X-Rite Incorporated and its subsidiary Pantone LLC, report that Pazazz Printing is now a Pantone Certified Printer. The Pantone Certified Printer Program reviews and analyzes every aspect of a commercial printer’s color operations – from preflight, file preparation and proofing, to ink formulation and mixing and process control in the pressroom. Pazazz is the first and only printer in Canada to achieve PANTONE certification across its offset division and presses. With this certification Pazazz can ensure the most stringent color standards efficiently and consistently across every single offset print job.

“As the first printer in Canada to achieve PANTONE Certified Printer Status, Pazazz underwent a rigorous certification process that looked at its entire operating process – not just the final output,” says Murphy Keeley, VP of marketing and services, X-Rite. “This included standardizing spot color reproduction for any printing process and a full audit of pre-press and printing operations and ink kitchen. By doing this and setting up standard operating procedures, Pazazz can provide its most color-conscious customers with the most consistent, reliable performance – job after job, day after day, with no exceptions.”

What began as a modest commercial print shop in 1992 has grown to become the industry leader in visual communications for all Cross Media Integrated (CMI) solutions. Through a number of strategic acquisitions over the last two decades Pazazz incorporated the talent, knowledge and ingenuity of several businesses. Today, the integrated companies function as an allied group of sales, print and marketing experts focused on innovation and excellence. Pazazz is an FSC and G7 Certified Master Printer and promote UV inks that are VOC free and safe for the environment.

“The Pantone Certified Printer status compliments our G7 Master Qualification and strengthens our process controls in order to deliver the highest quality color printing to our clients. We are extremely excited to be the first, single and only printer in Canada that can offer this level of quality assurance. The certification provides us with a competitive advantage and sets us apart in the marketplace,” says Warren Werbitt, founder, Pazazz Printing.

The Pantone certification confirms a printer’s ability to match Pantone colors using CMYK and Spot colors including best matches to Pantone digital standard. In order to achieve certification a printer must demonstrate that it has the proper methods and techniques in place to ensure that incoming ink meets specifications, recipes and formulations are correct, and the use of leftover inks is optimized. A Pantone Certified Printer must also use a CxF color exchange workflow and be PantoneLIVE enabled. Moreover, a quarterly review process remains in effect to ensure ongoing compliance.