Sun Chemical has collaborated with CGS Publishing Technologies International to develop a new metal deco digital proofing option for two-piece beverage cans.
This sees CGS’s Oris software linked to two new metal deco dependent colour libraries for PantoneLIVE, a cloud-based, digital colour standard ecosystem. The two libraries, which have just been launched by X-Rite, Pantone and Sun Chemical, were developed by capturing the closest achievable match to the master Pantone Formula Guide Coated colours that can be produced by applying metal deco ink onto an aluminium can with a gloss varnish finish.
Consisting of over 4,000 achievable colour options, the metal deco libraries – one for opaque and one for transparent applications – provide realistic targets that enable canmakers to address common challenges in the application of Pantone colour directly onto reflective two-piece beverage cans. The libraries also help beverage manufacturers and brand owners set expectations for producing achievable PantoneLIVE digital colour standards on two-piece cans.
This digital proofing option, part of Sun Chemical’s DigiProof service within its SunColorBox color management toolkit, is designed to enable canmakers, designers and brand owners to dispense with physical aluminium wet proofs. This will reduce the length of the packaging design process, from weeks to just days noted Sun Chemical.
Iñaki Llona, global champion, metal deco inks at Sun Chemical, commented, ‘With the launch of this digital proofing solution, which can create colour-correct and designed samples without the need to print on a can, customers will have far greater creative options because of the very short time and low cost required to produce the colour-accurate digital prints. Designs can be created in one location and digitally printed at multiple locations across the world, without the need for slow and costly couriers to convey physical print samples. As a result, they will be able to develop new designs in much less time and radically reduce the overall time to market for new products.’
Mr Llona continued, ‘Having created the metal deco PantoneLIVE libraries, we’ve then worked with CGS to link the libraries to their software to offer the market a unique solution that can produce a digital inkjet simulation of PantoneLIVE metal deco colors and immediately print them on-demand from the CGS system.
‘This is a huge leap forward in terms of metal deco proofing as historically the creation of a digital inkjet representation of a PantoneLIVE colour has invariably involved printing multiple iterations before the best match has been achieved. In developing the PantoneLIVE library, Sun Chemical and Pantone have completed all that work in advance and delivered a pre-iterated database that is plug and play and removes the variable of subjective interpretation. So, when a customer picks a PantoneLIVE digital colour from the CGS system and prints it, they can be confident that it will be an accurate, simulation of the PantoneLIVE metal deco standard.’
Heiner Mueller, CGS key account director, Europe, said, ‘For many years now the Oris packaging product offerings have been the solutions of choice of key players in the industry. Apart from specific colour management software, CGS has developed a gamut extending ink set and corresponding custom media, which are solely aimed at the requirements of the packaging market. We are excited to cooperate closely with a partner like Sun Chemical to create a standard for metal decoration, which is probably the most challenging segment in the packaging industry.’
