Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in the printing industry, including packaging printing. Print buyers, brand owners, converters, and suppliers are all seeking ways to meet their sustainability objectives. Achieving these goals requires collaboration across the entire value chain. Colour management can play a crucial role in making the printing process more sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective writes Dr. Kiran Deshpande in this COVER STORY adapted from PRINTINGUnited Alliance Resource (www.printing.org). Discover how colour helps sustains profit in excerpt below:
UNDERSTANDING COLOUR MANAGEMENT
First of all, we need to understand what do we mean by colour management. I remember many conversations where people misunderstood colour management as just measuring colours or applying colour profiles in the prepress. In fact, the scope of colour management is much wider than that. It can optimize the entire colour process workflow and printing conditions across the supply chain. Simply put, colour management ensures consistent, accurate, and predictable colours throughout the workflow, from design through prepress, print production to the final product on supermarket shelves, where consumers connect with printed products.
Here are some of the ways in which you can leverage colour management to achieve your sustainability goals, improve your operational efficiency and business benefits.
COLOUR WORKFLOW OPTIMIZATION ACROSS THE SUPPLY CHAIN
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Colour process optimization across the workflow provides plenty of opportunities for boosting productivity and sustainability. Take an example of the substrates used in your workflow. Whether you are a brand owner or a print converter, you can streamline the portfolio of your substrates. This will result in the optimization of inks based on their compatibility with the substrates and the final products. The same goes for press conditions such as plates and blankets for offset printing, anilox rollers for flexographic printing and doctor blades for gravure printing. In the prepress, you can review your workflow to find out any gaps and opportunities for standardization such as screening methods, screen angles, RIP settings etc.
Consistent colour, faster press setup, and reduced material waste are achievable by using standardized printing conditions. Organizations like Idealliance and FOGRA offer characterization data sets that define these conditions for different printing processes and substrates. These data sets and associated ICC (International Colour Consortium) profiles are available through the ICC website (see reference 1,2,3). Choosing appropriate standard printing conditions, combined with an effective press calibration method, such as G7, will significantly enhance print quality and efficiency. Colour management also offers some techniques which result in ink savings. For example, in CMYK printing, traditionally Gray Component Replacement (GCR) is used to replace the neutral CMY component with black ink in neutral and chromatic regions. Similarly, there are ‘ink optimization tools’ available in different colour management software applications to minimize ink consumption.
COLOUR AUTOMATION TOOLS
Colour automation is another area which could provide significant efficiency. This includes in-press scanning spectrophotometer and quality monitoring systems, cloud-based colour QC (Quality Control) tools, prepress automation software applications etc. These tools help maintain colour consistency and reduce manual intervention, leading to fewer errors and less waste. You can reduce the number of approvals, including on-press approvals, throughout the supply chain. Consider using remote proofing tools and online (web-based) colour approval systems.
MANAGING SPOT COLOURS
© Dr. Deshpande
Brand owners and designers can influence a lot of parameters in the printing supply chain. Think about the number of brand colours or spot colours in your palette across the design portfolio. By analyzing the spot colours in CIELAB colour space (a device-independent, 3D colour space for precisely measuring and comparing all perceptible colours utilizing three colour values ) we can eliminate the redundant colours, and then rationalize the spot colour database. Some brands have even restricted the use of specific pigments to improve colour consistency and sustainability.
In one project, we managed to reduce the number of spot colours in the portfolio by 32% using colourimetric analysis. Depending on your current scenario, this number could be more or less. It will simplify the process by reducing the number of inks, colour matching time and waste material. Designers can also contribute to sustainability by selecting colours (for a new artwork or product) that facilitate recyclability. For instance, lighter shades of colours with higher lightness values (L*) have better de-inking potential, making them more eco-friendly.
SENSIBLE TOLERANCES
Printing involves mechanical, chemical, electronic and digital processes. There are inherent process limitations which should be mitigated with sensible tolerances. Note that ‘sensible’ is a key word here.
One of the fundamental metrics that we use for colour quality monitoring is ΔE or colour difference between the target colour and the printed colour. There are different mathematical formulas to calculate the colour difference, such as ΔE76 and ΔE2000. There are other metrics used for print quality assessment such as tone values, gray balance, tonality, metamerism index etc. It’s imperative to keep these tolerances realistic according to the process limitation of your printing conditions. Overly tight tolerances can lead to increased material waste, longer production times, and a higher carbon footprint. Because quality comes with a price. For instance, reducing default colour tolerances by 0.5 ΔE2000 could translate into hundreds of extra press hours, increased material usage and higher carbon footprint of your production and supply chain. It’s like a butterfly effect from chaos theory where tiny actions can have significant consequences.
On the other hand, you can’t just loosen the ΔE tolerance without optimizing the process first. Make sure that the variables are optimized and the process is stable before adjusting tolerances. There are several tools for colour quality control like spectrophotometric devices and quality monitoring software applications. Final printed product and market expectations also play a role. Luxury product packaging, like a premium cognac, would require stricter tolerances than FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) packaging, like a soft drink bottle. Metrics like the E-Factor can help correlate the colour difference with your personal expectation for an acceptable colour match (see reference 4).
