Ink will account for around 3-6% of a job’s total cost. That may be small compared with the paper spend, which can account for more than half the total cost, but reducing ink expenditure is sometimes a simple case of better management.
Ink use can’t be measured in isolation, printers need to consider it against a host of factors. Government-funded body Envirowise says cost calculations should include raw materials, waste substrate, clean-up and disposal, and the cost of controlling VOC emissions. The organisation advises firms to take a systematic approach; work out the costs, then take steps to lower them.
Ancillary equipment and software can also help. Lincoln Swann, managing director of Cambridge-based colour-control equipment supplier Cherlyn Electronics, says the route of getting a spot colour on press can be “long and expensive”. He adds: “Many of the people supplying printers are consumables suppliers and so have little incentive to get them to reduce ink consumption.
“Say a spot colour ink costs £10 per kilogram. The minimum quantity could be 2.5kg and maybe you only need half that.” If the other half is never used, that’s £12.50 thrown straight in the bin. You could put the remainder back on the shelf, but storage should be construed as another cost, and even if sealed correctly, ink degrades over time. Swann’s firm sells vacuum sealing kit, but at £1,500-£1,600, a printer would need to have serious reseal requirements before it would see any return on investment.
Swann says the answer is ink-mixing equipment, such as Cherlyn’s Pantone Formula Scales. The product range, which can match the entire Pantone Matching System, costs £10 per week. Swann says customers could also save by avoiding special carriage charges on spot colours, as well as wasted time talking to ink suppliers over the phone.
Dispensing with ink
Another hardware option comes from Kettering-based Rexson Systems, whose new Colorpoint machine draws technical inspiration from a cash machine. Like a hole in the wall, it allows the user to check or withdraw stocks, while having the added benefit of allowing ink users to return inks or recycle product. A key selling point is that, like a cash machine, it is “simple, secure and intuitive”.
However, Richard Wilson, key account manager at Flint Group, warns of the risks inherent for printers mixing their own spot colours rather than relying on the expertise of a supplier. Ink has a complex relationship with substrate and press, and the lure of making your own spot colours for less shouldn’t distract customers from the importance of getting the right spec. For example, Wilson says: “A standard Reflex Blue printed and then sent for lamination or offline UV varnishing will bleed, causing the colour to appear redder than Reflex Blue.” Forget wasted ink – the bill for an error of this magnitude would include the substrate, the print, the price of the laminate and the finishing service, as well as the more intangible, but no less costly, damage to the relationship with the customer. Wilson adds that in the above case, he would recommend a laminable Reflex Blue, which uses different pigments to avoid bleeding.
Another option to staunch the flow of ink expenditure can be put in place before ink ever reaches the paper. Grey Component Replacement (GCR) has been around for years, but is currently riding the crest of a wave of popularity. Agfa systems solutions specialist Chris Burn explains the recent change: “Even five years ago, printers would check the job by eye. The successful implementation of GCR-based ink saving is only possible when printing to a standard, as without accurate knowledge of the destination colour space, you will not be able to maintain colour consistency. Ink saving software has become viable as the majority of UK printers now have the necessary tools to measure their output and print to a standard,” he adds.
Programs work their magic in the preflight stage by replacing coloured inks with black. Sun Chemical technical manager Kevin Purdy says this controlled removal on process colour separations works by “removing a proportion of colour from the areas where there are large virtually solid areas made up of all four colours.”
Paint it black
Software vendor GMG capitalises on this technique with its InkOptimizer tool, which “optimises the print data by reducing the level of chromatic inks and simultaneously increasing the black component” to “reduce the total ink application, while the visual colour impression is retained”. GMG says the tool, which “can easily be implemented into an existing workflow”, can offer volume savings of up to 25%.
The promise of reducing ink costs has tempted Philip Meyers Web to sign up to trial the InkOptimizer tool from June. Chris Howard, managing director at the 35-staff commercial printer, says his reasons for trialling the tool were “partly down to what they say you’re going to save”. And while it’s too early to back up an investment with financial facts, Howard says that the falling price tag for ink reduction software grabbed his attention. “It is more affordable these days. It was about a quarter of a million quid 10 years ago and now it’s a tenth of that price.”
GMG is not alone in the market. Agfa’s established ink saving tool OptiInk has garnered praise in the newspaper market, helped by the fact black ink is noticeably cheaper than colours, while the volumes involved make for substantial savings. OptiInk also works work in a commercial printer’s workflow, and Burn also throws his support behind new offering Apogee InkSave, which he claims is the only integrated solution on the market. The plug-in optimises ink levels while the PDF is within Agfa’s Apogee workflow.
