Spring 2005                    return to newsletter contents page

Brand Colors and Multi-Color Process Printing

Presentation by Mark Vanover, Esko Graphics, at the FPPA 2005 Convention

Multi Color Process Printing (MCPP) is the use of any process color set with more than four screened colors. MCPP usually makes use of cyan, magenta, yellow and black and, in addition, colors such as red, green, and blue on the intermediate axes. Examples include Pantone Hexachrome, FM6, Opaltone and HP Indichrome.

The main benefits of using MCPP are reduction in costs and increased speed to market in package production that requires the use of spot colors outside of the CMYK color gamut. Mark believes that retailers are the most powerful player in the supply chain. They are driving CPCs by dictating how they will deliver product and what will be paid for it. This drives the need for faster preparation of packaging by more cost effective means.

MCPP can be used as an alternative to using CMYK and various spot colors. By designating a set of colors to a specific press and engineering the images through color management from that set of colors, press uptime is maximized by reducing the need to clean and set-up various spot colors. Ink inventories can also be reduced and multiple designs can be co-printed. This may be especially useful when line extensions are printed.

There are some disadvantages to using MCPP. Increased cost may be incurred in inks due to the greater number of colors used, technology fees for the purchase of MCPP solutions, and prepress for the conversion of existing designs and matching previous runs. MCPP does not always produce better color than CMYK printing and color management for six colors is much less refined than it is for four color process.

Overall, there is a cost to implementation, but after the initial stages profit rate grows tremendously. With lower costs being such a high priority for CPCs, Vanover feels that they may be willing to compromise integrity and quality of images in favor of the better economics that MCPP offers. More emphasis may be placed on the structure of the package to offset the compromised graphics, based on market research that shows that the structure of a package has more impact on customer satisfaction than do graphics.

Mark wrapped up his presentation by describing some of the tools that Esko has developed such as “InkWizard”, part of PackEdge 4, and how they can help facilitate the transition to Multiple Color Process Printing.