Digital Colour Communication in Printing Processes

In recent years, advancing digitalisation has brought significant changes to the packaging and printing industry. In collaboration with innovative packaging specialist ppg > flexofilm, SAUERESSIG examined how digital colour communication in printing processes can work compared with the conventional colour formulation process.

Creating a lasting impression through packaging, achieving outstanding product placement and ensuring a consistent brand identity are top priorities for well-known brands and experts in the packaging industry. Accordingly, the requirements for a balanced colour concept, the achievement of colour targets and consistently high print quality are extremely demanding. Until now, the colour control process has required considerable resources, including time, materials and energy. To ensure colour accuracy on packaging, physical mock-ups are produced, lengthy press setup procedures are carried out, test prints are created and personal on-site print approvals are conducted. But what could resource savings in printing processes and worldwide colour consistency supported by digital processes look like, and what advantages do they offer compared with conventional methods?

In their study, the colour technicians from SAUERESSIG’s c.INKTEC team worked with ppg > flexofilm to test the advantages of this innovative process. Under production conditions, they examined colour formulation and settings for printing flexible packaging using the gravure printing process on a Rotomec RS 4004 printing press. The conventional colour creation process, based solely on visual methods, was compared with the SAUERESSIG c.INKTEC workflow. Both processes were qualitatively compared and evaluated using spectrophotometric measurements.

To enable smooth and continuous digital colour communication in printing processes from the beginning to the end of the process chain, the c.INKTEC workflow intervenes at an earlier stage in the printer’s process. For the study, the printing ink was adapted to the required gravure printing specifications and the original substrate before the actual printing process using SAUERESSIG ingenio gravio laboratory printing presses. By creating the colour formulation in a laboratory environment, it could be tested and validated in advance. The colour samples were then used to adjust the reproduction data in order to achieve the desired result on the production press without any further time-consuming on-site colour control.

In addition, c.CLOUD, the cloud-based software solution from the SAUERESSIG portfolio, makes it possible to store all information relating to the created colour and its associated colour formulation centrally, ensuring that it can be accessed at any time and from anywhere in the world. The colour specifications can be integrated directly into the process through the available plug-ins.

The results of the study are promising. Ingo Büning, Senior Sales Manager at the SAUERESSIG Group, is convinced that colour deviations between the production print and the proof will soon be a thing of the past. He explains: “The analysis has shown that thorough preparation in the area of colour communication pays off. Costly and time-consuming corrections on the printing press can definitely be avoided.”

Saving resources in printing processes can therefore be regarded as one of the greatest benefits of this approach. Thanks to the holistic concept, the process optimisations can also provide benefits for subsequent projects. c.CLOUD manages the digital colour communication between all stakeholders and provides complete transparency throughout the entire supply chain.

However, the possibilities offered by digitalisation in printing processes are far from exhausted. The next major step towards the future is the development of processes supported by virtual reality, allowing business partners to navigate the world of colour regardless of time and location.

“With these new possibilities, we will enter an entirely new dimension in the world of colour in the future, experience products virtually and integrate our processes even more closely,” explains Christian Groh.

By pursuing a sustainable approach throughout a globalised value chain, SAUERESSIG is making a positive contribution to the transition towards resource-efficient circular processes that are reshaping not only working methods, but also the supply chain within the packaging and printing industry.

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