ChromaChecker™ –The Color Cloud
 Monitor every variable within your production environment

 

 

ChromaChecker™ Eco System

is the solution which monitors all the key color variable/factors that can contribute
to print issues which will eliminate errors. By monitoring every color variable,
you will recognize errors immediately and can identify the cause for many problem print issues. 

 

 

 

ChromaChecker has three unique Modules based on where you are in your color control journey.

 

Stage 1–Learning Stage

ChromaChecker™ Qualification Module – Most people to not understand what the normal precision and accuracy is for any of their output devices. There are a lot of variables that affect both precision and accuracy including Operator procedures, Operator skill, device issues, environmental issues, and many other causes. ChromaChecker is designed to helps a company assess and track all of these variables in order to determine which variables are causing the most problem in your workflow to help your organization fix them.

Ideally before you make a purchasing decision related to an output device, you should understand the precision and accuracy of that device. Once you take delivery of an output device, you should continue to monitor the consistency and accuracy of the device  
throughout the life of the device using the ChromaChecker Print Inspector Module.

ChromaChecker’s Qualification module will categorize your substrates
into E-Factor groups and have the ChromaChecker recommend the closest CRPC. 

 

Stage 2 – Tracking Stage

ChromaChecker Tracking Module – will monitor your production process and alert you
to problems before there is too much waste and physical loss. Process monitoring for all color
components including output device performance, substrate, lighting, instrumentation, plate setter, environment. 

 

 

Stage 3 – Correction Stage

ChromaChecker Process Control Module can be used to proactively troubleshoot
your process and make suggestions or physical changes to your process to get
your devices back on the given standard the you are matching to.
This module allows you to update your plate curves or TRC’s for digital devices

 

 

 

 

Standardization by ChromaChecker™

 

ChromaChecker’s method for Qualification is critical to ensure your color components
are operating consistently and in a standardized way to ensure accuracy in the process. 

 

 

Stage 1–Using ChromaChecker™
Qualification Module

Before purchasing a printing device, or taking over the responsibility for a printing device,
you should learn about it’s specific characteristics in terms of the stability and repeatability as well as
its level of accuracy to a given printing aim condition (such as SWOP (G7) or GRACoL).
If the device is not printing properly, you need to discover this and fix the issue.
For example in offset printing mechanical problem can be observed as slurring or doubling
causing variation in tint reproduction. In inkjet printing, clogged nozzles or worn out heads
can produce banding are other undesirable artifacts. Most problems are well known
and there are maintenance procedures to fix them. There are problems caused by the substrate
and other consumables. An unstable environment can have influence on the process too.
Hundreds of parameters can contribute to many problems. 

 

 

Check if the Printing Devices are stable and repeatable –

Variation Inspector

If you find problems you may want to use additional pre-qualifying tools in order to
fix mechanical issues: Slurring-Doubling Tool, Nip Control Tool

 

Qualifying your output devices consistency
Variation Inspector – Analyzes the precision of any print process and can be used
to determine intra-page (spatial) uniformity of a print, inter-page consistency (multiple pages in a run)
and inter-job consistency (job to job, day to day) performance. Can be used to determine if more
calibration or maintenance of consumables is required to keep the device within its
expectations (E-Factor™) for repeatability.   

 

 

Check if the printing devices are accurate to your production printing aim points (G7)

Print Inspector

You may use our tools to either change current printing condition or to find
new Reference Print Condition that better describe your case. 

 

Qualifying your output devices accuracy

Print Inspector- Analyzes and monitors an output devices ability to match a given Reference Print Condition,
which is defined as Accuracy. Data can be used to determine the cause for a lack of accuracy.

 

Qualify these devices with
ChromaChecker Inspectors:

Instrumentation 

Substrates

Lighting

Environment Condition

Setters

Profile Inspector

 

This step will reduce potential errors before you start printing - to avoid waste of time and money.

 

 

 

 

More Details:

Qualifying Instrumentation

Instrument Inspector- Analyzes and monitors Color measurement devices to ensure the instrument(s)
are measuring consistently and accurately to one another, throughout the entire supply chain.
If an instrument is dropped, the performance of the instrument can be assessed in minutes
to determine if the instrument is still suitable for its desired task, or if it needs to be sent
back to the factory for service. E-Factor is determined for a device against itself over time (consistency)
or any instrument can be compared to any other instrument to determine
the variation caused by different measurement devices.

 

Qualifying Lighting

Lighting Inspector- Analyzes and monitors Lighting Conditions - when a visual judgment is
determining a factor for adjusting the way in which the output device creates color, it is imperative
that the Lighting is consistent and accurate. Lighting can be compared to itself over time,
and compared to  the D50 standard, and can be compared to other Lighting environments
through the plant or supply chain to quantify if the lighting is causing the failure
of meeting the desired expectations (E-Factor).

 

Qualifying your Environment 

Environment Inspector-Monitors critical ambient conditions including temperature and humidity.
Can provide notifications and warnings should these attributes exceed the defined limits for operations.
Can be superimposed on the graphs showing the print process performance to tie together the factor
that temperature and humidity can greatly affect the performance of some output devices.

 

Qualifying your Platesetters and Imagesetters

Setter Tool - Used to monitor that proper linearization (even if is made in one step with dot gain correction)
is in place to ensure that Platesetter or Filmsetter is in a repeatable condition

 

Qualifying your Substrates

 

Substrate Inspector- Analyzes and monitors substrates as the most critical medium in the process
(5th color in 4 color printing), that has a huge impact on the printing condition.

 

Qualifying your ICC Profiles and
your Targeted Reference Conditions

Profile Inspector- Analyzes the precision of an ICC Profile versus the data that was measured to create it.

 

 

 

 

How to evaluate printing device performance?

Stage 2- Monitoring/Tracking Stage

ChromaChecker Tracking Module- will monitor your production process and alert you to problems
before there are too much waste and physical losses. Process monitoring for all color
components lighting, instrumentation, device performance, plate setter, environment. 

 

ChromaChecker Variation and Print Inspector can automatically collect data from numerous
print processes, or the user can upload data to the Inspector directly. Variation Inspector is a tool
which measures the variation in a printing process. Variations reflect device repeatability and stability,
and can be due to many issues including operator performance. The key is to establish optimal parameters.
Print Inspector measures the accuracy and will show how accurate the output device is performing.

 

Generally speaking, we can expect that printing devices are able to print in a similar way all the time.
Some printing technologies are sensitive to various parameters e.g. operator use, mechanical settings,
adjustments or properly done maintenance procedures, ambient condition temperature or humidity,
quality of consumables such substrates, inks or toners or many others.
Every output device has different parameters and variables that greatly affect results.
Variation Inspector provides real-time information on a device's performance and allows
for the entering of “events” which can be any task applied to the process and you will instantly
see if this “event” improved the result or had no effect on the printed process.
This allows you to quickly learn how to improve your process.

 

 

 

 

 

Stage 3 – Correction Stage

ChromaChecker Process Control Module can be used to proactively troubleshoot your process
and make a suggestion or physical changes to your process to get your devices back on
the given standard the you are matching to. This module allows you to update your plate curves
or TRC’s for digital devices to keep them printing correctly. Can be used to 
troubleshoot problems that you encounter while monitoring the process. Nip tools, slur double, etc