Digital Prepress Solution

For commercial printers using older offset presses, it can be challenging to achieve the same color consistency as commercial printers equipped with new presses that feature automatic color-control systems. Adding a closed-loop solution provides cost-effective automation, enabling commercial printing plants and folding carton converters to remain competitive in today’s market. Printing jobs still require manual spot checks and ink-key adjustments during production. Many printers struggle to quickly achieve the desired offset lithographic color targets on sheet-fed presses.

For commercial printers using older offset presses, it can be challenging to achieve the same color consistency as commercial printers equipped with new presses that feature automatic color control. Adding a closed-loop solution provides cost-effective automation, enabling commercial printing plants and folding carton converters to remain competitive in today’s market. Printing jobs still require manual spot checks and ink-key adjustments during production. Many printers struggle to quickly attain the desired offset lithographic color targets on sheet-fed presses.

1. Each assignment’s coloring process may waste over 600–800 sheets of paper and ink.

2. The ink and the substrate make it challenging to maintain color accuracy throughout the printing process.

3. With an increase in orders, customers’ stringent color difference requirements will lead to a higher rate of free returns.

4. A decline in profit margins requires higher manufacturing efficiency and shorter setup times to produce accurate colors.

What is closed-loop automation for printing presses?

The X-Rite scanning system and integrated closed-loop solution maximizes performance and extends the value of older printing presses by monitoring color and alerting operators to any deviations. The closed-loop system automates the printing process by directly capturing spectral data from the printed sheet and automatically updating ink keys, making it faster and more accurate than traditional printing workflows.

• The color ribbon is measured faster, reducing the likelihood of human error.

• Transmit color data to the printer operator

• Detect color consistency during the printing machine’s operation.

• Automatically perform the necessary ink key adjustments.

• Automatically learns and optimizes curves based on changes in the printer’s status.

Advantages of Closed-Loop Automation in Printers

The combined solutions from Rutherford and X-Rite can help printers significantly reduce prepress preparation time, minimize reprints to cut costs, and meet higher demands for print color accuracy and faster turnaround times. This closed-loop solution can recoup its investment in just 6 to 9 months, reducing prepress preparation by 30%, cutting waste of ink, paper, and labor by 50%, and enabling an increase in daily productivity.

The closed-loop solution meets any customer standard and supports printing according to most global graphic arts standards, including M1 for fluorescent whitening agents, M3 for measuring wet ink, and comprehensive support for G7, GRACoL, SWOP 2013, PSO, as well as FOGRA 51 and 52. Customized based on press size—eXact AutoScan is ideally suited for print shops running 29-inch/74-cm or 40-inch/102-cm sheetfed presses, while IntelliTrax2 Pro offers highly automated 2-mm color bar scanning for presses 40 inches/102 cm or larger—capturing print colors, spot colors, PANTONE® colors, paper colors, tone value increases, gray balance, and ink densities in under 10 seconds. If colors start to drift, the software alerts the operator to update the ink keys, enabling a quick return to acceptable tolerances with minimal intervention.

• Minimize human intervention as much as possible.

• Stabilize printer performance to improve quality and consistency.

• Achieve color targets faster and reduce paper and ink costs.

• Increase profit margins for small-batch printing

• Improve G7 process control

• Reduce the number of returns and free reprints

• Reduce costs (save over 30% on paper and reduce printing preparation time by over 30%)

• Integrated the latest Pantone Color Library and PantoneLIVE digital standards

How closed-loop automation works

1. Before printing, provide .cip or .tiff files that contain everything needed for the closed-loop software to automatically preset the ink key. The printer operator selects the print job and paper type on the touchscreen display; the software then handles the rest of the process, ensuring a solid starting point.

The 2.eXact Auto-Scan Pro or IntelliTrax2 Pro scanning system can automatically align itself in under 10 seconds to capture color bars and transmit color data to closed-loop software within 15 seconds, enabling real-time access on the screen.

3. If the color starts to shift, the closed-loop software will alert the printer operator and provide recommendations for the ink zone. The operator simply needs to press a button to either accept or reject the adjustment.

4. To ensure that the color remains on track, operators can periodically scan color data into the closed-loop software throughout the entire printing process.

5. You can access the PantoneLIVE database to obtain accurate spectral target values for corporate colors and other special colors, extend the system into the ink room to enable an end-to-end workflow that meets standards, integrate with NetProfiler to ensure instrument consistency, and exchange job data with ColorCert for statistical process control.

Closed-loop scanning equipment and software

With closed-loop printing machine quality control solutions, printers and packaging service providers can ensure optimal color quality. Each solution can be optionally equipped with suitable X-Rite hardware and Rutherford software to meet the specific needs of end-to-end interconnected print shop workflows.

Epson ColorEdge Scan Device

• IntelliTrax2 Pro Automatic Scanning System | Suitable for Medium- and Large-Sized Commercial and Folding Carton Printers
• After introducing the printing press quality control process, IntelliTrax2 Pro can provide real-time job performance feedback, enhance quality control reporting, and enable compliance with G7 printing standards.

• eXact Auto-Scan Pro | For Small and Medium-Sized Printers
Simply press the button, and eXact Auto-Scan Pro will start scanning, providing instant feedback on job performance, enhancing quality control reports, and enabling compliance with G7 printing standards.

Rutherford closed-loop software

• IntelliPress2 | For Commercial Printers
After the printer operator scans the paper’s color strip to obtain spectral and density data, X-Rite color measurement instruments equipped with Easy Loop can seamlessly complete the printing process. IntelliPress2 supports custom prepress job naming rules, enables automatic ink key compensation, autonomously learns parameter settings based on paper type, and provides ink key and spot-color management.

• IntelliPack | For packaging and web printing
Rutherford IntelliSet includes a standalone computer (PreOPS) that automatically processes CIP or TIFF files sent from the prepress department. The IntelliSet software applies a personalized learning curve to each ink key, ensuring uniform ink distribution across the print sheet and enabling the ink fountain keys to open proportionally. By combining IntelliLoop with X-Rite measurement devices, color accuracy throughout the entire printing process can be guaranteed.

Achieving color targets in offset printing is not always straightforward. Relying on manual measurement of color patches and adjustment of ink keys is both time-consuming and prone to errors. Moreover, once the press is started, it inevitably leads to unnecessary waste of paper and ink. Only by transforming the printing operation into a highly efficient production process and improving efficiency at every stage can printers achieve accurate and repeatable colors. Closed-loop automation solutions have undoubtedly brought great benefits to many printers. After implementing closed-loop solutions, printing presses can directly capture spectral data from printed sheets and automatically update ink keys, thereby automating the entire process. This approach reduces the cumulative waste of paper and ink caused by repeated failures to quickly reach target colors, boosts profitability in small-batch production, and minimizes human intervention as much as possible.