The strategic alliance between Switzerland-based powerhouses System Brunner and Digital Information makes a global impact on print production by joining System Brunner’s leading Instrument Flight® color control software with Digital Information’s InkZone ink-presets and closed-loop product line, allowing online color control for all major offset printing presses.

The Instrument Flight® color control solution from System Brunner has been accepted worldwide due to the technologically convincing control strategy including gray/color balance priorities and is now integrated by Digital Information into the InkZone product-family.

With InkZone Instrument Flight®, color control on printing presses can now be performed according to the process parameters ISO 12647-2/PSO, the US-specification G7® as well as the comprehensive Globalstandard by System Brunner. InkZone Instrument Flight® from System Brunner is a comprehensive solution for color control, process diagnosis and quality assessment, allowing users to harness the power of the world’s leading closed-loop instrumentation with the most sophisticated technology in standardization and printing process verification.

The multi-dimensional color control performed by Instrument Flight handles the full spectrum of process dynamics in offset printing. The result is a uniform and consistent visual representation of the entire print run – including the delicate gray and tertiary tones.

Employing InkZone Instrument Flight® results in considerable cost savings - set-up times are once more reduced, print results remain within closely defined standards, color consistency is brought to perfection and the quick and early problem recognition lead to print run security no other system can match: With InkZone Instrument Flight® from System Brunner, printing providers are transformed into five star companies (SpectroJet/SpectroDrive). In addition, it works with Digital Information's InkZone Move software, as well as with the color scanning software packages from X-Rite and Techkon (e.g. Techkon Expresso). The system can be used on nearly all offset presses by established manufacturers including Heidelberg, KBA, Komori, Manroland, Ryobi, Mitsubishi, etc. – independently of the brand.

The InkZone Instrument Flight® system solution is available in conjunction with new installations of Digital Information’s InkZone Loop online color control software, or it can be retrofitted to existing InkZone installations — adding a whole new level of investment value to the already incomparable InkZone technology.

InkZone Perfect supplies InkZone Instrument Flight® with preset data calculated by the prepress workflow. During color makeready and the production run, Instrument Flight® receives the measured data of each ink key in the form of spectral values, analyzes them by taking into account more than 30 process parameters and calculates the optimum adjustments for meeting the defined standard or the OK-sheet values.

With InkZone Instrument Flight®, print shops have the choice between three regulation strategies according to customer requirements and/or quality demands: ISO/PSO controls the printing process including the defined attributes of the Solid Densities (depending on the colorimetric reference values), dot gain (TVI) and mid tone TVI spread. InkZone Instrument Flight® keeps optimum balance of these variables. The G7® specification gives priority to mid-tone gray balance, taking into account to a lesser degree the solids and dot gains of BCMY, which are kept within the defined tolerance. Color control according to the comprehensive Globalstandard by System Brunner uses not only the parameters defined by ISO/PSO, but also the gray balances in the mid-tones and solids created from the primary colors cyan, magenta and yellow, the overprint of the three chromatic colors and other variables, including L*a*b* values.

InkZone Instrument Flight® is available as of April 2012. There are additional documents (press release, pictures, product brochure, 6 MB) available from www.digiinfo.com/izif_en.zip

For more information, please visit www.digiinfo.com or www.systembrunner.com. Keep up with news and trends on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/digitalinfo

Visit Digital Information and System Vrunner at Drupa 2012: Messe Düsseldorf, Germany, May 3 to 16, 2012, Hall 8B, Stand B02.