Opening New Doors

Packaging-specific prepress technologies are opening new lines of communication, unprecedented quality-enhancement opportunities for printers, and strategic alliances between suppliers.

by Terri McConnell

"It doesn't get any better than this" was one of the first principles I was taught 15 years ago as a fledgling mechanical artist. Thankfully the statement wasn't a commentary on my career potential—it was a strong warning that as layouts moved through the analog printing process, image quality had generally nowhere to go but down.

I also remember another warning: "When a press operator walks through those swinging doors carrying plates, pray he's not looking for you."

In those days, little or no communication existed between the distinct operations of prepress and printing. Except to push through another helping of the hundred or so plates we produced every day, the doors were rarely opened from our side. We hoped they never opened from the other side.

It's gratifying to see how two decades of technology development has changed that. The ability to generate art electronically, and digitally preserve—even enhance—image quality, has made prepress arguably the most forgiving phase of the printing cycle. And, as we reach the point where printing presses can actually "eat" digital data, those plateroom doors are practically swinging off their hinges.

Silencing the skeptics

The capabilities of today's electronic prepress systems have so validated the advances and advantages of new technology that one rarely encounters the "is this just a flash-in-the-pan—skepticism" expressed by early critics. But what are those capabilities? How do package printers, who may not have in-house prepress, benefit from them?

Traditionally, packaging segments of the printing industry have been behind the curve in adopting digital technologies. Until recently, most software and hardware developers weren't building solutions with such packaging-specific considerations as custom traps, spot colors, overprints, nesting, and dot-gain compensation. Electronic packaging systems were often more expensive and more complex to integrate than those designed for commercial printing prep.

Today, nearly every major prepress equipment manufacturer has made a commitment to address packaging's unique requirements. There is an incredible wealth of digital tools, at varying price points and levels of specialization, from which to choose. So why the heated interest?

While commercial printing growth appears almost flat, packaging printing is on the rise with expected growth rates of 6 percent to 8 percent annually. Also, little erosion is anticipated in the market due to online services. Sure, we'll be transmitting packaging data along the digital highway, but, as Jerry Lux, president of Cadmus Specialty Packaging and Promotional Printing, points out, "You can't put a sausage through a modem."

As anyone who has attended a printing trade show in the past five years can tell you, current prepress innovation has centered on computer-to-plate technology. Unquestionably, CTP systems for offset, flexo, and gravure have redefined the outer limits of reproducible package decoration and process automation. But, as technical consultant Nancy Murray of Barco Graphics, one of the first prepress vendors to develop packaging-exclusive applications, recently reminded me, "There is an entire generation of sophisticated support features incorporated into today's electronic prepress systems." Those features include

• Faster, more accurate trapping that can be viewed at the workstation

• Proofing systems (not just expensive, high-end devices but desktop proofers and large-format plotters) that render those traps

• High-fidelity, image-manipulation programs that produce gamut-busting, six-color (CMYK plus red and green) color separations

• Ink substitution programs that allow swapping of process inks for special colors in a continuous tone image

Barco's Murray explains, "If the job calls for a warm red spot color, we can recalculate the photographic subject to replace the magenta. During the course of long or repeat runs, printers can significantly reduce ink consumption and save money."

Screening is another area that has changed dramatically. Using stochastic screens and a host of "conventional" dot structures, smoother vignettes and expanded tone range (down to 1 percent to 2 percent dots) can be produced.

"Packaging now has the technology to optimize image output for any printing conditions to a degree never thought possible," says Murray. "On the same plate or film, we can image a background pattern with stochastic screens at the equivalent of 100 lines per inch (lpi), and render the foreground photo subject at 150 lpi with a conventional circular dot." Murray is quick to point out that this kind of quality optimization requires diligent press characterization, and is only possible within a highly cooperative relationship between prepress and printing.

Breaking down barriers

Is time to take down those swinging doors?

"When we demonstrate new press technology, we emphasize the quality of the end product is critically dependent on the front-end systems," says Chris Faust of Comco International, a manufacturer of narrow- and mid-web flexo presses. On the flip side, he says R&D centers on making presses perform to the challenges created by new imaging technology.

The reciprocal nature of prepress and printing advances may be even more evident in the offset realm. There, a new digital data exchange format, CIP3, has literally closed the manufacturing loop. Companies such as Heidelberg, Komori, KBA-Planeta, and MAN Roland are building presses that can "talk" to prepress systems. First implementations involve using stepped and repeated image data to estimate ink consumption and automatically set and adjust fountain keys.

To both expand and market this capability, press makers are teaming with prepress manufacturers. Komori and Scitex took their show on the road with a computer-integrated manufacturing seminar exploring the technical and business issues related to prepress and pressroom integration.

At its Westmont, IL, Center for Excellence, MAN Roland features a fully equipped Agfa electronic prepress environment with computer-to-plate output. According to Agfa's packaging segment manager Sheila Nysko, more cooperation will be seen in the future due to integration between prepress and printing driven by CTP or data interfaces like CIP3, as well as economics. Nysko explains, "With the cost of new equipment, and printers looking to manufacturers for ways to extend buying opportunities, the creation of innovative purchasing programs that include joint leasing and bundled consumables, allied vendors can offer easier and more economical ways for package printers to invest in new technology."

On second thought, maybe they were right. Maybe this is as good as it gets.