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

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 Ian Harcourt, Managing Director of Harcourt Colour Printers. The company employs the now increasingly typical complex mix of flat bed, 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."

Commenting on behalf of the supplier, Nic Chapman, Sales Director of Prepress UK, said: "We are delighted with the way this first installation has gone. Harcourt Colour Printers are quite 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."

Passing comment regarding his customers' reaction, Ian Harcourt said: "ColourLinx has given us the confidence that we needed to be able to talk to customers about true colour consistency across all of their work. We are winning work because of the quality of colour accuracy and consistency that we can now provide for them."

About ColourLinx

ColourLinx is able to standardise all output devices within a production company, including digital, wide format, and litho. These technologies are increasingly having to be used in a mixed print environment: posters with flyers; litho covers combined with digital text pages.  ColourLinx is the affordable solution to create consistency.

The package brings colour continuity making all of a users output devices print to the same standard, within the tolerances of the different machines. Output devices are then able to print to the same colour standard that has been chosen within an organisation, meaning that if a print company is mixing wide format with digital and litho, all output will match.

The software can also be used to check the colour accuracy of each device to the chosen standard, providing a report on colour compliance. ColourLinx also provides the tools needed to create additional profiles, making the user self-sufficient. If a user decides to change inks, buy a new machine, or just change substrate there is no need to go back to a supplier to buy a profile: users can create everything they need.

ColourLinx also cuts down on ink usage on a litho press, reducing the ink bill. ColourLinx automatically optimises all of your PDF and image files to reduce unnecessary ink, standardising colour, and saving between 10% and 40% ink volume. Four benefits are delivered in one: reduced ink costs, shorter drying times, drastically reduced potential for set-off, and easier to control colour.

For more information please Contact Prepress UK.

About Harcourt Colour Printers

Now in its 23rd year of business, Swansea-based Harcourt Colour Printers employs a team of 22 personnel and produces a wide range of commercial colour printing for a customer base that is centred in Wales but stretches out to the South West of England as well as Bristol and the M5 corridor.

For further information on Harcourt see www.harcourtcolourprint.co.uk or call 01792 588 292.