On top of its huge investment of $500,000+ in wide format equipment, Sydney-headquartered printer The Bright Print Group (BPG) has achieved Mellow Colour ISO 12647-2 Proficient Printer certification through Colour Graphics Services, Australian region distributor for the Mellow Colour software suite.
New equipment and business acquisitions demanded the challenge of maintaining a high standard for colour. Since 2011, Colour Graphic Service’s David Crowther, has been attending to colour standardisation for BPG but with the settling in of new premises and new presses both at Wetherill Park and Mayfield West, the time came for official ISO 12647-2 certification. This has now been achieved following a week’s testing and measuring and was followed by a sales training session for the marketing team to fully appreciate the sales benefits of ISO.
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| John Bright receives his ISO certificate from David Crowther |
“Our main goals were to match colour across all machines over our two sites and to ensure repeatable, consistently high quality printed results,” says John Bright. “It has been a gradual process but we are now a certified ISO 12647-2 ‘Proficient Printer’ and have the tools to keep it that way.”
Two locations now service the needs of BPG’s customers, the spacious Wetherill Park headquarters and the revamped Newcastle site which relocated in 2013 into a purpose-built and environmentally sustainable new building at Mayfield West.
Director John Bright says: “We have looked to enhance our offering to market about every three or four years, whether that be via acquisition of existing businesses or new equipment for entering new markets. Our last acquisition was Print National in 2013. Before then, in 2011, we merged Newcastle Camera Print into the group, which extended our reach to the second largest city in NSW and the dynamic Hunter region.”
The Colour Doctor steps in
David Crowther performed calibrations using Mellow Colour’s PrintSpec software to interpret measured results and identify where adjustments were needed. In doing this he worked on the Screen PTR-8600 and 8800 computer-to-plate setters, four Epson proofers running Screen LabProof colour management software; a Komori LS1040P ten-colour press and a Heidelberg XL75 five-colour with coater which came along with the Print National acquisition.
{gallery}Bright_Print:120:120::2{/gallery}Bright Print has purchased its own copy of Mellow Color’s PrintSpec colour analysis and reporting software, which will enable the company to produce its own ISO 12647-2 profiles.
Crowther followed-up the ISO certification by conducting an intensive training session to clearly explain the benefits from the customers’ point of view. Taking an engineering-approach to colour, he explained that the process of measuring and controlling the many variables in offset printing such as ink, paper, pressures, water, blankets, humidity, temperature and mechanical movement; permits predictability and consistency – something that all brand owners seek to maintain their corporate image.
He compares measuring colour and analyzing results with PrintSpec to: “monitoring respiration, blood pressure and heartbeat in medicine.”
“For the sales team, this can mean an end to customer dissatisfaction and reprints due to colour quality. It boosts morale as the representative can proudly proclaim ‘we are ISO 12647-2 certified and audited’ – many major print buyers will only place work with such an ISO qualified printer today.”
For Bright Print Group, the future can only look brighter as this very well resourced and managed enterprise adds ISO 12647-2 to its already significant array of awards and other ISO-category capabilities.
BPG director John Bright is the fourth generation for the firm, which has origins going back to the 1960s. Even before then, William John Bright, the great-grandfather of John and his sister Debbie who is also a director of the business, had established a Linotype setting business in 1928 at nearby Fairfield.
Bright Print
www.brightprintgroup.com.au
Colour Graphic Services
www.colourgraphicservices.com
