FIRST Methodology Takes a ‘By the Numbers’ 
Approach

The sheer variety of flexographic printing techniques has been an undeniable boon to the field of packaging and labeling. It has also been something of a double-edged sword in resisting the establishment of standard criteria and practical process controls associated with color-managed systems. To remedy this state of affairs, the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) 12 years ago sought to impose order on potential chaos by developing a set of Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications and Tolerances—better known as FIRST.

From the beginning, developers have been careful to describe FIRST as a set of print production tools—guidelines, tutorials, targets, and tolerances—rather than as a standard. Correctly implemented, the FIRST methodology is designed to enable users to achieve accurate, consistent, repeatable color from process to process and from job to job, no matter what combination of variables—inks, substrates, plates, presses, and printing conditions—is involved.

What's it supposed to do?

The aims of FIRST are fivefold:

• Identify key basic flexographic procedures and guidelines to be used from the beginning to the end of the process, involving all members of the flexographic supply chain;

• Improve the quality and consistency of results by implementing improved communication and measurement procedures;

• Reduce cycle time and minimize rework;

• Control manufacturing costs; and

• Help flexo become a preferred lower-cost solution, compared with offset and gravure.

The FIRST specification has been greatly expanded in size and scope over the years. The most recent edition, FIRST 4.0, was released in 2009. Properly implemented, the growth of FIRST within an organization can be positive and organic, enabling flexographers to meet customer expectations by producing high-quality, consistent, predictable results press run after press run.

Measure, monitor, and control

Smyth Companies, Inc., a package label printer based in St. Paul, Minn., began working with FIRST seven years ago, and has achieved success. According to Kim Madigan, director of corporate color management, the company had been thinking about getting into expanded-gamut printing when "we began to ask how in the world we were going to control seven colors when we couldn't adequately control four." At that point, the company was ready to establish a documented process for setting up a color-managed workflow, complete with training and accountability in every area and at every level.

FIRST proceeds from the assumption that most often, what leads to defects and unanticipated costly rework is a fundamental disconnect between customer expectations (specifications) and the capabilities of a given process. So, the primary function of FIRST is to help companies establish realistic customer specifications by quantifying and documenting the capabilities of the process, and then using the accumulated data in a disciplined way to achieve the specified result.

By the numbers

According to Madigan, the need for FIRST proceeds from the lack of integrated reading and measurement devices (as in offset) that enable operators to push a button and automatically take a reading.

"In flexo, we have to hand-read everything throughout our process in order to control it," says Madigan. "There are some tools that enable you to double-check your work, but they're hand-held by people who actually go in and look at the job. In the plateroom, for example, you have to purposely put a test pattern where you want it to be, take your readings by hand, and document them by hand. It's the same in the graphics area. The software helps, but you actually have to manually highlight your cyan, magenta, yellow, and black and write it down."

Once the company decided to proceed with FIRST, it felt it was critically important for every employee to acknowledge that "color is really what we're selling," and worked to persuade all its employees, whether they worked in customer service, sales, prepress, or production—even shipping—that they had a part to play in establishing and maintaining a color-managed system.

It works

The term "methodology" refers to controlling a given process in a certain way. This certainly goes for the FIRST specification. What FIRST does not explain, according to Madigan, "is how to control the process." Instead, "It's up to you how you want to control it," she explains. "FIRST leaves things open so that the process can easily 'fit' a variety of different types of flexo printing." Accordingly, Madigan explains, the latest edition of the specification, FIRST 4.0, released last year, does not prescribe ink densities, but rather suggests a range of densities based on the combination of plates, press, substrates, inks, etc. particular to the job. "FIRST 4.0 says that when you run a fingerprint, you want to set your yellow somewhere between 0.99 and 1.04, for example, and your black between 1.5 and 1.7," Madigan says. "For cyan and magenta, the specification says the only thing that's important is that the cyan be 0.10 higher than magenta. And they leave it like that—a window to squeeze into, rather than a single number to hit."

At Smyth Companies, Madigan asserts, the process has evolved naturally because people were able to see and experience the results first hand. "Prepress didn't have to remake plates once they could prove they'd given us a good one. Operators didn't have to change aniloxes once we knew they'd hit their numbers," she says. "FIRST is a credible system because it works." pP