Certification proves Firstan has the skills, equipment and knowledge to produce consistent colour quality, from file handling through to the final print.

The packaging manufacturer produces more than 500 million cartons annually at its facility in Cambridgeshire for pharmaceutical, healthcare and food-manufacturing companies.

The 130-staff company celebrates its 40th anniversary next year and hopes certification will help nudge up its £18m turnover.

Print manager Lee Ashton said: “We hope this gives us a competitive edge by giving current and future customers reassurance we are running to standard.

“Colour management is vital, we work with demanding brands and accurate colour is essential. Becoming a POS-certified printer has helped tighten colour workflow.

“We wanted better colour management but the technology also helps us calibrate presses as it shows live data for things like tonal curves.”

The POS certification is based on the ISO12647-2 colour management standard and is applied via the leading globally recognised pressSign software.

More than 5,000 licensees in more than 50 countries use pressSign to monitor, improve and report their colour quality. Brand owners and retailers use pressSign on litho, flexo, gravure and digital.

Becoming a POS-certified printer involves training on colour workflow including file handling, proofing, viewing conditions and press. A certificate of compliance is valid for two years.