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Significans Automation Inc., a leading provider of integration and automation solutions for the graphic arts industries, made its first foray into software development with the launch of Virtual InkBooks™, a powerful management tool colors to create custom cloud-based ink libraries that can be tailored to any job.
Designed to work in conjunction with Esko’s WebCenter and automation engine, Virtual InkBooks™ allows users throughout a printing or packaging operation to view Pantone and custom ink libraries in time. real world, and allows production teams to easily customize and save job-specific ink data in the cloud. These libraries can be used for repeated jobs downstream or across multiple jobs or output devices, reducing setup costs and improving and increasing color consistency across multiple platforms.
According to Marc Raad, CEO of Signficans Automation, entering the world of software development was a natural progression for the company, which has a proven track record in improving production efficiency and automating workflow for its clients across the Americas.
Custom Ink Library Video
https://significans.com/virtual-inkbooks/
“In fact, Virtual InkBooks™ was first designed after a conversation with one of our packaging customers, Bay Cities, who expressed a desire to reduce variables, labor and cost associated with managing color consistency, especially with replenishments,” says Rad. “Over the next two months, we worked closely with Bay Cities to develop a solution to meet these specific needs, and the result was robust industrial software.”
Based in Pico Rivera, California, Bay Cities is a leading expert in printed corrugated display and packaging operations. With the addition of Virtual InkBooks™, the company is now able to accurately track and reproduce colors.
According to Bay Cities IT and Automation Manager James Hawton, the company needed to make it easy for designers and prepress staff to enter color data into WebCenter to ensure they could keep up with their colors and reproduce them accurately in future orders. .
Hawton explains, “A lot of times when you go to press you still have to make adjustments to get to a specific color as close as possible, and the biggest problem you run into is how do you store what you’ve done on that specific. machine after the initial cycle is complete.
“With Virtual InkBooks™, we now have a specific location where we can store the color information and LAB values we worked on for a particular machine to achieve the desired result,” adds Hawton. “So now every time a designer works with that color, they’ll be working with the same variable. Significans Automation really provided a great solution for our needs.
The software enables users, regardless of location, skill set, or print application, to easily:
Mix and match Pantone and custom colors;
Enter color data in LAB or Spectral formats;
Save and reuse libraries for future projects;
Export libraries to Adobe Illustrator;
Enjoy the benefits of cloud-based remote access.
According to Andreu Carroll, graphic designer at Bay Cities, prior to the software’s completion, custom brand color information was often lost from project to project because too much time had passed or new people weren’t. didn’t know a color had already been created, or someone may have given a newly created brand color a weird name that made it hard to tell which brand it belonged to.
Carroll explains, “Now that we have Virtual InkBooks™, it saves the designer from having to recreate custom brand colors every time, and it streamlines the naming convention, saves design time and improves our lead times. colors.
Based on the success of the Bay Cities pilot and early feedback from others who have tested the product, Raad says Significans Automation plans to develop more software tools to complement its offerings and help customers further improve efficiency. of their organizations.
