Heidelberg Prepares to Roll Out Prinect Solutions at drupa

Designed primarily for pharmaceutical, specialty and packaging printers under pressure from customers and from government regulations to cut costs and deliver defect-free printed materials, Inspection Control dramatically lowers the cost of production by using two very high-resolution black-and-white or RGB cameras to detect and eliminate hickeys, marking, scumming, scratching, striping, smearing, and other anomalies before the product advances to the postpress stage or worse, is delivered to the customer.

A new feature to be shown at drupa 2012 is the integration of an in-line inkjetting system incorporated in the press that is used to destroy the folder-gluer barcode for individual ups that have been defined as defective. Prinect Inspection Control is available for Speedmaster XL 105, Speedmaster CX 102, and Speedmaster XL 75 presses.

New Tools for G7 Certification
Aspiring G7 Master Printers will take note of Heidelberg’s recent introduction of new color bars designed specifically for G7 use, as well as the ability of its new-generation Prinect Image Control quality control center for prepress and pressroom to measure and control by means of Gray Balance. These efforts follow the development of Heidelberg’s G7-certified Prinect Color Toolbox module called Gray Balance Optimizer, which incorporates gray balance directly in the plate calibration.

While there are no requirements under G7 for the use of particular color bars or control elements on a color bar, G7 methodology suggests, however, that specific areas of the gray tone scale be monitored during production to confirm that the objectives of G7 have been met. The latest generation of Prinect Image Control, which will be shown at drupa, includes features for measuring and regulating control of the press using gray tones in accordance with ISO standards and G7 methods.