Revolutionizing Print Quality Management

In early May 2023, an advanced print quality measurement and management technology was installed at the Secondary Vocational School of Printing in Bratislava as part of the operational project of the Bratislava self-governing region. This technology was acquired through the “Material and technical equipment of the vocational classroom” program, which underwent a public procurement process led by VUC Bratislava, where the best offer was submitted by the company M&P spol. s.r.o., a company with over 30 years of experience in prepress and CMS technology in the Slovakian market. M&P has already successfully implemented the project at the school. The core components of the project include a top spectrophotometer – Exact2, manufactured by x-rite, the measurement and evaluation software – pressSIGN, developed by Bodoni and a computer with accompanying accessories.

A workplace equipped with this technology will serve not only to teach young printers, graphic artists, or operators of digital printing machines but will also be a tool for increasing the professional level of teachers, thus fundamentally increasing the quality of the educational process.

Thanks to this equipment, students can practically try out the latest measurement technology directly when printing on offset and digital printing machines. The spectrophotometer eXact2 with the PressSign Pro software will allow, in addition to the usual measurement evaluation, to manage the quality and consequently the stability of the entire printing process, which is an increasingly important requirement in production printers today.

In addition to measuring and evaluating colour scales during the entire printing process, the PressSign Pro software creates a suitable environment for the so-called PSO calibration to offset printing standard ISO 12647-2. Together with the measuring spectrophotometer x-rite Exact2, it measures, in addition to the basic function of balancing the print sheet, it also evaluates the so-called increase “TVI” curves for specific RIP-i and CTP equipment for the production of offset printing plates. The software and hardware also work with direct PANTONE colours and can simulate various effects of colour deviations on the screen. The x-rite Excat2 measuring device allows you to measure colour not only single point, but also with the scanning, when the entire Colorbar is scanned with several fields in one pass. The device measures spectrally, but also densitometrically, so it is a suitable aid for illustrative demonstrations and explanations of measurement principles in the educational process.

A young printer or operator of digital printing technologies now has the opportunity to familiarize himself not only theoretically but also practically with the requirements that will be placed on him in his future employment. The main benefit of the implemented technology is that it will enable students to verify and “touch” quality management processes in practice.

Ing. Roman Sip

Director of the Polygraphic Secondary Vocational School in Bratislava

Ing. Anton Puskar

TD of M&P spol. s.r.o.