DANVERS, MA—Techkon—an innovation leader in high-precision color measurement solutions for the global print and packaging communities—announced a multi-unit SpectroVision inline quality inspection installation with a leading label and packaging solutions company (“the Company”) with locations throughout the United States.
As with many other label and packaging companies worldwide, “the Company” recently implemented a new ECG (expanded color gamut) workflow on its Mark Andy P7 presses. The shift to ECG means that traditional spot colors will instead be replaced by printing builds from the ECG ink set (usually CMYK + Orange, Green and Violet). Therefore, it is now much more important to continuously monitor and control all of the colors used in the ECG process to ensure the color accuracy of ECG builds throughout the pressrun.
This is precisely why “the Company” began looking for an inline color quality solution. Consider that without an inline solution, the only way to measure color is to stop the press and take handheld measurements. This, coupled with “the Company’s” desire to be able to grade barcodes in real time, drove its decision to adopt Techkon’s SpectroVision inline quality inspection system.
The SpectroVision was the perfect fit for “the Company” as it offers live web viewing (registration, logos, text, etc.), bar code grading and color measurement capabilities at press speeds over 1,000 fpm. Its implementation plan will be in phases and began with two Mark Andy P7 presses in the Los Angeles area and it has already ordered two additional SpectroVision systems for a second print location in the mid-west.
The SpectroVision solution is meant to allow narrow and medium web flexo and packaging printers to realize shorter makereadies, reduced waste, and overall higher quality pressruns. The SpectroVision measurement module consists of a scanning spectrophotomer, high resolution 2D camera, LED lights, motorized traverse arm, and an ISO white backing plate. Its compact design allows it to be easily mounted into existing flexo, gravure and digital presses. The system allows users to set up jobs outside of the pressroom, with PASS/FAIL tolerances, days or weeks before going on press, which translates to zero setup time for press operators.
SpectroVision provides operators with an intuitive, quality control cockpit for monitoring their pressrun. With two touchscreen displays, operators can switch between viewing registration marks, performing real-time, ISO/ANSI style, bar code grading, and monitoring color quality metrics such as density, Delta E, TVI, G7 and more. SpectroVision is capable of measuring an entire press control strip (up to 100 color patches) in a single printed impression, allowing operators to make color adjustments using significantly less time and materials.