GMG, a developer of color management and proofing products, has announced that GMG OpenColor received the prestigious Flexographic Technical Association Technical Innovation Award in the category of Prepress-Graphics. Presentation was made during the gala awards banquet that took place in conjunction with FTA’s Annual Forum and INFO*FLEX Exhibition, held April 28-30 in San Diego, CA. According to the company, GMG OpenColor is a proofing technology that precisely predicts the color appearance of printed inks, particularly ‘overprints’-inks printed on top of each other. This allows the previously unattainable ability to let a proof accurately simulate a printed result.

The Technical Innovation Award recognizes companies and/or individuals whose visions and perseverance bring new products and technologies to the flexographic marketplace. For more than 15 years, FTA has been rewarding those creative thinkers and risk-takers who seek ways to further refine and advance the flexographic printing process and who bring significant contributions to the industry in terms of adoption, change, and competitive posture.

A continuing trend in package printing is the increasing complexity of jobs and the use of multi-color printing while reducing time to market. Many jobs require different combinations of inks, substrates, screening, and other variables. One of the most difficult challenges facing a converter is accurately and reliably communicating color between all parties of the supply chain, from the brand manager to the printer. To understand colors by mixing them, every combination would require a specific test chart with the different combinations. It is costly to go to press with color fingerprint charts, making plates, and spending time testing rather than earning money on a job. GMG OpenColor resolves this complex packaging problem and provides better results, with less information. With OpenColor, users do not have to print combinations of overprints. They can print the single color patches – e.g. color control strips – and combine the color and substrate properties in the software. Measurements are centrally saved and categorized according to print variables. This lets operators build an archive of measurements and to combine existing measurements to new profiles, whenever a new combination of inks must be profiled.

“Our entire team is honored to receive such important recognition. With GMG OpenColor we wanted to take a big step to help customers increase production efficiencies, and improve color accuracy and predictability in the supply chain,” says Victor Asseiceiro, Director, business unit packaging at GMG. “We are working with many prepress houses and converters worldwide, to help them implement GMG OpenColor. They understand that OpenColor can reduce time to market, save the cost of creating too many press fingerprints, and reduce lengthy makereadies. Most important, it improves the color communication and approval process between all supply chain partners, and verifies color expectations. They appreciate that.”