I thought I'd share a success story from an installation we did last month with our Alder Press Control package. Custom Printing in Oxnard, CA has been a long-standing customer of ours for many years. As many of you know, Alder Color Solutions is a division of Great Western Ink, which manufactures both offset and flexo inks. Custom Printing runs three offset presses — two 40″ Mitsubishis and one 28″ Komori. One of the Mitsubishis was already outfitted with an X-Rite IntelliTrax and closed-loop color control; on the other two, they were doing makeready with a very old handheld densitometer. They decided to upgrade those two presses. The Alder Press Control package comes with: The package doesn't include a new PC or flatscreen TV, but we provide minimum requirements and recommendations. Before we arrived, we worked with the client to get the computers installed and TV displays mounted in their existing consoles. We also modified their existing color bar for use in the new system, output a proof of it, and made sure we could measure it properly before including it on any new plates. With PrintMeasure installed, licensed, and configured, and the ChromaChecker account created and configured, we were able to log into ChromaChecker directly inside PrintMeasure. With this new system, they can now measure every patch in their 40″ color bar in 10 seconds. It's not automated — the operator simply presses the button on the instrument and slides it slowly across the scan ruler. All color patch values then appear on screen, showing the press operator exactly what adjustments to make for each color and ink zone. It is not a "closed-loop" system that would adjust the ink keys automatically — but it's a huge leap compared to how they'd been working for decades. With the new software they can still look at density values, the way they're used to — but here's the thing: density values haven't been part of any worldwide printing specification since before 2006. In North America, we're typically targeting the regional reference conditions for SWOP or GRACoL, which are defined colorimetrically. The main thing a press operator should focus on isn't density — it's passing conformance to whichever spec they're targeting. Their old system gave them no way to see whether they were passing, and no way to predict what adjustments would get them there. Now they scan the entire color bar in 10 seconds, and the software shows immediately whether they're passing — or exactly what to adjust to get the job into conformance. That's let them get to color in less than half the time, with less than half the ink and paper. And every measurement also goes to the cloud. The data management side is incredibly powerful. Upper management now has the data for every job — they can log into the online dashboard from anywhere to monitor jobs and conformance. Data can automatically populate reports, so they can see how well they're printing and make adjustments to improve. They can also share that conformance data with the client or print buyer, and create or revise G7 plate curves from the same cloud platform. Beyond the presses themselves, the platform lets them monitor every aspect of their manufacturing process — instruments, lighting, environmental conditions, fountain solution, NIP pressures per cylinder, and any papers or substrates they print. All of it can be monitored for conformance with the subscription that comes with the package. Bottom line: the customer is absolutely thrilled with their purchase, and they're already reaping the benefits — better color, in less time, with fewer materials, and the data to prove it to anyone who asks. If you'd like to learn more about the Alder Press Control package, get in touch. Director of Technical Services, Alder Color Solutions Dan has spent more than three decades helping printers, converters, publishers, packaging companies, and photographers get control of their color — across offset, flexo, wide-format, digital, and packaging production. He founded the color consultancy ColorGeek Inc. in 1999 and joined Alder in 2018. A certified G7 Expert since the inaugural 2006 class, he has spent nearly twenty years implementing G7 and international print standards in real production environments, and was one of the few certified instructors for the SGIA Digital Color Professional program. He's also a professional photographer — which keeps him fluent in both the artistic and technical sides of imaging.What's in the Package
Measuring a 40″ Color Bar in 10 Seconds
Why Density Isn't the Goal Anymore
The Cloud Side: Data Management
The Result
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info@aldertech.comAbout the Author
Dan Gillespie