X-Rite Issues Latest Version of Software

Published: October 14, 2016

GRAND RAPIDS MI | X-Rite, a global supplier of color science and technology, and its subsidiary Pantone, have launched the latest version of ColorCert Suite. The ColorCert Suite of software products provides real-time color and print quality process control and reporting to help packaging printers and converters better manage the complexities of CMYK, extended gamut, and spot color workflows, regardless of the printing process, substrate, or industry standard.

For brand owners, company says ColorCert provides an overview of supply chain performance to ensure accurate and consistent color across regional or global partners. New in ColorCert 2.7 are a number of connectivity features that make the communication of color specifications and performance metrics easier and more streamlined than ever.

“Today’s packaging workflows are complex, often involving multiple brand owners, design agencies, premedia, plating, and ink companies, all providing input into the production workflow,” says Adrián Fernández, VP, PantoneLIVE, X-Rite Pantone. “This can make managing accurate color and print consistency a challenge. ColorCert simplifies color communication across all internal and external stakeholders. From prepress and the ink room to production process control, it helps organizations manage precise color and print specifications, uniting traditional silos of information into one common workflow.”

The ColorCert Suite comprises three modules designed to help various members of the packaging workflow manage specifications and monitor quality control from the artwork to premedia to the ink room to the press room. The modules include the following:

• ColorCert Desktop Tools enable the accurate creation of color specifications and process controls at multiple points throughout the packaging workflow.
• ColorCert ScoreCard Server combines reporting and statistical process control to provide brands, packaging converters and premedia professionals with an easy-to-use dashboard for the monitoring of print quality by supplier, plant, machine, customer, work type, and more.
• ColorCert Repository Server, a secure, online asset management solution for storing, managing, and deploying packaging color assets so that the most up-to-date assets are always being used and the packaging workflow is optimized.

New benefits include the following:

• Improved flexibility in the measurement and scoring for substrates by making substrate standards optional for spot color workflows and allowing users the ability to measure but not score substrates.
• Improved guidance in helping operators better adjust ink density or strength to reach target colors faster through the new BestMatch feature.
• New metrics such as ink strength, white ink opacity, and whiteness, have been added to support CMYK, extended gamut, and/or spot color packaging workflows.
• New connectivity to X-Rite InkFormulation Software (http://www.xrite.com/categories/formulation-and-quality-assurance-software/inkformulation-software) for better communication between the press room and the ink room.

“Since we implemented X-Rite ColorCert, it has helped us to achieve a higher level of color control,” says Luis Rivas, graphics manager at StarPak, a converter in Houston, TX. “We are able to address our customers’ requirements for consistency and color accuracy. Our color department likes the ColorCert Suite, as it guides the color technician to the correct color match in less time than before. We rely on the ColorCert Suite, and it is essential to our day-to-day operations.”

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