How to know when a printer’s proof is print-ready

Misconception about printer's proof
 

A brand company goes through many revision cycles until a final PDF is approved.
Management gives the go ahead to print 500,000 labels.

Purchasing fires off a purchase order to the printer with the approved PDF file attached.

Most people consider this to be the end of the line and the expectation that the printed labels will be delivered in a few days.

The packaging engineers know better. The Brand companies approved PDF is far from being “Print-Ready”.

How to know when a printer’s proof is print-ready?

The Printer depends on professionals from pre-press to trap, bleed, and impose the file, correct errors in the Brand companies file and much more. The end result is a derivative of the Brand companies approved PDF file. This is the “Printer’s Proof”.

But Printing cannot begin.

Remember the Purchase Order the Brand company sent to the Printer? This is the “Contract”.

In order for the printer to get paid for printing 500,000 labels, the contract requires that the 500,000 labels match the Brand companies approved PDF file exactly. NOT the Proof!

Printing cannot begin until the PDF is verified against the Proof. But whose responsibility is it to check the Proof?

Most printers will send the proof to the Brand company and wait for the signoff before starting print production.

But even with the Brand companies signoff of the proof, the printer cannot take the risk and assume there are no errors in the Proof for the following reasons:

  1. The Brand company may sign and never have checked the Proof.
  2. The Brand company may have checked quickly and missed an obvious error.
  3. The responsibility is usually assumed to be shared.
  4. The Purchase order has legal weight.
  5. The Brand company may be in the wrong, and refuse to pay.
  6. The Brand company may be wrong, but the Printer will not want to lose the customer.
  7. The Brand company may be in the right, but loses time to market.
  8. The Brand company may be in the right, but delays production.

It is for these reasons that both parties will need to verify the Printer’s Proof.

Misconception #2 – The Printer’s Proof, is part two in a five part series about the misconceptions in packaging quality control.

Visit our blog next week for Misconception #3 – The Approved Text Copy.

GlobalVision is the leading developer of proofreading technologies for retail and consumer packaged goods. Learn how GlobalVision has helped Consumer Goods companies of all sizes in quality control.

For more information on GlobalVision and the Quality Control Platform for print and packaging, please visit: globalvision.co or email: info@globalvision.co

Request a free trial for GlobalVision Print Inspection Solution

Learn More about How to Create Error-Free Packaging

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Announcing GlobalVision technologies built into Esko Automation Engine

undergoing inspection work on a laptop
 
 

Forget 7. 16 is the next big thing.

This week marks the iPhone 7 launch but for us prepress folks, we’ve got something to be more excited about with the launch of Esko Software Platform 16. 16 marks the arrival of GlobalVision’s built-in technologies in Automation Engine. So what does it mean when two leading prepress software providers team up? The industry’s first fully automated quality control prepress workflow solution. Why is this a game changer? Just like Siri became a game changer with a smart personal assistant for your iPhone, GlobalVision is your smart QC assistant for Automation Engine. Don’t worry anymore about having to do manual comparisons on files, printing out files and checking barcodes or proofreading for spelling and text errors. Pass one or two files through GlobalVision and our QC assistant will tell you any problems related to your files.

Quality control workflow using GlobalVision tools

Ask, “GlobalVision what’s wrong with my files?” and GlobalVision lets you know:

“You don’t have enough quiet zone in your barcode.” – Barproof | Barcode inspection

“You’ve spelled allergans wrong.”- Spellproof | Spelling inspection

“The text from your approved document was not found in your artwork.”- Docuproof | Text inspection

“The colors are different in your file.”- Artproof | Graphics inspection

“You’ve printed something that doesn’t match the PDF.”- Scanproof | Print inspection

“This is exactly what I hoped it would do”

Suddenly, QC becomes easy, and you can view GlobalVision’s inspection reports and decide if you want to pass the artwork onto production or have it reworked in prepress. Checking for text, color, barcode, even Braille errors has never been easier.

