISO 2846 except Part 1 and Part 2 (coldset inks) have been withdrawn. A new standard substrate has been developed by the IGT Company and has passed field testing for offset inks. This standard is no longer of relevance to the flexographic industry
  • ISO/CD 12636 Graphic technology – Blankets for offset printing. This standard is being revised even though it has received very little support from the industry. A ballot closed on Feb. 19. The ballot was approved with comments to be discussed in Berlin

If you would like to review and comment on any of the upcoming ballots on these standards, please contact FTA Director of Education Joe Tuccitto.

About the Authors: Jean Engelke is the chair of FTA’s Flexo Quality Consortium. She has earned an AAS in Graphic and Design Technology, a BA in Printing Management, an MBA, and an MA in Industrial Engineering Management. Jean started her career teaching Printing and Paper Science at Western Michigan University. She has held positions in R&D, engineering and global product marketing with Appleton Papers, Alcan Packaging and Eastman Kodak Company. Currently she is the Business Development Manager – Packaging Group for RR Donnelley.

Dr. Danny Rich obtained a master’s degree in physics in 1977 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA. In 1998, he joined Sun Chemical Corp. to direct the Sun Chemical Color Research Laboratory in the Daniel J. Carlick Technical Center in Carlstadt, NJ. He has been awarded the Nickerson Service award from the Inter-Society Color Council in 1999, the National Printing Ink Manufacturers award for Technical Achievement in 2008, a Thomas Alva Edison award for innovation by the Research Council of New Jersey in 2008, the Robert F Reed Medal from the Printing Industries of America in 2013, the Mattiello Memorial award from the American Coatings Association in 2015.