Global Client Orders Standards

All the printing companies I've ever encountered strive to provide the best possible product, pushing their equipment and expertise to the limit in hopes of exceeding customer expectations. With increasing frequency, however, the new paradigm is that exceptional results may actually be an undesirable outcome. A new effort undertaken by graphic arts supplier xpedx on behalf of a major high-tech corporation stresses a unified “teamwork” approach to print production rather than en- couraging outstanding performance by any single plant.

“Our goal is process and product predictability in a color-managed environment,” says John Dunn, production director for xpedx. “We've weaned the client, their agencies and printers off the idea that a printing press should be an element of the creative process. The press is for consistent reproduction.” His statement refers to a new initiative that coordinates the efforts of 30 advertising agencies and 26 printers, undertaken at the request of an extremely large print buyer.

Using a standards-based approach for color-managed proofing and printing, Dunn has implemented a “process vs. product” statistical-analysis methodology to integrate multiple partners into a seamless and user-friendly production process. The intent is to provide transparency and increased efficiency for his client, whose projects go on press in multiple countries around the world. Web printing is performed to SWOP standards, while sheetfed projects are using a pre-release version of the new GRACoL 7 color management profile, all based on the exchange of PDF/X-3 files.

“This process is based on solid color management and the standardization of equipment, press environments and processes,” says Dunn. “The success or failure of such a workflow will be based on pure print predictability.”

The project, launched June 1, involves both independently owned printing companies as well as Banta, Transcontinental and RR Donnelley divisions.

Color Graphics' Seattle plant was an early participant in the xpedx project, and has seen an increasing interest in proofing and printing to standards. “Other customers are buying into it, and we need to be able to show them we can produce work in that manner,” says Ian Tolmie, national account manager for Color Graphics. “Working as a group will allow John [Dunn] to tighten up the process, so the buyer will get reliable color without having to send anyone on press checks.”

Despite the benefits for this client in this situation, Tolmie doesn't think that a standards-based approach is necessarily the perfect fit for all clients.

“We can print GRACoL, but we can also print better than that,” he declares. “I see the advantage of a corporate print buyer who wants me to match the work produced by another printer down the street; but if you're an agency, then I'll do better.”

For Dunn and his uber client, however, the most important goal is to achieve a repeatable, predictable result across the entire print supply chain.

“This workflow is validated on a monthly basis—line item by line item, project by project, partner by partner, with reporting and back-end metrics,” he says. “Ongoing reporting is key to the success of this circular workflow.” Participating printers must take spectrophotometric readings of each project, while agencies compare final runs to the hard-copy proofs and their calibrated monitors. Discrepancies are immediately identified and resolved by Dunn's xpedx team.