Down and Dirty Profiling

[Presstuk]

We have about 10 presses on the floor, purchased between 5 to 15 years ago. Mostly Heidis, a couple of Hamadas and a Komori. Dampening systems are all different, depending on when the press was purchased. Inks from different manufacturers are running on different presses. Pressmen mix their own PMS inks with the 'eyeball' method. Pressroom heat and humidity is controlled by Mother Nature. Our pressman don't know the difference between conductivity and constipation. The founts are usually topped-off until the sludge starts oozing down the sides. Needless to say, our pressroom controls are little lacking!

SWOP and Gracol are nice concepts in a controlled environment, but not very approachable in our shop. I would like to put some kind of small verification bar or target on each press sheet that can be measured by numbers and/or visually, which can tell me what's happening on press, and which processes need to be addressed. That way, when the pressroom comes into prepress demanding a plate remake, I can point my proverbial finger back at them instead. By the way, we do not use densitometers in the pressroom, because our pressmen are above that!

I'm sure ours is the exception, since many of you seem to have implemented the latest and greatest color management protocols, but this is the reality of MY environment. Any suggestions or insight would be greatly appreciated.

[steveagfa]

In the words of Greg Imhof (dot readers) -

"If you can't measure, you can't control."

I visited a nice shop once, where they had
finally moved from waterless to wet, and
were now using our LAP-V/Galileo and Sublima.

They were able to tie all the color together,
but the third shift operator was a quite an
experienced color guy - actually quite good.
However, makereadys would take hours.
Essentially - he was a Picasso on the panel.

The judgement finally came down - run to
the numbers for at least 100 sheets... if the
color isn't sellable, then pull the sheet, make
notes, and then adjust from there.

Now - the makeready is nearly instant -
and he hardly ever adjusts colors. Now,
since the press is running to the numbers,
if something does go whacky - they can trace
things back to - oh, let's say - a bad blanket
on unit 2, etc.

"If you can't measure, you can't control."

Good luck - you've got a long road ahead of you.

And, by the way - Azura plates have about a 30%
window of "correct exposure" so your un-balanced
beams have little effect on the final consistent plate.

But - that's a different thread.

Regards,

[LoganBlade]

Always a way to do something.

first decide on a standard.

I like gracol so this is what I would try. based on your controls

have pressman 1 on press 1 run patch of graycol
tell hime to run to color per color bar as he runs it. If you have a calibrated proofer tell him to match color.

then create a gracol curve based off theis patch and create a que for that pressman. Do this for every one and maybe get lucky with something sinilar?

Pressman that dont run using a densitomiter are asses and really don't understand what they are doing. They may understand the need of amount of color and what looks good for spot but it wont be that same.

THe key is to trick them into running the way you need them to.


The other thing is to ge tthe best man on the floor that knows how to use a densitomiter and will work with you on making process curves for all the presses. make him understand how impoirtant it is and you maty get what you need

good luck

[Presstuk]

Thanks all, for the suggestions. I know that the reality is we need to get all the pressman on the same page (I suppose the same language wouldn't hurt either, but that may be asking too much). I have always stressed the importance of fundamental shop controls and process management, but who is a lowly prepress department to tell the goliath pressroom what to do.

I guess it's time for politics.

[silversurfer]

Put a colourbar on the plates. That's your department, making plates. You've got a densitometer, right? Then when they come in pointing the finger, at least you can measure your colourbar, then suggest solutions to their problem. Eventually, they may see the advantage to process control and start doing it themselves.

Baby steps...