CLOSED-LOOP COLOR CONTROL — SMALL CHALLENGES, BIG REWARDS

Reduced makeready time and run waste were the primary justification variables for obtaining them, according to Johnson. Consistency of color, from the beginning of the run until the end, is the hallmark of closed-loop color control for many printers, Banta included.

“One of the ‘bells and whistles’ on the system that provided improvements is the measuring of dot gain,” Johnson notes. “That’s helped free our pressmen up, so they’re focusing less on color control. It’s a benefit we never had; before we had to manually measure our dot gains and determine if they were too high based on color reproduction and matching the proofs.”