Used to seeing it in your Esko Viewer? Not a problem, GlobalVision results show up directly in Esko Viewer and even in Illustrator through Esko’s DeskPack plugins and even in WebCenter, for your customer portal.

Brand companies can benefit too with pre-defined checks for regulatory text approvals and text comparisons for nutrition facts. The most powerful piece of this puzzle is the ability for you to build custom workflows and design these automated checks in your Automation Engine workflow to the way your company works.

You can have your customers run an automated spellcheck before sending over their jobs to you or automatically find differences in your pre-press files vs. the customer’s artwork.

You can now build in rules when errors are found within Automation Engine but If everything is fine, just continue to the next step in the Automation Engine workflow and save your reports to view later.

With the ability to run inspection in parallel and in batches, you’ve just multiplied your QC and pre-press teams.

The feedback in talking with Pre-release customers for Automation Engine 16 over the last few months has just been fantastic with comments like “this is exactly what I hoped it would do” to “this is a game changer for the pre-press industry.”

Making our customers’ lives easier, more efficient and error free is what we strive to do here at GlobalVision, and I am proud to say the teaming up of Esko and GlobalVision does just that, making the last three years of joint development well worth it. That’s why I think 16 is the next big thing.

Learn how GlobalVision can help ensure data integrity using Automated Proofreading.

Request a free trial for GlobalVision Digital Inspection Solution

Learn More about How Esko Software Platform Makes Packaging Simplified

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GlobalVision Has A New Look

GlobalVision Has A New Look
 
Old GV Logo vs New GV logo

At GlobalVision, we recently went through a substantial branding change to better reflect who we are and the solutions we deliver in the marketplace. 

While our previous logo direction has served us well for many years and became recognizable, GlobalVision has matured and evolved to represent a very specific set of solutions. 

With the logo not reflecting who we were and where we were headed, we decided to make it a priority to re-establish our branding to reflect our core promise to our customers.

red square in black background with white dots

 
In reviewing our past and current products, we wanted a new brand that communicated our solutions in finding & eliminating errors on print and packaging–a promise that defines us as a company. 

The new branding solution came from the source of what our business is all about, an icon that our customers have been associated with from day one, the error icon in our detection software.

Red Square

 
Unquestionably, the unsung hero behind the company, we decided to bring this icon to the forefront as our new visual mark. The perfect square also conveyed our dedication to helping our customers achieve error-free results.

GV logo in transparent, black and red background

Icon of Docuproof, Airproof, Barproof, Brailleproof, Spellproof and Scanproof

GlobalVision book in black cover

 
We developed a brand identity that brought our concept to life. This new identity will help fuel a transformation of our business going forward and continuing to innovate in our industry. The final result we couldn’t be more proud of. You will be able to see the new visual identity more going forward as we gradually launch our new brand over time.

For more information on GlobalVision and our branding change, please visit: globalvision.co or email us at info@globalvision.co

Want to see GlobalVision in action?

How does GlobalVision Work? 

GlobalVision software digitally compares two files to identify any differences between the two. With GlobalVision, you can verify digital or printed content against approved files for 100% accuracy.

Read more on how GlobalVision works and how your business can benefit from it.

Related Articles:

How to know when a printer’s proof is print-ready

CMOs of Increasing Importance to Pharmaceutical Companies

Integrating QC Tools into Print Workflow Automation Solutions

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CMOs of Increasing Importance to Pharmaceutical Companies

Pharmaceutical Companies Manufacturing

The pharmaceutical marketplace has changed dramatically over the last few years as pharmaceutical companies are moving from centralized, internal production to single-source providers or Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMO).

The principal reason behind this evolution in the landscape is simple, to cut costs, increase capacity and reduce time-to-market. Beyond these obvious criteria, there are numerous other reasons why pharmaceutical companies are relying heavily on the growing CMO market.

Whereas CMOs once produced primary packaging they now offer a multitude of services from design and discovery to final packaging.

Outsourcing to a CMO allows the pharmaceutical company to add technical resources without increasing its overhead costs. The result of this is that the pharmaceutical company does not need to invest in expanding its staff and manufacturing facilities, to add new varieties of medicines into its product lines.

