Mumbai-based ChromaLynx, founded by Aniket Rane a couple of years ago, has undertaken some important profit color management projects in the recent past. Rane has been a G7 Expert since 2016 when Steve Smiley in conjunction with IppStar conducted a 5-day certification course attended by 25 participants.
With two decades of experience in the print industry, Rane has worked on several calibration and G7 color standardization projects including those with SAP Print Solutions and Parksons Packaging. As a G7 expert he is qualified to conduct both training and implementation of G7 standardization and certification by Idealliance in the US.
“One of Parksons Packaging’s clients wanted G7 certification for a specific product. For that reason, Parksons went for the project and consulted ChromaLynx,” says Rane. “We calibrated four presses at the Parksons Chakan plant. A sample was printed on one of the presses and was sent to the US for final certification. The Chakan plant is now G7 certified.”
Rane says that because of the calibration of the presses and G7 certification, Parksons will be able to reduce make-ready time and work under standard print conditions. This should ultimately improve productivity on its highly configured presses and save considerable paper and board wastage.
Extensive engagement with SAP Print Solutions
Rane has also worked with SAP Print Solutions – a commercial and book printer based in Mumbai. Like Parksons, SAP too consulted Rane to get its multicolor offset press calibrated. They have not gone in for G7 certification, however.
SAP operates out of three locations – one in Vasai, another in Lower Parel and one in Bhiwandi. The Vasai plant has three Ryobi presses, two heatset presses, one Manugraph, and two web presses. It also has a full-fledged binding section. The Bhiwandi plant, which is the newest, has five web presses and one sheetfed press while the Lower Parel location has a Heidelberg offset press.
“Initially, we calibrated one heatset press and one Ryobi press at SAP’s Vasai plant. Later, we did the same for a Heidelberg press, which is located at Lower Parel. As a result of this exercise, the company has managed to reduce its make-ready time, reduce ink consumption, and managed to get more orders due to the improvement and consistency of its print quality,” Rane says.
SAP has also invested in some pre-press solutions, including color management software from Alwan, which was supplied by Rane through his company ChromaLynx.
The industry needs to focus on color management
Rane believes that apart from few a forward-looking companies, a large number of printers in India do not take the issue of color management seriously. Nevertheless, he says that the blame does not lie only on the printers. “Yes, a large number of printers are not keen to spend money on color management solutions. But the problem is not just that. The Indian print industry does not have enough color management specialists who can work properly with printers. So, the problem is two-way. The industry must give proper attention to the issue of color management as this will improve the quality of the whole industry. I am working with several more companies currently and hope to spread awareness about this,” Rane says.
