Comment on the status quo of color management in Chinese Paper Cigarette Boxes printing industry

Jun 08, 2023

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Printing is a wonderful discipline: it has a long history and encompasses everything. However, for its cognition, different people are very different: some people mention that printing will stay in the manual mimeograph period, but more and more people realize that printing is a collection of "light", "electricity", "machinery", "chemical", as well as computers and other high-tech digital equipment of cutting-edge disciplines; At the same time, as a traditional manufacturing industry, it also needs to have a good reserve of marketing and management knowledge in order to ultimately achieve high-quality, market-recognized products.

Prepress processing has always been recognized as a highly technical part of the printing production process, and it is also the key to the control and management of the printing shop. However, understanding is a level, including many professionals engaged in printing (here mainly refers to the production line of process technicians), the real prepress knowledge is very few. In particular, color management in printing is a broad and profound knowledge, which runs through the entire printing production and almost covers all the basic disciplines of science and technology. Even those who study printing in science and technology classes, if they do not take color science as the main direction of attack, they will have a half-understanding of it like "seeing flowers in the fog". And today's printing education in China generally put mechanical subjects in the first place, so this technology and digital equipment from the beginning of the training of personnel has not received the corresponding attention, the supply of insufficient vitality is not difficult to imagine.

However, there may be a lot of printing companies seem not to feel uncomfortable because of the lack of "color management", it is generally believed that as long as the machine rotates there will be product output, regardless of the quality, it seems to be able to contact the corresponding buyers. Make more money on good products and less money on bad ones. Of course, we are not unaware of the market's desire for high-quality products, but either do not want to invest manpower and material resources, or do not find the direction of efforts, so "color management", which is praised by domestic and foreign experts as "the core position in the entire management control chain of Indian enterprises" weapon is not recognized by the public, or even not known by the public is not surprising!

The core concept of this technology can be simply summarized as follows: finally achieve or as far as possible to achieve "color and equipment independent", that is, the relevant data obtained on a printed image can be restored on another machine and equipment, throughout the entire printing production. Another simple description in colorology is the "objectivity of color."

An ideal color management process can be summarized as follows:

1. Determine the color performance characteristics of the display

Some color management systems will be provided by the various manufacturers of the display color description file (Profile) preset together, forming a comprehensive internal preset file overview library, to determine the color characteristics of the display can be called.

2. Calibrate the monitor

Adjust the display's white spots and other display characteristics to match your output requirements. For example, if the output is to the printing medium, then consider calibrating the white dots of the display to the color temperature of the printing paper. [next]

3. Determine the characteristics of the scanner or other input device

If the color management system provides an IT8 sample, it can be scanned or photographed. The resulting color values are then compared to the standard color values, and all the difference information is recorded as the scanner's Profile file for use during scanning.

4. The color management system converts the scan results to the color space of the display

5. Determine the characteristics of color printing and output equipment

Select a color feature description file for color printers, printing conditions and other output devices supported by the color management system

6. Color management systems use display and press profile files to change colors, and some systems allow for "soft proofing" on the screen (i.e. representing CMYK colors on the screen).

China's current color management application status has some "high and few" feeling, although basically every printing industry summit management forum will arrange a special report on it, and even more than one, but the call of the experts in reality seems to be lost in the sea. Foreign manufacturers specializing in color management are numerous, but in addition to the more well-known in China, the other basically has not been used in large-scale production practice. And even if the company has introduced the entire management system at a huge amount of money, what is the result?

It is reported that only a few well-known printing companies such as Artron and Rainbow use color management in Chinese enterprises, although some other top domestic merchants will be very interested in this, but even if the purchase of color management equipment, it is often only a trend, or something that makes people feel worried after listening to. For example, a company invested a lot of money to buy a set of the most advanced pre-press processing equipment, but in addition to the digital proofing machine, including a full set of color management systems and other instruments are basically in a state of unsealed, the reason is that no one will use it.

As a process technology that has been widely used in the production line abroad, our gap is more than a little? Although the device manufacturer will also help us to familiarize ourselves with the whole process, it often ends up being only familiar with the device! Again, it's a question of talent. Because this kind of subject is already a cutting-edge technology and requires a fairly solid basic theory of science and engineering, based on this, we should also place more hopes on universities and scientific research institutions. As a university with strength, foundation and responsibility to train cutting-edge personnel, should it highlight its own characteristics at this time, comply with the requirements of The Times, and quickly respond to the real market? Therefore, the proportion of disciplines can be designed more reasonably. Imagine: if this kind of talent even colleges and universities have not done their duty to cultivate, do they have to turn around and rely on the efforts of technical secondary schools or technical schools? It is also from these starting points, in order to better complete the comprehensive three-dimensional printing personnel training task.

Therefore, it is obvious that the development of the domestic market, the concept is constantly updated, and the supply of talents is abundant, which is the "first three board axes" for color management to achieve a leap forward. Although the split is good and bad, it will not shake the direction of the printing industry, but it will have a profound impact on the time needed to spend in the whole process!

Of course, even if everything goes well, this process may still be relatively long, because it takes time to update the concept, and it takes time to train more people, and a new generation of printers can only enter the society from the point and surface, starting with the good application of large strength manufacturers, in order to promote it. However, it is fortunate that the final effect of color management in this process is actually no doubt, because the road taken by developed countries fully proves its importance and great significance for printing. "Only the emergence of advantages can stimulate the emergence of talents" is the core concept of current social development. With the continuous progress of society, the advantages of this technology will become increasingly prominent, and now our only question is: who can be one step faster, master this process, and win a broader future?