Pharmaceutical companies can now concentrate on core products regarding R&D and production and leave its secondary and tertiary products to the CMO.

CMOs of Increasing Importance to Pharmaceutical Companies 

What is a CMO?

The term CMO can refer to a multitude of different companies including Contract Packaging Organization, Contract Pharmaceutical Manufacturer. However, in recent years CMOs have been more or less classified into two types of organizations:

API Contract Manufacturer (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient)

These are companies that manufacture a substance(s) that are used as a component of a finished drug.

FDF Contract Manufacturer (Finished Dosage Form)

These are companies that provide a drug product for administration to a patient without the need for substantial further manufacturing and often in its final packaged form. The CMO market is currently divided almost equally between API manufacturers and FDF manufacturers.

Within FDF contract manufacturing, solid dose compounds currently dominate the market. However, future growth is likely to be driven by injectables dose manufacturing primarily due to increased focus on complex disease areas and the growing trend of self-administration.

A Growing Market

Regarding market growth and potential future growth, the CMO channel is a force to reckon with.  

For North America, Europe, and Japan in the last three years, the CMO market grew at close to three times the rate of the pharmaceutical market: 8% versus 3%.

(It is important to note that the 3% growth is for the pharmaceutical market as a whole, top Pharmaceutical companies have grown significantly faster at a rate on average of over 11%. It is also important to note that most large pharmaceutical companies have divisions operating as CMO)

Over the next five years, the CMO market is expected to continue to grow at an annual rate of 6% to 9%, with annual revenues currently valued at between 25-30 billion dollars. This growth will be further fueled by new opportunities within the generic drug market.

Challenges for the CMO

Although the CMO seems to be poised to become a major player in the pharmaceutical marketplace several challenges await.

Acquisitions

The trend is already apparent as 2015 saw a glut of companies and manufacturing facilities being bought and sold.

Current Clients

Smaller pharmaceutical companies use the services of CMOs significantly more than large pharmaceutical companies.  The challenge lies in that the growth opportunities are a lot smaller.

Low Capital Costs

With lower capital costs many pharmaceutical companies are rethinking the CMO route for moving back to traditional centralized production.

The Future of CMOs

As with any part of the pharmaceutical landscape, the role of the CMO will follow a predictable route. Larger ones will absorb the smaller CMOs, and the large CMOs will come forward to be the only players to be able to support the large Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical companies.

New channels will open within the generic pharmaceutical marketplace fostering further growth for the large CMO.

GlobalVision is the leading developer of proofreading technologies for the FDF Contract Manufacturer market. All our quality control solutions meet FDA 21 CFR Part 11 / EMA Annex 11 requirements.

For more information on GlobalVision and the Quality Control Platform for CMOs, please visit: globalvision.co or email: info@globalvision.co

Learn More about How to Ensure a Successful Printer-Pharma Relationship

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Proofreading Software: Why it is better than your English teacher

Happy man with automated proofreading process

Creating content for public consumption can be a stressful job. Think about the person that has to write the copy for the back of a Cheerios box. Millions of people will read the back of that cereal box every morning and any typos would be terrible for the brand and the consumers’ confidence in the product. Now imagine someone reading the back of an allergy medication. What if a typo occurs in the dosage section? This has happened and it costs companies millions of dollars in recalls.

How to proofread a document

Ideally, every company needs a diff checker like your old high-school English teacher. But this just won’t happen and businesses need to turn to other more practical solutions. Enter proofreading software, which will catch every mistake and not even breathe coffee breath on you.

Why automated proofreading software is better than your  teacher

Saves you embarrassment – Ever raise your hand because you thought you knew where the comma went in the sentence written on the board? It was a trick question anyway; The sentence needed a semi-colon. You looked silly and ruined your chances at junior prom with the literature whiz. Proofreading software will scan your printed material, compare it to the approved master and will identify that missing semi-colon for you. Hopefully, your senior year was kinder to you.