EXPANDED COLOUR GAMUT PRINTING
Traditionally, packaging printing relies on spot colours with dedicated inks for brand colours. However, with shorter print runs and more product variations, this approach increases wash-ups, waste, and costs. Expanded Colour Gamut (ECG) printing replaces spot colours with a fixed ink set, typically using CMYK plus Orange, Green, and Violet (CMYKOGV). This method boosts productivity by enabling multiple designs and Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) to be printed in a single job, reducing press wash-ups, setup time, ink waste, and overall carbon footprint. The graph shows potential improvements in various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on one study (see reference 5). In addition, ECG printing can enhance the vividness of your images so that the final printed product stands out on the shelf. It uses n-colour printing where ‘n’ is a number of fixed process inks. The number of fixed inks used can vary depending on the press (number of printing units), products, and spot colour portfolio. One option to consider is 4-colour ECG printing, such as the XCMYK process (see reference 6), which can significantly improve efficiency.
Source: see reference (5)
While ECG printing offers significant benefits, it requires precise process control and stability particularly registration control. It’s a complex implementation with a special ECG colour separation software as well as careful calibration, profiling and validation. There are several strategies for transition and production of ECG printing (see reference 7). You need to collaborate with knowledgeable suppliers. Despite these hurdles, significant tangible benefits still outweigh the efforts of implementing ECG printing. There is a recently published international standard providing guidelines and recommendations for ECG printing: ISO/TS 21328 (see reference 8). Industry organizations like Idealliance, FOGRA, FTA have done a lot of work and published guidelines on ECG printing (see reference 9,10,11).
CONCLUSION
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In essence, the integration of strategic colour management practices throughout the printing value chain offers a powerful pathway towards achieving sustainability goals. By optimizing workflows, leveraging automation, and making informed design and tolerance decisions, the industry can significantly reduce waste, enhance efficiency, and minimize its environmental footprint, ultimately ensuring a more responsible and prosperous future for print. The tactics mentioned above may not be suitable for every stakeholder or scenario in printing. However, they can be selectively used to address the challenges in meeting sustainability targets and business performance objectives.
References
1. International Colour Consortium. CMYK Characterization Data. [Online]. [cited 2024 12 13. Available from: https://www.colour.org/chardata/drsection1.xalter.
- International Colour Consortium. ICC Profile Registry. [Online].; 2025 [cited 2025 03 10. Available from: https://www.colour.org/registry/index.xalter.
- Idealliance. Idealliance Web site. [Online].; 2013 [cited 2024 11 05. Available from: https://idealliance.org/specifications/gracol/.
- ChromaChecker. E-Factor Online Exercise. [Online].; 2025 [cited 2025 03 10. Available from: https://chromachecker.com/personal_ef/en/start.
- Lankinen K. Evaluation of Expanded Gamut Printing in Flexography. PhD Thesis. Tampere University; 2021.
- Idealliance. XCMYK Expanded Gamut. [Online].; 2017 [cited 2024 12 14. Available from: https://idealliance.org/specifications/xcmyk-expanded-gamut/.
- Deshpande K. N-colour sepration methods for accurate reproduction of spot colours. University of the Arts London, PhD Thesis; 2015.
- International Organization for Standardization. Graphic technology — Guidelines and recommendations for multicolour (CMYKOGV) print characterization. ISO/TS 21328:2022. ; 2022.
- Idealliance. Expanded Colour Gamut (ECG) Project. [Online].; 2021 [cited 2024 11 06. Available from: https://idealliance.org/specifications/expanded-colour-gamut-ecg-project/.
- FOGRA55. Characterization data for relevant printing condition. [Online].; 2021 [cited 2024 12 13. Available from: https://fogra.org/en/downloads/work-tools/characterisation-data.
- Flexographic Technical Association. The Benefits of Expanded Gamut Printing: Savings, Stability, Fast Turnaround. [Online].; 2025. Available from: https://www.flexography.org/industry-news/benefits-expanded-gamut-eg-printing-savings-stability-fast-turnaround/.
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About DR. KIRAN DESHPANDE
As Global Senior Expert in Colour Management at Siegwerk, Dr. Deshpande is with over two decades of experience developing impactful colour solutions across the printing and packaging industry. He has a proven track record of spearheading strategic initiatives covering several printing plants worldwide, managing colour workflows and quality across diverse printing technologies (Offset, Flexo, Gravure, Digital), successfully delivering significant business value.
With his deep expertise in process optimization of CMYK, spot (brand) colours, and Expanded Colour Gamut (ECG) printing, backed by a strong academic foundation (MSc in Digital Colour Imaging, PhD in Colour Science), Dr. Deshpande extensive industry experience with leading companies like Xerox, Esko, Burgopak and Multi Packaging Solutions (Smurfit WestRock) are all proofs of his expertise. Currently leading a global colour management programme at Siegwerk that drives innovation and best practices across all business units, he also provides comprehensive guidance to the packaging printing supply chain: brand owners, designers, pre-press, print converters and ink-room.
As a recognized authority in the field of colour science, Dr. Deshpande strong publication record (scientific papers, articles and patents) is actively shaping international standards through contributing to ISO, CIE, ICC, Idealliance, FOGRA and more. And as a certified G7 and BrandQ Expert that is passionate about pushing the boundaries of colour science, Dr. Deshpande has consistently contributed to inventive technologies and digitalization in colour management that are dedicated to delivering innovative colour solutions to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and sustainability.
