Esko’s Pack Proof has become the first image processing software to be awarded the Fogra55 certification, which covers the Extended Color Gamut printing process.
Fogra is the German Association for Graphic Arts Research, a not-for-profit institute that was established in 1950. In 2006, it developed the Fogra39 characterization data set to help commercial offset litho printers achieve the ISO 12647 standard using CMYK. Rather than taking direct color measurements from prints, it instead smooths multiple measurements together to create a better reproduction target.
Fogra55 builds on this approach but has been designed for working in seven colors, using CMYKOGV (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, Orange, Green and Violet). These colors form the basis of Extended Colour Gamut or ECG printing, which aims to help packaging and label printers achieve a wide color gamut from a fixed inkset without having to use multiple spot colors. That in turn drastically reduces the time and ink wasted in having to wash out the spot colors between jobs, increasing throughput and cutting costs.
Although the ECG concept has been around for well over a decade, the take-up is still relatively low among converters, partly because software and ink manufacturers have been reluctant to support it without more demand from the market. However, Esko has been one of the early supporters of the ECG concept and already has certification for both Fogra39 and Fogra51 for its Pack Proof software. This was developed for contract proofing of brand colors in packaging for ECG output.
Martin Cusack, product manager for Colour and Digital with Esko, explains, “Accuracy of brand colors is of paramount importance in packaging, with a key challenge for converters being maintaining consistency between plate production and proofing. This new certification complements our existing Fogra certification to demonstrate how using Pack Proof now makes it possible to output industry-standard proofs first time, enabling businesses to maximize press production and reduce errors.
Cusack says that the certification process itself was “straightforward but rigorous” adding, “We had to output, measure and submit Epson proof samples to Fogra, which was undertaken by the team at our facility in Itzehoe, Germany, using an Epson SureColor SC-P7500. These were then submitted for analysis and to ensure they met all the strict criteria.” The tests were done on EFI Proof paper.
Although Fogra55 is a relatively recent development it is becoming the standard for ECG printing. Cusack says: “More and more businesses today are dealing with increasingly complex designs, and using the ECG process enables them to handle these, incorporating double hit colors and large solids for example, without affecting press stability to recreate the desired design.”
He continues, “We have a large number of customers around the world using our Equinox solution for the implementation of extended gamut printing, so it was hugely important to us that we demonstrate how successfully our prepress software can further accelerate and simplify the process for them.
Pack Proof is used in conjunction with Equinox, which is a software solution for converting spot color designs into multi-color jobs. Cusack explains, “It standardizes printing presses on a single set of inks, delivering savings on materials and plates for packaging work and also saving significant amounts of time as the press changeover workload between jobs is reduced to merely changing printing plates.”
He concludes: “In terms of sustainability, the ECG process serves to reduce the amount of ink being consumed, which not only saves on costs but also in terms of the environment, helping reduce a business’s own carbon footprint through minimizing shipping and logistics as well as ink use and waste. Not only that, but because there’s no cleaning of ink units between different print runs, converters reduce the use of cleaning solvents with VOCs.”
You can find further details on the Pack Proof software from esko.com and on Fogra from fogra.org.
