PENNSAUKEN, NJ – Kevin Wise, CIO of Wise Tag & Label Co., Inc. is the third generation in the company founded by his grandfather, Percival, in 1956 and now headed by his father, Sprague, President and CEO. The family-owned and operated company has built its success by providing customers with individualized service and a full spectrum of the industry's most advanced production capabilities. Kevin Wise notes that the pressure-sensitive label side of the business is growing much more rapidly than the traditional paper tag products. On the label side, Wise Tag & Label produces the full gamut of products from one- and two-color labels up to multi-color, high-end labels. The company prints up to 10 colors, primarily on Mark Andy and Webtron flexo presses, and has been doing high-quality process work for the last 20 years. Wise Tag & Label runs up to 10 inches wide on labels, and will be going to 13 inches in a few weeks when a new Mark Andy LP 3000 narrow web press is installed. Kevin points out that the new press will significantly add to the company's production capacity. Included among the Wise label customers are the leading automotive companies, private packagers, supermarkets and warehouse clubs. "Name anything that is privately packaged," Kevin says, "and chances are that Wise Tag & Label is doing business with the packager." Prediction Installed Six months ago, as a key step in its program to move ultimately to an all-digital workflow, Wise installed Latran Technologies' Prediction 1420 digital halftone proofing system for its label work. Using an Artwork Systems Nexus RIP, the company currently still outputs film, however Kevin observes that the Prediction positions the company's prepress operation for the final step, closing the digital loop with direct-to-digital platemaking. Kevin notes that they looked at several digital proofing systems, but what convinced him that the Latran Prediction proofing system was the best choice for his operation was its use of true press ink that enables it to produce extremely accurate halftone proofs. "When we give our customer a Prediction proof, we're absolutely confident that we can match what we will be printing. It's almost as if we're giving them a press proof without actually putting it on press." Faster Customer Approvals He says that Prediction proofs have had a significant impact on customer approvals. "We find that since switching to Prediction for contract proofing, we're receiving customer approvals about three to five days faster than we did with our previous proofing," Kevin says. "Our customers see exactly the color they're going to obtain on the finished label. They're not guessing. With halftone dot proofs, the process color we obtain with Prediction, is the process color we achieve on the press. When customers compare their Prediction proof with the labels we've delivered, we know they'll see little, if any, difference," Kevin says. Easy Transition Acquired through the Pitman Company, the Prediction system was installed quickly. That allowed the transitioning of the company's label proofing to go very smoothly. When the unit was in place, Latran engineers did all the testing, setup and profiling, using ink sheets that matched the press inks that Wise runs. Once the installation and setup were complete, they worked with the Wise prepress personnel to get them rapidly up to speed on the equipment. According to Kevin Wise, while there was no problem getting his customers to accept Prediction proofs, the biggest challenge to acceptance, surprisingly, came from his own sales staff. "They were accustomed to proofs from the inkjet or the wax printers we were using, and questioned the wisdom of switching to a new system," he says. "But once they saw the quality of the proofs we could produce on our Prediction 1420, they couldn't wait to rush out and show them to their customers." FIRST Color Standard Awarded Latran Technologies recently received acceptance from the FTA Color Management Committee that Prediction proofs adhere to the FIRST (Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications and Tolerances) Color Standard. Adhering to the FIRST color standard indicates that Prediction proofs meet all the color matching criteria and procedure benchmarks established in the FIRST Program to assure repeatable and consistent flexo reproduction. The Committee's independent evaluation of Prediction proofs ascertains that the results obtained with Latran's digital halftone proofing systems accurately represented how the images would print on a flexo press. The FIRST Program was launched by the FTA six years ago to provide the industry with a comprehensive guide for improvement of the flexo printing process through specifications and standards that support the consistent delivery of optimum results. Latran At CMM During CMM, April 14-17 in Chicago, Latran Technologies' Prediction 1420 will be demonstrated in the Esko-Graphics booth (#2252). The Prediction system will be linked to the Esko-Graphics FlexRip, utilizing Screen-in-Screen technology.