Colour continuity for Harcourt

Print Solutions

Harcourt Colour Printers, Swansea, turned to the experts at Prepress UK in order to create a level playing field in the world of printed colour reproduction. The installation of ColourLinx at the company has brought colour continuity to the wide range of output devices in use.

The move is already paying dividends for the print producer as it gains new business and sees former clients returning with more work. Harcourt Colour Printers represents Prepress UK’s first installation of the impressive ColourLinx product.

‘ColourLinx has allowed us to get a firm handle on colour output across all devices,’ summed up managing director Ian Harcourt. The company employs the now increasingly typical complex mix of flatbed, wide format, toner based and offset litho production equipment. ‘When we are producing work for customers, production can span several or even all of these devices: it has been a challenge to confidently match colour across all of the various processes, but now ColourLinx has solved that issue for us.’

In addition to providing the tools to enable colour matched accuracy, Prepress UK has also been able to introduce potential savings on offset consumables with ColourLinx, with a reduction of some 20% of on-press ink usage anticipated. ColourLinx automatically optimises all PDF and image files to reduce unnecessary ink, standardize colour, and save the user between 10% and 40% of ink volume. Not only does the process reduce ink costs it also cuts drying times, reduces set off, and further aids the control of colour.

Ian Harcourt and his team had looked at other colour management solutions: ‘The one that we particularly focused on was very capable, but the price was totally ridiculous. The colour experts at Prepress UK were able to understand our problems and provide a software solution through ColourLinx that was both effective and affordable.’

Nic Chapman, sales director of Prepress UK, said: ‘We are delighted with the way this first installation has gone. Harcourt Colour Printers is typical of a great many printers now employing a wide range of technologies to produce their work. ColourLinx can control the output for all devices giving the print company confidence that colour management issues are now the thing of the past.

‘One of the main benefits of ColourLinx software in respect of on-going costs is that we give the end-user the tools to create their own profiles, meaning that they can become completely self sufficient with out the need to pay for a supplier to come back when they need to create additional profiles.’