applications of G7 in the corrugated market Mark R. Mazur digital prepress consultant mark.r.mazur@usa.dupont.com (302) 999-2534 Cyrel® Packaging Graphics Products

flexography strengths weaknesses cycle time quality perception variable repeat wide variety of substrates high speed environmentally friendly lower total delivered cost quality perception lack of standards

G7 is all about standardization

what color is this block

G7 will tell us the color - whether you can print that color is a different issue.

the G7 standards ink color gray balance neutral print density curve (NPDC) simply put: if the inks are the same and the tone reproduction is the same the printed result should be the same.

ink specifications - ISO 12647-2 the G7 standards ink specifications - ISO 12647-2 L a b c h Cyan 54 -37 -50 62 233 Magenta 47 75 -6 75 355 Yellow 88 -6 95 95 94 Black 18 0 -1 Tolerances L ± 3, a & b (± 2).

gray balance gray a b 50% C 40%M 40%Y 0 -2

the G7 standards standardized "Neutral Print Density Curve" G7 Neutral Print Density Curve K 2.00 CMY 1.50 Neutral Print Density 1.00 0.50 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Target Dot Percentage

solid ink color, gray balance all you need is solid ink color, gray balance and the neutral print density curves to define all 4,294,967,296 colors in a process image G7 postulate

lets start with ink

confusion L c h just looking at cyan ISO 12647 Gloss Coated Wood free 54 62 233º ISO 12647 Matte Coated Wood free 54 59 236º ISO 12647 Gloss Coated web 54 56 229º ISO 12647 Uncoated White 62 45 239º ISO 12647 Uncoated yellowish 58 43 234º ISO 2846-5 Uncoated pap/Corr.board 58 50 240º ISO 2846-5 Coated Paper 54 62 234º ISO 2846-5 Film/Foil 50 49 227º FIRST Solvent 56 62 229º FIRST Water 59 59 230º FIRST UV 56 59 230º

ink specifications - ISO 12647-2 the G7 standards ink specifications - ISO 12647-2 L a b c h Cyan 54 -37 -50 62 233 Magenta 47 75 -6 75 355 Yellow 88 -6 95 95 94 Black 18 0 -1 Tolerances L ± 3, a & b (± 2).

examples newspaper

examples corrugated

examples folding carton

examples labels

examples wide web film

examples envelope matte coated

examples wide web film

same ink anilox A anilox B

gray balance gray a b 50% C 40%M 40%Y 0 -2

nothing new for flexo

color density (C,M or Y) neutral gray density 1.40 1.20 1.00 0.80 0.60 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 neutral gray density color density (C,M or Y)

what is different the old dot gain targets would tell you where you are G7 - tells you where you are, where you want to go and how to get there! Slide #26 Once again, this is an arbitrary decision. We could just as easily turn on these 64 pixels and still represent 25% of the area. The dither pattern on the left represents a clustered dither, that on the left a non-clustered of dispersed dot dither. Now we've taken this as far as we can, or have we?

gray control points Dot % 40.6% 47.3% 59.5% 69.8% 88.9% Density 0.26 0.31 0.42 0.54 0.91 0.22 0.27 0.38 0.50 0.89 K 25% 30% 40% 50% 75% C/M/Y 25/19/19 % 30/24/24 % 40/33/33 % 50/40/40 % 75/66/66 %

G7 Neutral Print Density Curve the G7 standards standardized "Neutral Print Density Curve" G7 Neutral Print Density Curve K 2.00 CMY 1.50 Neutral Print Density 1.00 0.50 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Target Dot Percentage

GRACoL 7 Neutral Print Density Graph (K) 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Neutral Print Density Target Dot Percentage

GRACoL 7 Neutral Print Density Graph (CMY) 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 Neutral Print Density 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Target Dot Percentage

the G7 Characterization Step 1: Print the P2P target

measure the P2P target

determine adjustments

adjust profile target based on P2P target and print

the G7 wide web test target

last step: varify

current software limitation must go to press twice could get all information from an IT8.7/4 then apply adjustments mathematically to profile

corrugated example Slide #38 Once again, this is an arbitrary decision. We could just as easily turn on these 64 pixels and still represent 25% of the area. The dither pattern on the left represents a clustered dither, that on the left a non-clustered of dispersed dot dither. Now we've taken this as far as we can, or have we?

let's get quantitative

initial standardization run

initial standardization run

initial standardization run

varification run Thank you! For those of you who regularly attend FTA technical meetings you know that at last year forum I spoke about G7, at the fall prepress conference I spoke about G7 and here I am again today to talk about G7. The reason for this single minded fervor is in part the importance of G7 to the flexo industry, but also the more I do these G7 characterizations the better I understand the process. Hopefully, what I have learned will make it easier for you when you do a characterization.

varification run Thank you! For those of you who regularly attend FTA technical meetings you know that at last year forum I spoke about G7, at the fall prepress conference I spoke about G7 and here I am again today to talk about G7. The reason for this single minded fervor is in part the importance of G7 to the flexo industry, but also the more I do these G7 characterizations the better I understand the process. Hopefully, what I have learned will make it easier for you when you do a characterization.

varification run Thank you! For those of you who regularly attend FTA technical meetings you know that at last year forum I spoke about G7, at the fall prepress conference I spoke about G7 and here I am again today to talk about G7. The reason for this single minded fervor is in part the importance of G7 to the flexo industry, but also the more I do these G7 characterizations the better I understand the process. Hopefully, what I have learned will make it easier for you when you do a characterization.

final varification run

final varification run

final varification run

let's get quantitative how close can we make a label press match the GRACoL2006_coated1 standard Slide #50 Once again, this is an arbitrary decision. We could just as easily turn on these 64 pixels and still represent 25% of the area. The dither pattern on the left represents a clustered dither, that on the left a non-clustered of dispersed dot dither. Now we've taken this as far as we can, or have we?

initial standardization run

initial standardization run

initial standardization run

final varification run

final varification run

final varification run

why flexo should embrace G7 simplify the prepress workflow reduce costs uniform appearance across printing industry ease of repurposing artwork globalization it is what our customers - the print buyers are demanding

thank you Steve Smiley Vertis

Training/Testing/Research Coordinator thank you Li-Wen Chen liwenc@clemson.edu Graduate Student Jay Sperry jsperry@clemson.edu Training/Testing/Research Coordinator

Thank you! G7 applications of in the corrugated market Mark R. Mazur digital prepress consultant mark.r.mazur@usa.dupont.com (302) 999-2534 Cyrel® Packaging Graphics Products