Recently, we decided to produce a new brochure highlighting the products and services we provide. We chose one of our clients, Premier Press in Portland, OR, to print our brochures. They’ve invested in and have implemented our Alder Color Control platform, so we thought they were the obvious choice –…

Recently we’ve been working with a brand that sells their products all over the world. They work with other brands to license products for them, as well. They’re working with Print Service Providers (PSP’s – aka packaging printers) in Canada, Mexico and China and were seeking a better way to…

The 100-Year History of Great Western Ink: A Legacy of Innovation in Portland, Oregon Great Western Ink, a prominent name in the ink manufacturing industry, celebrates an incredible milestone in 2025—its 100th anniversary. For a century, this Portland, Oregon-based company has played an instrumental role in the development and growth…

Xitron has a long history of great products, with their Navigator (Harlequin) RIP software. They have been a leader of the entry level to mid-range commercial printer market, providing interfaces for just about any platesetter. Proven products, excellent support and not too expensive. Xitron is in a very interesting position,…

Printing United Alliance just released a new dataset and profile for UV curable inks on Uncoated paper, it’s called “Alliance_UC_UV”. This is significant as it fills a void in the current North American specifications. We currently have Character Reference Print Condition #3 (CRPC3), aka GRACoL2013UNC_CRPC3, which is for traditional solvent-based…

When you purchase a Mimaki printer, it comes with their RIP software RasterLink 7. Once you get the software installed and your printer configured, you’ll need to download some ICC profiles. These define the color space of the particular printer, mode, ink set, media, etc. and you can’t print without…

A Recent Success Story Recently we were asked to visit a client regarding consultation for their print production workflows, specifically related to on-going process control. They are a worldwide home decor brand that sells direct to consumer. They have over 1,000 designs to choose from, all of which are printed…

Proofing these days is pretty much exclusively done using inkjet printers, coupled with RIP software. Calibrations and Profiles are created with a spectrophotometer to achieve an optimal print condition and then defined for each media and print conditions. The color space/profile of the target/reference is also chosen in the color…

Last month I attended the American Packaging Summit in Chicago. It’s a really interesting and different kind of event. Brands of all sizes attend to network, hear about emerging technologies, and talk with vendors in the industry about specifics. Alder Color Solutions sponsored the event this year and I had…

Investigating the differences (primarily GCR) between the 2 ICC profiles IDEAlliance released in August of 2021 in their updated ECG Characterization Target and Kit. By Dan Gillespie – Alder Color Solutions – Director of Technical Services As part of the “Idealliance ECG Beta Characterization Data Set File” download there are…