06.28.18
Lightning Labels, a 16-year-established printer of full-color custom labels and custom stickers of all shapes and sizes, has upgraded its HP Indigo press operating platform—enabling enhanced print quality, color consistency, and faster turnaround via color calibration and repeatability.
Specifically, the upgrades address color consistency through inline spectrophotometer monitoring with automated adjustments, and color repeatability through Media Fingerprint (MFP) and 3D Color Calibrations (3DCC). Notes operations manager Vic Jubber, “These technology enhancements essentially guarantee delivering superior quality consistently the first time, translating into reliable on-time delivery and spot-on quality.”
Specifically, the upgrades address color consistency through inline spectrophotometer monitoring with automated adjustments, and color repeatability through Media Fingerprint (MFP) and 3D Color Calibrations (3DCC). Notes operations manager Vic Jubber, “These technology enhancements essentially guarantee delivering superior quality consistently the first time, translating into reliable on-time delivery and spot-on quality.”
- Spectrophotometer monitoring is an inline color-calibration tool that allows for on-press color calibration, on-the-fly during a run. Prime advantages are that the press uses information stored in the color profile for a particular job; and measures against that profile and the prepress file to ensure the Delta E parameters are within tolerance. Delta E is the industry definition of how the eye sees color difference. Presses are calibrated to a Delta E of less than 3.0, considered the highest optimal visual quality output in the digital industry.
- Media Fingerprint (MFP) allows the operator to automatically and periodically refresh and/or make changes to a stock profile based on a possible vendor change, coating switch, thickness parameter, etc. This allows a media (stock) profile to be adjusted in accordance with a run that calls for color repeatability and output parameters to meet previous settings based on the criteria affecting the media, without recreating a new media profile.
- 3D Color Calibrations (3DCC) provides color calibration within optimal Delta E standards. This allows a label order to be color calibrated on-the-fly, during production runs, to ensure identical label color coverage and consistency throughout the run.