Tucanna, a leading developer of packaged and custom business and production software for the printing and packaging industries, today reported that The LEGO Group, a privately held manufacturer of play materials based in Billund, Denmark, has selected Tucanna PrintControl and RapidCheck as critical quality control enablers for its printing and packaging needs. These software solutions ensure the ability to consistently print to global and corporate standards, regardless of the location of the printer or printing technology used. The LEGO Group is utilizing Tucanna solutions to better manage quality control across its stable of nearly 100 print suppliers worldwide. Tucanna is partnering with Danish systems integrator Pixl Aps in the development and implementation of solutions customized to the specific needs of The LEGO Group.

“When I joined The LEGO Group, it was clear to me that there was room for improvement in our quality control process for printing and packaging,” said Mads Laumann, Global Graphics Quality Manager for The LEGO Group. “We did our due diligence to determine what solutions in the market might best meet our needs and chose to work with Thomas Holm at Pixl Aps and to utilize PrintControl and RapidCheck in the final configuration.”

Tucanna’s RapidCheck and PrintControl quality control solutions were customized to the specific needs of The LEGO Group to provide a consistent tool set for the company and its packaging converters and print service providers worldwide. “The LEGO Group is extremely conscious of its brand integrity as personified in its packaging and other printed materials,” Holm said. “While the company had good quality control practices in place, there were now newer technologies that could improve the process even more. Because Tucanna solutions are open, easy to use and easy to integrate, they were ideal for this complex environment.”

Prior to adopting Tucanna solutions, The LEGO Group had primarily been utilizing density measurements to manage color quality control. While this had been effective in the past, it had now become easier to incorporate more sophisticated measurements to raise the bar on color quality while at the same time making it easier for printers and converters to consistently meet specifications.

“We also purchased two X-Rite eXact color measurement devices,” added Laumann. “This enabled us to not only measure density, but to quantify the spectral values of our target colors as well. By providing those values to our production partners, we have made it easier for them to consistently match proofs on press with CMYK color matching and to deliver more exactly to our specifications.”

Thomas Holm points out that the first step for The LEGO Group was to establish the acceptable values and ranges using LAB values and gray balance. Then with Tucanna RapidCheck, quality control professionals could quickly determine whether or not printed output met specifications, either during on-site press checks or with sample output provided to the company. “Finally,” he adds, “by implementingTucanna PrintControl on-site with their production partners, they can close the loop on production quality control by ensuring fast, accurate press setup for The LEGO Group production runs. In addition, these combined solutions allowed for faster, more automated reporting on performance and trending, making the quality control process more efficient and effective.”

Pixl Aps is currently in the process of establishing specific standards for The LEGO Group within the context of the RapidCheck and PrintControl solutions. “This will provide a very simple tool for printers and converters to be able to fully utilize the standards specific to The LEGO Group and will also act as a common platform for the interchange of information among all participants in the print supply chain.”

“It is a tremendous pleasure working with The LEGO Group,” said Andrea Pizzeghella, CTO of Tucanna. “In developing RapidCheck and PrintControl, it was exactly this type of complex scenario that we had in mind, and the early successes that have been achieved at The LEGO Group validate our strategy. We look forward to continuing to work with them and with Pixl Aps as they evolve their quality control process and move to a more collaborative global platform that will streamline their print supply chain worldwide.