The intricacies of color management are well-known throughout the digital print sector — but what else could be influencing inconsistent color production and exacerbating wide-format workflow bottlenecks?
PrintFactory invited print shop representatives to share their experiences and frustrations in a short survey, helping to create a fuller picture of the biggest blockers to productivity and profitability.
In an industry of shrinking margins, we wanted to better understand why — despite advances in technology — so many wide-format printers confide that they’re continuing to waste precious media, ink and time in ‘chasing color.’
The survey reveals an over-reliance on ‘default’ RIP and workflow-based solutions that could be stalling progress by compounding consistency problems on the shop floor. It showed 63% of large-format printers are running two or more RIPs in their shop. Most run off PC (60%), few rely squarely on Mac (3%) and a significant proportion are working with both operating systems (37%). It also affirmed that color management remains the most challenging workflow bottleneck for 21%.
Learn more in the SGIA Journal Graphic Edition, March/April 2019, where we explored what else the survey results tell us and what more print service providers (PSPs) could be doing to preserve color fidelity as we consider:
- The many variables that influence consistency of output
- Advances in technology that can help overcome these issues
- Why PSPs must stop chasing color before committing to industry 4.0 solutions and profitability