This year we have again submitted proofs for Fogra certification. We thus prove that we not only deliver excellent proof quality through internal quality controls and checks, but that the quality of our proofs is also confirmed by an external body. We have therefore had proof prints certified for the seventh year in a row.
Already in 2019, we were among the first to also be certified for the representation of spot colours (“Spot-cert”), and in 2020 we also went through Spot-cert in addition. And all in all, we have been successfully certified by Fogra for the ninth time in a row. Sometimes customers ask:
“You get Fogra certified every year. Won’t that become unnecessary at some point? You know you can do it …”
Yes, that is sometimes true. Every certification means effort and costs, the prints have to be made, sheets have to be filled in, everything has to be sent to Munich and invoices have to be transferred. And that’s just so that we can have the same high quality confirmed as in previous years. On the other hand, this isn’t true either.
Proofing is only superficially “service by the book as always”. In real life, no two years are the same. Proofing software, for example, is not sold on the mass market, so every update brings difficulties: Important functions fail, protocols are output incorrectly, optimisations do not optimise but worsen the results…: What we haven’t had to experience! Especially here it is important to have the security of certification by Fogra that even with the latest software revision all relevant processes still run cleanly.
The same applies to the hardware, which can be just as troublesome as the software: sometimes we have a generation change of proof printers, which always involves a change of inks and colour pigments, sometimes the driver or firmware is renewed, sometimes faulty print heads have been replaced …: Here, too, there are many possible sources of error that keep us on our toes. And here, too, the certifications bring us security for daily production – our everyday business. And that, too, is often not commonplace at proof.de:
Verifiably precise …
Our so-called “everyday business” is often characterised by special cases, exceptions and special requirements. Admittedly: We like to work off Fogra39 proofs in ISOCoatedV2, where all data is delivered in CMYK. Something like that just runs really smoothly for us. But apart from these “standards”, we process much more for our customers: we produce high-precision colour samples, proof individual proof profiles for metal decor printing, process thick, high-gloss papers for proofs and extremely thin, matt papers for art projects, apply PANTONE colours to roll-ups, fine art prints in AdobeRGB on cotton canvas, ECI-RGB-V2 on Hahnemühle papers, print XYZ colour targets for multispectral cameras and …:
Recently, we have also started producing colour fans for sampling and for the calibration of camera systems used to evaluate the energy efficiency of electrical appliances such as steam cookers or ovens. The challenge here: Not only do we have to produce high-quality prints in very specific colours on very specific papers, we also have to be able to prove the quality of these prints within the narrowest tolerances to the accreditation and testing organisations. So this is about the validity of colour charts, a validity that does not refer to physically existing samples such as an “original meter”, but to a reference colour value for which there is no physical original reference.
Here, too, the certification by Fogra is helpful:
It gives us exactly the security we need to communicate about the precision of our colour samples. We know from our Fogra certifications that we can deliver very good quality in the reproduction of process colours and spot colours. And with this certainty behind us, we produce and measure our colour samples. And that is exactly why there can and will be no alternative to Fogra certification for us.
This year, too, the quality of our prints and our spot colour reproduction of PANTONE colours was confirmed by Fogra for all tested proof standards.
You can download the complete 14-page Fogra test report here.
Test Report Fogra Certificate Proof GmbH 2021 Fogra Contract Proof Creation 34558
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