Color measuring in a running offset press

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offset press
InkZone Inline’s brand new user interface.

InkZone Inline retrofits legacy as well as new sheetfed and web printing presses from various manufacturers with up-to-date inline color measurement technology. Combined with InkZone Loop, Digital Information’s proven automatic color control system, InkZone Inline enables older printing presses to achieve incredible gains in efficiency and print quality.

Traditionally, color measurement is performed offline at the offset press control console on the printed sheet. InkZone Inline, however, revolutionizes this process by integrating a color measurement system directly into the printing press. InkZone Inline constantly measures the color control strip as part of the running printing process. The corresponding values are displayed on a PC screen at the control desk via an informative and modern user interface. Based on the color values transmitted by InkZone Inline, InkZone Loop generates the optimal ink key settings for each ink zone and forwards them to the press control console. This state-of-the-art software informs the press operator, in real time, about current color stability without interrupting the printing process or needing to remove the sheet from the press.

The combination of InkZone ink-key presets and InkZone Inline color control is significant, bringing to nearly all sheetfed and web offset presses a remarkable reduction in paper waste and make-ready time. Simultaneously, InkZone Inline helps users to achieve perfect color consistency throughout the complete printing process.

InkZone is a modular product suite for retrofitting printing presses in operation by using advanced software and electronics. From ink key presetting (CIP3/4) to closed-loop color control—including color measurement and reporting technology—InkZone is claimed to be the industry’s most robust solution. InkZone is touchscreen based, communicates through XML/JDF, and runs on the current Microsoft Windows 10 operating system. InkZone is an open system with respect to the incoming prepress data (workflow), the measuring technology used (color measuring systems), and the offset press control console to be accessed (manufacturer of the press). There are nearly 4,000 offset printing presses retrofitted worldwide with the InkZone ink key preset and closed loop color control system.

InkZone’s distributor in India is Mumbai headquartered Advance Graphic Systems.

 

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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