Colour Graphic Services, renowned for its ISO 12647 work and colour management in general, has added Printflow to its arsenal. Printflow is a software/hardware combination that upgrades offset presses of any age and inexpensively brings them up to CIP3 standards with automated, closed loop ink control. It can also be fitted to new presses for total closed-loop colour control.
Printflow DC delivers complete closed-loop colour control. Printflow DC can include a Techkon bar scanning spectrophotometer/ densitometer which feeds the measured colour bar values to the DC display, and the ink key adjustments needed to hit colour targets. If a printer already owns a Techkon or X-Rite scanning unit, Printflow DC works seamlessly with the existing scanning software The correction data is automatically fed to the print console and ink fountain keys are automatically adjusted.
"There are still hundreds of presses in the Australian market with manual ink key adjustment," says David Crowther of Colour Graphic Services, "There are two basic Printflow products: Printflow DIPS - Digital Ink Preset System - links prepress workflows to press consoles, thereby automatically programming ink key settings for each job. Also Printflow DC, which delivers the whole process complete with press-side bar scanning. The hardware and software is quick to install and learn and works will almost all offset presses - even newer ones where Printflow can be more economical than OEM ink setting automation.
Crowther confirmed his company's appointment with Printflow VP Bran Sulla, who looks forward to his first visit to Australia for PacPrint next year.
"We have over 2,000 Printflow systems installed around the world, mostly in North America," says Sulla, "and they have proven to be a reliable investment for printers, with a very fast ROI in time, accuracy and ink usage. The oldest press we have retrofitted is 1986 and the newest 2015. We look forward to working with David and his team in the Australian market.
Crowther adds: "Printflow is an ideal fit to our existing process control products from TECHKON, JUST NORMLICHT and MELLOW COLOUR. The benefits are huge, with presses achieving correct colour more quickly and then holding that colour throughout the run. We can retrofit to most presses and bring printers closed-loop colour control in 2-3 days - it's all benefits with no downside. Printflow DIPS, DC and Inkflow are profit-accretive from the first job onwards.
