hubergroup extends its color management system HDCC

Adds digital print folders

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hubergroup‘s digital print folders are characterized by very detailed information. Photo hubergroup

In commercial and packaging printing, color accuracy, speed, and cost-effective production are decisive. To enable customers an even more efficient production with 100% color accuracy, hubergroup Print Solutions is now launching digital print folders based on the technology of GMG ColorCard. Thanks to the complete integration into the company’s color management system HDCC, hubergroup offers a fully automated digital print folder communication. At the same time, the printing ink specialist remains true to its proven benchmarks such as the reliable quality verification process and the print folder layout, which is characterized by its detailed information.

Efficient color management

The already established system HDCC (“hubergroup Digital Colour Communication”) serves as the basis for hubergroup’s digital color communication. The patented system does not only store color and recipe data, but also takes existing data into account and prevents duplications. This avoids multiple elaborations of the same color. Additionally, HDCC features a quality control process relying on digitally stored master color data as well as highly stable standard paper. Patrick Hübel, head of Colour Service Europe at hubergroup, explains, “HDCC is a standardization program with which we ensure that our customers receive exactly the color they want – all over the world. This is possible because all locations have access to the same, verified information.”

Reliable, fast, detailed

As an extension to HDCC, hubergroup now integrates digital print folders which allow faster, location-independent, and therefore cost-effective processing. “Our tests showed that our digital print folders are very convincing in terms of color accuracy, reproducibility, and lightfastness – and we can process them more efficiently than their analog predecessor. This allows faster production and more flexibility for our customers,” reports Heinz Aumüller, responsible for prepress and process standardization at hubergroup. “The digital print folder is fully integrated into our in-house developed color management system HDCC. Therefore, it is verified based on the final physical match and follows the same verification rules as the analog print folder to guarantee the high-quality criteria our customers expect from us.”

hubergroup is a family business based in southern Germany with a 255-year history. The print solutions division produces and sells printing inks and printing aids for packaging printing and commercial printing. The security inks segment for international banknote and identity document producers is covered by the subsidiary Gleitsmann Security-Inks. The chemicals division markets raw materials such as pigments, resins, and additives produced in India.

The company has always been focused on customer success. That is why hubergroup works on innovative solutions, technologies, and services every day in order to optimize the value creation in the printing and chemistry industry and to allow their customers to achieve first-class results. In 2020, hubergroup generated an annual turnover of about EUR 644 million (approximately Rs 5,522 crore) and currently employs approximately 3,500 employees worldwide in over 30 countries.

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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