by [TC]²
A monthly column of technology rambling, rumination and reality
By: Jud Early, Corporate Vice President, Research, [TC]²
April 2005
Notes From The Field
Hello, faithful readers,
Light rain is streaking the windows of the train as we speed from Holland through Belgium to France. Tonight we will stay in Lille, France before returning to Belgium. The first two days of our European technology trip have been flawless. I wish I could say the same for my typing as the keyboard swings from side to side as the car follows the less-than-straight tracks.
Today's visit to Stork Digital Imaging was certainly interesting, and what will be shared here is not confidential. Stork, long a presence in digitally printing fabrics has partnered with printer manufacturers to provide high quality graphics for textiles while remaining independent of printer brand. The many years of experience in understanding color has allowed Stork to develop color management software that out performs the manufacture's own software.
Next month they will introduce new software. Before getting into that, I need to provide some background on why this could be important to you. I wrote briefly about See U in a column in 2003. I also have spoken about it in several seminars and presentations.
For three years, Stork has operated a digital printing plant in Thailand. Serving retailers and brand owners with fabrics ranging from short run to tens of thousands of meters, the experience has been invaluable in pinpointing opportunity areas, and for determining first-hand just how reliable digital printers are when printing textiles 24/7 and for 350 days each year. The process is known as See U, and demonstrates the ability to ensure that colors that are sampled in one location will be faithfully reproduced in another, and is offered with a guarantee to do so. The guarantee, which is a strong selling point, has never been tested, according to Jos Notermanns, Stork's Marketing and Sales Manager. In three years of commission printing, there has been no claim against the process for failure to match the sample precisely. Doing so has required a commitment to the customer, to the process, and a strong dedication to quality control of the process, not the product. Certified See U sites are required to conform to the characterization steps and the adherence to the process that delivers perfectly matched goods from any other site, from anywhere in the world. So, with that background, here's more about the software to be introduced…
Known as Print Server 2.0 to those who are not yet a part of the See U network, or, as “U Print to See U clients, the software provides higher productivity from the same printer, via changes in dithering, ink volume and resolution. For a given image, the quality may be higher and the productivity slightly improved, or the quality may be the same, but with a resulting throughput increase. Resolutions of 360x540 will yield higher quality than 360x360, and will do so faster. The user also has the ability to control the drop volume, a setting normally reserved for the RIP developer to determine. If a bit more ink is needed, more can be dialed in to provide more penetration or better coverage if needed. The software will also prevent user error in setup and operation by cueing the user, and warning if steps have been omitted or done incorrectly. Time to first print has been improved through RIP-on-the-fly. In normal raster image processing, the entire file must be RIPed, before printing can start. With PS 2.0/U Print, initial ripping is immediately passed to the printer, allowing the print job to start, then is followed with additional RIPed data from the original file, which many will find to be a real productivity improver. I recently witnessed a file being ripped, that required about twenty minutes before starting the print job, and in cases where insufficient memory is present in the RIP station, the entire twenty minutes could be wasted, as an out-of-memory error is displayed before the file can be completed.
When sampling, if the color space is larger than the production printer can reproduce, it will be known by the software, and colors automatically selected that are within the reproducible color space. This again saves time, and allows the print house to do more with existing equipment..
My first instincts after seeing the features presented, was to see if we could obtain a copy for use in the [TC]² Ink Drop Boutique. Alas, our Mimaki Tx-1 1600 is too old. Being only six colors, it did not fit into Stork's plans to develop for current machines. Indeed, the new software will be introduced with new machines. That, obviously is intended to inspire and influence the new machine buyer to purchase a Stork Sapphire with the new software as a means to recover the investment faster. There is good news, however, for users of current Sapphire machines, and other machines of eight colors. There is a plan being developed to provide an upgrade path for those existing customers who have machines that are capable of benefiting from the improved software.
Why this is being written on the train…
My colleague Mike Fralix and I are once again in search of technology and business topics that will be used in a report to be published later this year. It also will form the basis for the technology keynote at Apparel Magazine's Tech Conference to be held in New York on November 13 this year. We will travel to six countries in ten days, speaking with technologists, Trade Associations, Research Institutions, and Universities. In May, Japan and the JIAM show will provide more input, and in addition, we will meet with some businesses privately to take the technology pulse, and to learn of new developments. Mike will cover more topics in Gemany in May, and I will check in at FESPA in Munich, then to the September Mass Customization Conference in Hong Kong, with side trips to China to wring the last bit of information possible before finalizing the report and preparing a forty-five minute abbreviated version for the keynote. Much travel, much to see, and hopefully much more to tell from our visits. Stay tuned.
Footnote:
We visited Picanol on Wednesday, and found once again a team of people who possess a high level of technical competency, and imagination. The average person might not appreciate the innovation possible in weaving machines that still do the same thing as machines from the early industrial revolution. Don't be fooled, Where there is room for improvement, the Picanol design team will find it and devise a solution. Today we saw a new loom that will be introduced to the European market beginning Sunday of next week, and for several days they will bring in customers to see the new machines. We will not report on them here, but after next week will be released to share more. I hope to have some pictures to accompany the next column. There are some remarkable advances in the weaver's art. Again, stay tuned.
Jud and Mike