Florida Today in Melbourne last month began using automatic color register control equipment from CC1 Inc. to improve print quality.

Bob Campbell, the paper’s production operations manager, said he placed 11 eXaminer register control systems on his press, a 22-year-old 16-unit Goss International Headliner Offset machine that was bolstered in 2005 with three Uniliner color towers.

 

“We do a lot of color, almost 80 percent of the paper is in color, so this system will help,” he said. Since putting the eXaminer systems in production, Campbell said startup waste has already been reduced.

“I can see the color in registration within the first 300 newspapers printed. We also do a lot of commercial work, so this registration system will also help in that area,” he said.

The eXaminer system relies on a series of cameras that take rapid-fire and continuous snapshots of colored dots printed on the web as it travels through the press.

“As soon as the cameras take the shot, the system automatically adjusts the color,” Campbell said.

Meantime, the Toronto Sun is using closed-loop color control technology from Graphics Microsystems Inc. to manage its color reproduction.

GMI last summer installed 16 ColorQuick systems on the Sun’s three MAN Roland ColorMAN presses at a new suburban Toronto production facility used by parent Quebecor Inc. to print the Sun, the London Free Press and 24 Hours, a free daily.

Converts color data

Instead of cameras, GMI’s ColorQuick technology is based on a spectrophotometer, which measures color values. The system converts the measured data to standard density information and then automatically makes adjustments to the press’ ink keys in the event of problems.

Assuring color registration is key for Quebecor, which also prints directories and other commercial products at the site.

GMI integrated ColorQuick with the press’ Pecom control and imposition software to enable automated production, said Timothy A. Cassell, GMI’s vice president of sales, newspapers.

“The system knows what pages are being printed and what pages need to be scanned,” he said. “Pecom makes the adjustments needed. There’s no manual intervention.”