Agfa and GMG’s solutions are joined by a host of other products, such as Germany-based OneVision’s Inksave, which plugs into its Asura workflow. Tech support specialist Nicki Purdue says the tool, which only works in an Asura environment, has given customers ink savings of 5-25%.
Sun’s Purdy does see at least one limitation to colour removal: “This facility is often underutilised because of tight customer deadlines and customer-supplied PDF image files.” But there are also knock-on benefits – reducing the total ink weight means the print dries quicker, boosting productivity and helping owners of today’s super-fast presses to actually reach the giddy heights of maximum sheets per hour.
Kit and software investments aside – improving your existing ink procurement procedures can be a boon. Changes to process range from the simple, such as Purdy’s recommendation to buy process colours in 200kg containers, to taking a more holistic view of your specifying process. Paul Covell, printing ink executive for the British Coatings Federation (BCF), says: “You can waste a lot of time on press by not getting the right spec. Forget the cost of the ink – for a printer, downtime is a huge cost.”
Cost efficiency
This idea is echoed by David Ward, managing director of ink maker Stehlin Hostag, who says printers tempt fate by failing to fine tune the spec. Also risky is buying on face value alone, he adds. “Anyone can buy something cheaper. But what are they saving? If they save 10% on their ink bill, they might save £8,000 per year. Work that out per day and it’s nothing. It’s absolutely essential you look at the real costs and real value. Will cheaper ink actually deliver the bottom-line savings? I doubt it.” And in the same way you wouldn’t touch up your new car with house paint, why risk ruining a lucrative job by running low-quality inks through your million-pound press?
Ward stresses that getting the ink spec right starts with having an “open and honest relationship” with your ink supplier. “A printer must be up front with his supplier. We don’t want to play a game of poker – we want an honest relationship.” He says printers should take advantage of a supplier’s expertise to get all the variables right. “There’s always a bit of trade-off. For instance, if you have a quick-drying ink, it may not have the highest rub resistance or be the glossiest product available.” The advice from Flint’s Wilson is to start by discussing the job’s end use with your supplier, then working backward from there.
While there is some logic behind Cherlyn’s Swann’s claim that there is little impetus for suppliers to help keep consumption down, Ward says fostering successful printers is key. “Our future depends on ensuring customers make a profit,” he says.
Squeezing higher profits out of drops of ink means keeping an eye on the bigger picture, not just the lowest price tag.
INK EFFICIENCY
Best practice
- Stick to a system: you need to know how much ink you’re using, and what you’re wasting, before you can find ways to save, so take a systematic approach to your ink use
- Spot and stop wasted costs: spot colours are expensive. Ink mixing equipment offers a way to slash your spot colour bill and ensure the inks don’t go to waste, but remember it is more complicated than just matching the right Pantone swatch – you need to consider substrate, press, finishing and end user
- Software offers hard and fast savings: printers often waste base colours by using CMY inks on black areas. Ink optimising software reduces the amount of colour ink while increasing the amount of black used
- Demand the right supply: no one knows ink as well as a company that makes it. Picking the right ink supplier is crucial if you want to get the right ink specification. Foster a good relationship with your ink supplier and ask for their advice before you order or if anything goes wrong
- Buy cheap, pay twice: they may carry a low price tag, but low-quality inks also carry a host of risks. Poor inks can ruin your substrate, damage your press or harm your relationship with the customer
CASE STUDIES
Park Communications
Staff: 114
Sectors: Report & accounts; fine art
What did you buy?
Technotrans Ink Pumping System
What does it do?
Directly pumps process ink to presses
When did you buy it?
July 2007
Why did you buy it?
For quality, economic and environmental reasons
How much did it cost?
£60,000 (every system is bespoke)
What impact has the investment had?
It has increased quality and reduced our costs and environmental impact. Ink is distributed to the press more evenly, providing greater colour consistency and fewer spoiled sheets. It is more cost effective to bulk buy ink in 200kg barrels rather than 2kg tins. Pumping ink directly to the press has increased efficiency and reduced labour costs.
Jenny Reed, marketing manager
Yorkshire Web
Staff: 200 (Acredula Group total)
Sectors: Coldset web offset
What did you buy?
OneVision Speedflow Check and Speedflow Edit
What does it do?
Under colour removal (UCR)
When did you buy it?
March 2008
Why did you buy it?
We were looking into different options of UCR. Speedflow offered this with the added benefit of PDF checking while performing UCR
What impact has the investment had?
The impact at this stage looks to be giving us an ink saving of around 20% - although true ink savings will be ascertained after six months. There is the added benefit of cleaner copies, less marking and a crisper image. Any investment made has to be justified by cost savings without being detrimental to quality - I am confident the installation of Speedflow will be an asset to Yorkshire Web for many years to come.
Adrian Sanger, pre-press manager
