Details:
Summary:
This paper illustrates how measuring technology can be used to streamline production stages for process color. From scanner through press, when parts of the process do not fit, there is a price to pay at the press stage. The price is not only dollars, but compromises of color quality. Measuring what was once prohibitively expensive in terms of production time and salaries for highly qualified research personnel, is now within grasp of most process color production operations. Computerization that makes use of densitometer readings formerly used once and thrown away opens the door to practical color measuring. Measuring what was once prohibitively expensive in terms of production time and salaries for highly qualified research personnel, is now within grasp of most process color production operations. Computerization that makes use of densitometer readings formerly used once and thrown away opens the door to practical color measuring. The computerized measuring system, like the genie of the magic lantern, is capable of numerous possibilities. The trick will now be to choose the ones that improve quality while reducing cost of production. Using computerized measuring technology as a tool, there is hope of arriving at a consistently predictable color production process. When that happens something else is possible. The exciting possibility of controlling the color process at the initial prepress stage exists. That is not just controlling the prepress stage: but controlling the whole process at the prepress stage. Based on the premise that what you can't see don't get fixed, this paper proposes using computerized measuring to line up each stage of production to fit properly in the whole process. Because that may be a big bite to start with, the paper also suggests some less comprehensive applications that would be good starting choices for putting measuring technology to work.