Greetings all.

New member to this forum.

We just recently purchased an IGen4. I am curious to know how other handle the day to day proofing/printing workflow. We currently have a
Xerox 8000 and would produce one color proof on the stock requested and send to the customer for aproval. One aproved we would put the job
back in the schedule to be completed.

Any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks and have a great day.

Welcome Andre!

I think "Workflow" Describes many things. Basic Procedures, Proof approval process, How files get to press, What settings to use and how do you determine, Preflight, Imposition, calibrations, etc. Generally speaking Yes a proof should be pulled off the device it will print on, Get approval, then release that file to print. Pretty basic. But, what is your quality controls? How will you be sure the color will be the same when it comes back. How can you be sure that you are giving them the best proof you can? Are you or do you need to match (color managing) colors between devices? What do you do if the Igen goes down for a day, can you move the job to the 8000 and match color? Are you trimming the proofs and finishing them or leaving them flat or doing rule ups? Are you or should you soft proof? Is someone proofreading to compare what was given to what you printed - What if some White text is spec'd to overprint in the document and disappears when it prints, who is responsible to catch? Are you maximizing efficiencies on press? Who and how are color settings determined? What are the customers expectations? How are your files prepared. is rgb better or cmyk, it profiles embedded, what is better and when? What about variable - Do you send vipp, ps, pdf? What is the most efficient method to print Variable? etc. etc. etc.

So many things to think about... Workflow, what does it mean to you???

Just making you think..

Dale Zahnke

Overload...... Wow Dale that's a lot of questions for one question, but you are correct! Workflow should to be applied to all aspects, right down to boxing the job.

Andre, one thing you will need to be careful of is matching colors from the proof the the print. I can't speak for the iGen, we have an 8000AP. What do you do if you print the proof and the customer takes their good old time approving it, in between you had to have the developers changed? I still get some slight shifts in color when this happens, it is usually around 3dE, for the next few thousand prints. So far that shift hasn't bit me in the rump.

Too much to think about... why can't you just hit the big green button and walk away!

Hey Andre,

I work with an igen3. I am not sure what DFE you are working with, but I use a Creo 2.6 that has a color check tool. It uses the spectophotmeter to check the color. It lets you know if you failed, and what colors have failed (cmyk and PMS). This is one tool I use to see if my color has shifted out of range.

Every morning I go into diagnostics, and check my dev age and if needed, do a dev recovery to get my numbers close and do a Xerographic set up after that.

I would proof any job on the machine it will eventually run on, every color machine has its own color gamut and trying to match colors from 2 different machines consistenly will drive you mad.

Keep track of your numbers for the grids, wires, charge stations, etc. Try to change them at the same numeric interval regardless of what coverage you have been running

Try not to sweat the matching the halftones exactly too too much, it is impossible. There will always be some shift in color in lighter halftones with digital printing.

Not sure if you need a work flow for archiving active proof or recalling previous files for current requests???

Good luck
JC