The company
Speedscreen was established in 1986 in Chatham, Kent, and has grown into a company with a turnover of £1.8m, employing 16 staff.  It is a wide-format business that originally served only the advertising sector, but that has since expanded to handle work for a broad client base, including blue-chip companies and the retail sector. 

In terms of equipment, the company uses digital flatbed and screen technologies and, as far as managing director Tim Hill is aware, it is only one of only 10 companies in the UK to have installed the Durst Rho 800 Presto.  It also has a range of finishing kit, including a Kongsberg cutting table.

The challenge
One of the key problems in the UV wide-format sector, according to Hill, is a lack of colour profiles, from both the equipment and the substrate manufacturers. With clients becoming increasingly specific in their colour requirements, especially those in the retail sector, it was clear to Hill that he needed a more accurate way of hitting colour targets than reusing the same pre-set profiles on every type of substrate.

"There were only a few colour profiles pre-set on the Durst Rho 800," explains Hill. "And though when you buy a substrate, the manufacturer of that product will give you colour profiles for certain printers, they tend not to provide them for UV printers; we seem to be left to work things out ourselves."

He adds that where there is a colour profile for a particular substrate, this cannot be relied on as different brands of, say, Dibond, have different white balances and so need a unique profile of their own.

"Many UV printers tend to just use the same three or four colour profiles regardless," explains Hill. "Admittedly, if you use a DiBond profile on Foamex with UV, you will still get a result, but it is unlikely you will get the right colour values."

Wishing to get accurate colour every time, Hill decided that the most effective option open to him would be to create his own colour profiles. Last year, he put his plans into action.
 
The method
Creating your own colour profiles is not an easy task, but it is not particularly expensive in the long-run either. Essentially, according to Hill, you need a top-of-the range spectrophotometer and a decent bit of software to interpret and use the data. There are a host of options on the marketplace and each has its own benefits, but after seeing it in action at the Durst showroom, Speedscreen opted for a Barbieri spectrophotometer, costing around £8,000, and a software plug-in for Caldera’s EasyMedia software.

"The Barberi is manufactured in Italy and really is an all-singing, all-dancing product," he reveals. "Not only does it measure rigid and roll materials, but it is also able to handle reflective and transmitting materials, so we can accurately colour profile back-lit subrates."

Whenever the company uses a new substrate, be it a different brand of the same product or a different type of substrate, the company takes time out to set up a colour profile. This is, says Hill, not a particularly quick process.

"Creating your own profile does take a lot of time up and it can infringe on production time," he admits.

Colour values are set at 100% to begin with, and then Hill and his team gradually reduce the levels of ink until they achieve a balance of the least ink on the paper for the maximum colour effect in terms of quality and vibrancy.

"Essentially, what it means is that if we get a new material to print on, which we do frequently as UV printers have got such a wide range of potential materials from MDF to Opal PVC, we can set up a profile for it," says Hill.

The reaction
The equipment has been in place for a year now and everyone is comfortable using it, but Hill admits that, at the beginning, creating unique profiles was a "bit of a learning curve". Operatives spent two days training on the kit in Austria and have since been back for an update.

"These are not plug-and-play products," explains Hill. "There are so many options and variables that you do need a good understanding of what you are doing and how it works."

Arriving in a "bomb-proof box", in which it is still stored when not being used, the spectrophotometer is also incredibly sensitive and so great care is needed when handling and using it. However, when it is used, Hill says it can be put into action quickly and easily and without any need to update software or add extra server or processing capacity into the IT network.

From the customer’s perspective, Hill concedes that the improvements have not necessarily been noticed, but that in the sales pitch the presence of the colour profiling process is a persuasive draw for potential new clients.

"Customers like the fact that we are aware of colour management and go the extra mile in that area," says Hill. "In this sector, you can buy a £15,000 printer, stick it in your front room and say you are a digital printer, but it doesn’t mean you will be able to match a proof adequately, or that you even know about colour profiles. We can prove our skill in this area by creating our own profiles and clients really appreciate that."

The verdict
A year after the company first started creating its own profiles, Hill can’t believe he made do with other people’s profiles for so long.

"We don’t hesitate with any media now," he says. "We get in whatever the customer wants and create a profile for it. It takes the guess work out of the process and this is so key in the retail sector. There are so many substrates, and so many variations on the same substrate – with some having a blue or a yellow bias for instance – so you really do need to create your own profiles if you are going to do jobs properly."

This substrate differentiation is something that ISO 12647 has so far failed to fully address, forcing the likes of Speedscreen to pursue alternative options (see BPIF comment for more). This is a shame as there are other benefits to be had aside from colour.

For example, the ability to tailor the ink flow to the minimum amount for maximum effect has saved costs and there has also been a cost bonus in terms of production. Hill explains how with the Durst pre-set profiles, there is no profile for printing at high speed, but as Speedscreen can create this profile for faster printing, their have been gains here as well.

Creating its own colour profiles, then, though time-consuming, has been a massive lift for the company in more ways than just accurate colour.  It’s something that Hill would definitely recommend to others.

"It is something that everyone in the industry should be doing," he concludes. "It has proved invaluable and allows us to be much more flexible, than relying on the manufacturers’ supplied profiles."

BPIF COMMENT
Saving money by consistent colour
All printers want to be able to offer consistent colour at the highest possible quality. The problem is that with all the different variables, such as substrates, inks, etc, the ability to deliver standardised colour becomes more and more complicated. But this doesn’t mean the whole process is redundant; these issues can be identified, tackled and then remedied.

Speedscreen should be congratulated for overcoming these difficulties and developing a workable process and for achieving a measure of colour management control. The benefits as mentioned in the article are more than just consistent colour quality –as companies who are involved with the implementation of the ISO 12647 have discovered, the range of incidental benefits that a printer experiences are numerous.

Added benefits
They are able to print repeatedly to a level of quality that satisfies the most demanding of customers, they cut costs and environmental impact through reduced waste, where applicable, and they encourage the development of colour confidence, a willingness to manage clients and their colour files positively. Also, the improved processes accelerate press pass times, again where applicable, and, as Speedscreen has discovered, by balancing the level of ink used and the quality requirements, it also means a company can keep even tighter control on production costs.  

By challenging the complexities inherent in this area of the sector, Speedscreen have found a way of addressing the colour consistency problem and show the importance of looking at the whole process. Meanwhile the BPIF Technical Committee will be encouraging the further development of the ISO 12647 standard so that it is as relevant to the wide-format sector as is has become with litho and flexo.

Philip Thompson, head of BPIF Business