Launched: Robert Fuller and Scott Telfer, chairman of the National Print Awards with the first printed item under the new colour standard

After 12 months in the making, Australia now has its first official standard for colour management. Launched by the Lithographic Institute of Australia and the Printing Industries Association of Australia, the new standard AS 12647-2 replicates the ISO standard used in Europe, America and Asia.

While the standard is not compulsory, the Australian Colour Standards committee says it has been proven there are significant cost savings to be gained by implementing the new standard. Savings will come through faster make ready times and reliability of colour reproduction across different printers and locations.

Printers can implement compliance by adopting quality control practices that ensure consistent print production in accordance with the Australian standard. The ISO standard is available to buy from Standards Australia’s web site.

The new standard was launched in Parramatta last night at an event co-sponsored by one of the leading printing groups in Australia IPMG, which includes Craft, Hannon Print and Offset Alpine, and the National Print Awards.

Printers heard it is essential the industry embraces and adopts the new standard if it is to keep work in Australia and have a chance of competing internationally.

To date there has not been an Australian standard by which clients or printers could prove or match printed product to the colours specified by an agency or the client.

Robert Fuller, general manager of Printing Industries NSW says until now solely the skill and eyesight of print operators were relied on for matching a proof to the finished product.

He says, “The global marketplace is very much a reality for Australian printers and while our print quality has been exceptionally high in comparison to many overseas printers, we have not been able to validate the integrity of the print process unlike our overseas competitors.”

Fuller adds, “By obtaining compliance validation to systems that are based upon the Australian and international standard it means that we will start clawing back the four-year lag between Australia and Europe.”

The Australian colour standards committee says the adoption of the standard may require a change in culture, business and printing practices for some printers. Meeting the client’s needs will become more about matching a standard and having a proofing system that is capable of accurately predicting and repeating the result when that standard is achieved.

Winning jobs will depend on a printer’s ability to guarantee results that meet specifications as described in the standards. Quality control will be about legally binding, measurable consistency and not just about producing a particular result that satisfies the client on a job-by-job basis, according to the committee.