Today’s color technology is rooted in the late 1920’s with the development of the first Hardy spectrophotometer. The number of older, legacy measurement systems in use today is likely far greater than the total sold in the last 5 years. Color measurement remains a diverse collection of hardware and firmware that provide data – but no means to easily compare results. Since the 1970’s, computers and software have been added to the mix. Today new technologies are pushing the limits of color and appearance into a fully digital world. These solutions simplify the management of legacy measurement equipment as well as connect all the color islands of information into a coherent network of managed dataflow.

While small in number, the pressure to innovate and bring speed to the management of color is significant. The greatest challenge being faced today is the ability to reduce time to market. Figure 1 below shows supply chain requirements critical to improving the color approval cycle. Today’s technologies provide the platform to meet these requirements.

Supply Chain Model

The Internet continues to create hype, controversy and, for those with the right focus, tremendous value. A primary impact on business models is being felt in supply chains. Businesses with mission critical color needs, shared throughout their supply chain, find that the color approval process remains the most significant bottleneck to achieve peak production cycle goals. Today’s Internet-technologies can reduce this bottleneck and drive unlimited value from optimizing the speed and efficiency of supply chain partners. To understand how, let us first establish a model of the roles in the supply chain that must communicate color. Figure 2 shows these roles and some examples.

The Designer begins the flow of color data by defining a color. The Approver must convert the Designer’s color request into a color that can be produced within a specified tolerance. The Maker works with the Approver to formulate the color and apply it to the substrate. The Assembler receives the materials with the approved colors and assembles into the final product, checking and verifying color accuracy on all the produced materials. The Provider acts to support the Designers, Approvers and Makers by supplying colorants and expertise on how to formulate and apply the color to achieve the Designer’s defined color. Internet-based technologies exist to support the accurate, real-time flow of color data between these five actors.

Real-Time Color Communication and Management Solutions

The swatch card that dominates the textile and apparel industry is an example of a manual process utilized today. Swatches are stapled to cards and notes are written and then communicated via express deliveries, faxes, e-mails or phone calls. Auditing and control is difficult and usually requires an excessive amount of administrative intervention to find, update and report on current status. Tests show that costs can run from $50 - $70 per color approval cycle and colors average from 3 – 5 cycles before being approved. And, when pressed for time, colors tend to be approved even if they are out of desired tolerance, leading to high potential for rejections later on. Today’s leading edge technologies address the need to speed up the color approval cycle in a real-time solution, while minimizing manual processes.

Color is traditionally controlled by numerous point solutions that implement proprietary and potentially unique methods for quantifying and communicating color. The two most powerful tools currently provided through the Internet are E-mail and the Browser.

Most point color solutions implement E-mail as their only Internet-technology. E-mail allows for easy communication across the globe, however, it has no reliable means to control or audit the deluge of data being sent everyday.

The Browser is the second revolution of the Internet. It allows individuals to access applications and data from different systems located around the world. Its power comes from making all applications and data that conform to the accepted standards, equal. Access to the latest programs and information is only limited by the ability to get connected. HTML is the original language standard that brings content to the screen. XML is the latest standard that brings data to each application, allowing for its transparent exchange from one system to another. To participate in this world means creating applications that apply these standards.

Through emerging technology, color data can now be moved and color requirements can be communicated through a fully automated, audited and controlled process. Tools are provided to control the creation and distribution of color palettes to various suppliers that act on them, and return a response. All this occurs via the Internet, reporting to the same database and using the same applications to manage the quantification and communication of color, while adhering to the current standards. Initial applications focus on the exchange that occurs between the Approver and Maker roles. As this technology advances, the organization of color and its communication will be formatted to meet the specific needs of each actor involved. Change no longer means receiving and distributing new applications to PC’s throughout the supply chain, where platforms and standards may differ.

The Valuable Conclusions

Synchronizing the supply chain is a key to unlocking tremendous value to a corporation. Businesses with mission critical color need tools to help unlock this value. KSA reported in June 2000 that the textile and apparel supply chain has $34 billion in waste from its current processes. Product design and development account for 20% of that figure. Color is identified as the largest factor impeding any real improvements here. David Anderson and Hau Lee write in Synchronized Supply Chains: The New Frontier that:

“Information sharing was found to be a key enabler of these developments … limitation (of full sharing) hinders companies from realizing the full benefits of collaborative design. And the opportunity is significant - the study's conservative financial modeling demonstrated that the potential economic impact of collaborative design is more than $12 billion for the 66 representative companies analyzed in the study … this represents a substantial opportunity.”

Emerging technologies exist that use the Internet to enable a synchronized flow of color data from concept to production and from information to analysis – today in real-time. As new roles enter the system, the ability to collaborate will continue to improve and the color approval cycle will continue to speed up.