Redacción Alabrent
Founded in 1968, Imprimerie Bailly is located in Villeparisis, France, and serves a customer base of small local businesses, communication agencies and city councils. Imprimerie Bailly operates a Komori Lithrone 28 offset press with a 4-up CTP imagesetter. It also uses a Kodak NexPress digital printing press for short runs and fast-turn jobs. Sixty to seventy percent of its work uses the offset workflow.“Until recently, making sure our on-press ink densities matched our target values was a demanding process,” notes Piazzi. “During makeready, we individually measured all 23 patches on the press sheet’s color control bar for each process color, for nearly 100 measurements. We would then manually adjust the corresponding on-press inking system. Finally, we had to ensure all values remained consistent throughout the print job, requiring additional rounds of measurements and adjustments.”
To modernize this arduous process and implement a streamlined and hassle-free method, Imprimerie Bailly chose the X-Rite eXact Densitometer with the Scan Option. This Bluetooth-enabled densitometer is mounted on a rolling guide that allows the press operator to quickly scan the color control bar in a single pass. Values are sent to the printing press using Rutherford’s ExactLoop, closing the loop between the eXact and the offset press control console. ExactLoop connects to all current console-driven offset presses on the market. EasySet, a Windows based software tool developed by Rutherford, performs all required color calculations to automatically reset ink keys.
The system was implemented at Imprimerie Bailly in March 2015 and was up and running very rapidly. “The workflow is quite straightforward,” Piazzi adds. “It uses a file generated by our CTP system as the reference. The EasySet software parses the file and extracts inking values for the press inking system. Once the initial job setup is complete, color control bars on early press sheets are scanned by the press operator using eXact Scan. Thanks to its rolling guide, all 23 values on the color bar are scanned in a single pass. From these values, the EasySet software calculates new target ink densities that are then sent to the console of the printing press through the ExactLoop interface, automatically adjusting the ink keys.”
The primary benefit to Imprimerie Bailly has been improved print quality. “We now have an accurate and reliable inking routine that allows us to produce high quality print jobs and enables us to match the proof better and faster,” Piazzi explains.
The system also saves time and reduces waste. Imprimerie Bailly has seen its average makeready time of 30 minutes drop to 15 minutes thanks to the automated color control provided by the eXact-based solution. “Not only did we cut our makeready time by 50%, we also cut our paper waste in the same proportion,” Piazzi affirms. Using this closed-loop solution also allowed Imprimerie Bailly to save on its blanket cleaning and limit its fluid consumption due to the increased efficiencies the solution enables.
“eXact also offers the added benefit of performing the same ink density monitoring on both process and spot colors,” Piazzi explains. “The system includes a database of L*a*b values for all Pantone references. This is very useful as it allows us to use the same color automation on spot color jobs as on process color jobs.”
Finally, pre-inking is also improved with EasySet's ability to keep track of day-to-day production events at Imprimerie Bailly, such as changes in the type of blankets used, ink stocks and even overall machine wear. This helps in maintaining color consistency in recurring print jobs as well as ensuring a more streamlined workflow well into the future.