By Dan Gillespie, Director of Technical Services, Alder Color Solutions

Recently I was hired to do a G7 Master Printer Qualification for a large folding carton printer. The customer assured us that they were using ISO/GRACoL-compliant inks and paper, but upon gathering some color measurement data, on our first press run with linear plates, we found out the straight skinny. 

We took measurements, analyzed results, made adjustments, and honed in on the ideal solid densities for this setup. From our first press run, we generated G7 curves and entered them into the platesetter RIP. We then output a new set of plates to verify our results. Our findings were that the inks and paper being used were, in fact, not specifically formulated to the GRACoL specs.