IS Optimizer Save on ink, get jobs done faster and print better

This month I'd like to talk to you about saving ink but, most importantly, about producing better results on press.

Quite frequently, design and layout departments often do not know what paper and press a particular job will be printed on. In many cases, color settings in image manipulation software like Adobe PhotoShop can vary from station to station within a department. Plus, almost anybody adjusts these values on a job-by-job basis.

This problem is compounded when printers receive jobs that contain elements created by third parties, for example, advertisements. Color separation values and total ink coverage (TAC) values may vary greatly from image to image. This presents a real challenge when the job is on press. Even well-experienced press operators will come across jobs with pages that are very hard to print due to over or under inking. To the point that, to get these images to print correctly, the press operator must sometimes adjust the ink keys on the press, bringing color densities outside their desired range.

Over-inking prolongs the time it takes for make ready. It also extends the time it takes for jobs to dry, thus taking longer for the other side of the job to get printed. Perhaps most importantly, it leaves to the press operator the ultimate responsibility of making a job look right.

How can this be solved?

In a perfect world, all designers and layout personnel would make sure that their separation settings in all images, text and illustrations comply with the appropriate press and paper combination or ICC profile for their job.

As things stand, and with so many variables across applications, this is a very hard to reach goal.

Since we are not in a perfect world, there is another way:

Compose offers a product called ISOptimizer. ISOptimizer analyzes every element in a job and separates it back to LAB color space. Unlike the RGB and CMYK color spaces, Lab color is designed to approximate human vision, having a greater gamut than the one offered by computer displays and printers. LAB color space is the color space used in describing devices in ICC profiles. Once the element is in LAB color space, ISOptimizer separates that element to CMYK using the desired output ICC profile. In other words, it separates the entire job back to CMYK using the press and paper conditions required for that particular job. Now all elements have the correct amount of ink for the type of paper and press they will be printed on.

From the days of drum scanning, there's a technique called GCR or Gray Component Replacement. It is based on the principle that any CMY color can be represented with two colors plus black. Black ink is generally the less expensive ink, thus replacing CMY with black to produce grays makes a lot of sense. ISOptimizer can use GCR and TAC values to reduce the amount of ink used in a job, while preserving the smallest dE, or color difference from the original. It can also generate an ROI (return on investment) table with the amount of ink saved per job per color. If provided with ink costs and ink demand values - how much ink it takes to cover a specific area - it can project ink savings per job and create reports. Users can even utilize this tool to estimate how much ink a particular job will require before it is printed.

In maximum ink saving mode, ISOptimizer takes things a step beyond GRC to provide unprecedented ink savings, faster make readies and shorter drying times. ISOptimizer uses Alwan's award wining Dynamic Device Link technology to save up to 40% ink, reduce make readies by up to 75% and drying times up to 80%.

Let's compare ink key settings

These two images represent the position of the ink keys for the photos of the vehicle above. The top histogram shows the ink keys of the original PDF, while the bottom one shows the histogram of the optimized PDF.

Notice how the CMY values on the optimized image are much lower. Even though the black channel is higher on the optimized image than the original, the optimized image uses 39% less ink than the original.

Some real world examples

Let's now look at some real world examples where ISOptimizer is helping customers save money.

Savings of 1500 impressions on make ready, and that's just for starters.

One of the largest web printers in the San Francisco Bay Area needed an average of 2000 impressions to get the first acceptable copy from their press prior to using ISOptimizer. The first job processed with ISOptimizer required only 500 impressions to get the first acceptable print. Three months after the installation of the software, the make ready times continue to be an average of 75% of what they used to be. Additionally, the customer is finding that their ink consumption is down by 35%. And ink does not rub off the paper like it used to.

Productivity increase of 20-40%.

A mid-sized shop in the San Francisco Bay Area runs a single 8up Komori press. Before installing ISOptimizer the customer could get an average of 6 to 8 jobs per 8-hour shift. Now, with ISOptimizer ECO, the customer is able to run an average of 10 different jobs per 8-hour shift per press. The secret is the ISOptmizer ECO helping to reduce the make ready time, plus having the correct amount of ink on paper effectively reducing drying time.

Consistency throughout 900,000 impressions.

A large commercial printer in Argentina had Compose install ISOptimizer. The customer has found that on long runs, and in their case this means almost one million impressions, color is very stable across the print run. In other words, the color on the first good print varies very little from the last one in the run.

For more information about IS Optimizer, please visit our website by clicking here. You can also e-mail us for a 30 day trial of IS Optimizer by clicking here.