Software saves you time – Getting a paper back from a teacher can take a while. They generally wait to grade everything one day while watching reruns of Downton Abbey. Proofreading can inspect multiple documents in a matter of seconds.

English teachers aren’t that great at art – While an English teacher can tell you the difference between a dangling participle and a prepositional phrase, few are professionals at those “spot the differences” puzzles. Proofreader software can not only proofread documents and inspect text, but it can also inspect artwork, barcodes and even Braille. Since it inspects pixel-by-pixel, artwork is no problem at all. So, if a logo is messed up, a barcode is missing a line, or a beloved tiger is missing a stripe, proofreading software will point it out and you can make the fix before it is too late.

You love the feedback – How often was your first draft the exact same as your final draft? The stakes were not too high back in high school. Only one person read your paper and put a letter grade on it and that was the end of it. In a corporate setting, mistakes can cost you your job and the company millions of dollars in recalls. Never will you be so happy to have a mistake pointed out to you. It will save your company money and that means job security.

Thank goodness for English teachers. Without them and their strict ways who knows where the language would be today. However, when it comes to packages, labels, or printed documents, a proofreading software solution is the only way to go.

Learn how GlobalVision has helped Consumer Goods companies of all sizes and protected brands’ reputation by preventing common errors on packaging 

For more information, please visit globalvision.co or contact info@globalvision.co

Learn More About How to Fix Food Label Confusion

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Esko Software Platform Makes Packaging Simplified

Monitor screen filled with all kinds of inspection work
 
 

Ghent (Belgium), March 16, 2016 – Esko has completely updated its software solutions and relaunched them under the umbrella brand name “Esko Software Platform”. It’s the next version of the well-known portfolio of integrated software solutions for design, prepress, workflow automation, color management and supply chain collaboration used for packaging, labels, displays and signs.

The Esko Software Platform is enhanced with new capabilities and delivers a unique user experience. The full range of innovations and integrations of Esko Software Platform will be demonstrated for the first time at the upcoming drupa 2016, scheduled for May 31 through June 10 in Düsseldorf.

Highlights of the Drupa release of the Esko Software Platform include:

  • More software modules made available as Software as a Service (SaaS) and subscriptions
  • Improved 3D support, especially when viewing objects in WebCenter and on mobile devices
  • A new Content Management module for WebCenter
  • ArtPro+, a totally new platform-independent native PDF prepress editor
  • New tools and libraries for multi-part POP design in ArtiosCAD 16
  • Planogram interface for Store Visualizer 16
  • New set of automated quality assurance tools in Automation Engine
  • Esko hardware integration in the workflow (Automation Engine Device View)
  • Improved user experience across all applications

A Platform for Quality Control

“Esko has embedded technologies from our partner GlobalVision and from our subsidiary Enfocus to eliminate time-consuming manual checks,” Zwaenepoel states. “Automated quality checking tools allow our customers to process more jobs with the same people and with fewer errors”. This innovation offers peace of mind and addresses the lack of skilled operators many companies are facing.”

GlobalVision quality control solution tools are embedded in Automation Engine 16. Features now available from the automated workflow include a spell checker and automatic checking of barcodes and Braille against an approved profile. The quality check runs as a background process and results in an annotated and viewable design file for Automation Engine, WebCenter and in ArtPro+. This enables fast, systematic revision of all detected errors.

Please visit the Esko Software Platform for more information on what’s new within Esko.

Request a free trial for GlobalVision Packaging Quality Control Solution.

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Learn More about How to Ensures Data Integrity

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The GlobalVision Platform has Transformed and it’s No Mistake

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What does GlobalVision do?

GlobalVision’s mission is to build software that standardizes quality approvals for product packaging and critical content. Our goal is to eliminate errors and automate inspections so companies can release products with confidence. Helping Businesses Bring Confidence to Quality Control. Learn more about GlobalVision.

What is GlobalVision Quality Control?

Automate Quality Inspections for Fast and Consistent Results. Speed up the proofreading process while improving the accuracy of your work by running digital checks with GlobalVision’s automated quality control tools. Learn more about Automated Quality Control.

 

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