The first problem is that you can’t get enough magenta ink where you need it: you just can’t push that much ink without getting issues of scumming, orange peel, etc. So you complain to the ink manufacturer that you need higher pigment magenta. If he complies, then the press latitude and water window decreases and waste increases. Even if you manage to meet the customer’s demand, your ink settings are so far from the mechanical specifications for the press that the next job (where the customer doesn’t want high magenta densities) is fouled up.
How should a small to med-size printer deal with these sorts of issues? He might try to adopt what his big brothers do, namely, to maintain standards for his printing output. These standards are set by organizations such as CGATS, ISO, SWOP or GRACoL but what does it all mean?
The standard most relevance to small to med-size printers is GRACoL – General Requirements for Applications in Commercial Offset Lithography. The recommendations have not been institutionalized into global or even North American standards, as such, but they represent the “first consensus.”
When printers and their clients adopt the GRACoL guidelines you will:
- Reduce costs and avoid remakes.
- Develop internal guidelines for reliable process controls.
- Acquire print predictability: know what they’ll get before going on press.
- Build upon their education in fundamentals of printing technologies.
- Get clarification of what is reasonable to ask of suppliers.
The most significant item from the from GRACoL guidelines is their “Input Variables” table which lists for every possible paper-based substrate, from newsprint to grades #1 and #2 heavy weight coated. The table provides the guidelines for line screens, total area coverages, solid ink densities, tone value increases and print contrasts. Note that the entry references are from both North American (ANSI/CGATS) and International standards (ISO).
For example, on grades #1 and #2 premium matte coated stocks, targets should be 150-175 line screens, total ink coverage maximum 300-320. The next columns would show that the CKMY solid ink densities should be 1.60, 1.30, 1.40, and 1.00 respectively. When the customer and printer are aware of the guidelines and standards, agree to them when preparing the job and follow through on the actual printing conditions, then both benefit from improved productivity. Press settings do not change from job to job, waste is diminished and turn-around times are greatly improved.
The GRACoL guidelines incorporate far more than just the table values. For example, suggestions for planning, design considerations, image capture, page layout, pre-flighting and significant guidance on CTP, digital file formats, etc are included. And these guidelines are almost always derived from North American global standards.
Thus, by simply learning the nature of the GRACoL guidelines and the standards from which the guidelines are derived, the small to med-size printer can dramatically improve his bottom line and still keep the friends he has in the community.
