X-Rite proposes opening XRGA standard to third parties so printers can exchange high quality data between sites that use different instruments, regardless of legacy affiliation

X-Rite, Incorporated and its wholly owned subsidiary Pantone LLC are proposing a program for the printing industry that would reduce problems that companies face when they try to exchange color data that has been measured with different model instruments made by the same manufacturer or with instruments made by different manufacturers.

Printers can reduce waste and save time spent in job setup and the approval process if they are confident that instruments acquired over time from the same manufacturer and instruments purchased from more than one manufacturer are all giving the similar readings when they measure the same color sample.

"Just about every company in the printing industry deals with this problem at one time or another," said Stephen Miller, Market Manager, Print Solutions at X-Rite. "Unfortunately, some printers deal with this on an almost daily basis as they are trying to exchange high quality color measurement data to stakeholders in their supply chain."

XRGA is a standard that X-Rite implemented about two years ago to integrate its own technology with that of GretagMacbeth, PANTONE, and other entities that X-Rite acquired over the past several years. This standard aligns all X-Rite instrumentation to a single standard, regardless of the point of manufacture or date of manufacture of a product.   For instance, XRGA eliminated measurement variations for vendors that may be using both X-Rite and former GretagMacbeth instruments on the same project.

"XRGA proved to be such an effective tool at harmonizing the color measurement data of our own wide array of instruments that we think it's worthwhile to offer the same method to benefit the entire color measurement industry, " Miller said. "While X-Rite competes with a number of other respected companies in this field, we should cooperate as a industry to develop a common standard of instrument agreement to benefit all of our customers."

Manufacturers that find their instruments meet the tolerances of XGRA can use the standard to harmonize color measurement with their customer bases.

"This is an important first step in an initiative to help everyone, up and down the supply chain, to work together seamlessly," said X-Rite Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Francis Lamy. "We believe that the print and packaging industries stand to reap substantial benefits in saved time and resources if an effective standard can be established in the exchange of color data."

XRGA incorporates ISO-13655 with other best practices in color science methods to greatly reduce measurement variation among instruments due to different calibration standards.  This means that handheld and benchtop colorimeters and spectrophotometers, formulation and quality assurance software packages and equipment such as pressroom color scanners are all measuring and communicating using the same standards.
 
As customers used the standard, X-Rite discovered that XRGA did more than just link companies and instruments, Miller said. The standard also created bridges among different disciplines of professionals – brand owners, designers, specifiers, graphic artists, preproduction personnel and pressroom.

For more information, please refer to the http://www.xrite.com website.