Techkon, a supplier of high-precision color measurement solutions for packaging and commercial printers, has announced new capabilities have been added in its ChromaQA color quality system.  ChromaQA is an enterprise color quality product designed for packaging printers who wish to improve the color accuracy of their ink supply chain, shorten pressroom make-readies, ensure color consistency across each press run, and have visibility & reporting capabilities for quality managers and brand customers.

Techkon says ChromaQA is uniquely positioned because it offers dedicated color QC software modules for both the press and ink departments.  The dedicated Ink module provides the ability for printers to organize and store all of their color and ink standards in one centralized, cloud-based, database which is accessible to all production locations throughout the organization.  In addition, ink QC tools allow technicians to perform quality checks on incoming ink deliveries from outside vendors, in-plant ink suppliers, or when mixing new batches of ink themselves.

Besides checking only colorimetric parameters of new ink batches, this latest version of ChromaQA now calculates and reports on an ink’s Color Strength, Contrast Ratio, Opacity, and Metamerism Index.  Together, these metrics provide a comprehensive evaluation of new ink batches compared to their original color standards. 

“In the end, printers can now have complete confidence in the color accuracy and printability of inks in their supply chain before they reach the pressroom,” Techkon says.

PQX Export
In the pressroom, ChromaQA has added support for PQX (Print Quality eXchange / ISO 20616-2).  PQX is a relatively new standardized file format for the exchange of measured color and print quality data.  According to Techkin, in the past, some brand customers have tried to dictate precisely which press-side color quality tools packaging printers must use.  However, with PQX, printers can now decide for themselves which color quality solution best fits their individual needs while also having the ability to provide brand customers with measured results in an industry standard file format.

“ChromaQA is praised by packaging printers around the globe because of it’s ‘easy-to-use’ software interface, powerful feature set, and lower price point compared to competitive color quality solutions,” comments Stephen Rankin, Director of Product Management at Techkon.  “Our customers simply love that we offer a dedicated ink management & QC module that allows them to catch ink problems before they reach the pressroom resulting in even smoother make-readies for press operators.  In addition, we’re excited to offer support for PQX which allows packaging printers to deliver color and print quality results to brand clients in an industry standard format and while still using the pressroom color quality software of their choice.”