Packaging Solutions
Baker Labels has made further advances in the commitment to continue to perform at the highest level for its customers by investing in a new colour management system from GMG Color.
The company has purchased a GMG ColorServer Multicolour solution, plus proofing options, for all print applications.
One of the main challenges faced at Bakers was achieving a standardisation across the three print process – Indigo, inkjet and flexo, used within the Brentwood based production facility. The decision to bring in the GMG solution was based on the requirement to confidently complete any colour matching element as early on in the production curve as possible and to ensure internal production efficiencies were maximised at all times.
Having a range of print capabilities is vital to Baker Labels’ success. Being able to supply labels with widely various customer requirements, consistently to a high standard and with a fast turnaround is only possible with the range of presses and extensive finishing lines.
In 2020, the company launched its flexible packaging division, BakPac for digitally printed pouches. Although the labels and flexible packaging departments supply different market sectors, the fundamental principles of printing and good production practice are consistent across the two.
Bakers’ technical manager Jamie Godson was instrumental in the installation and adoption of the GMG system. ‘As technical manager I am responsible for the smooth transition of work through every stage of our print production workflow. I was confident that GMG offered us a solution that would complement our existing Hybrid workflow software. The solution is user friendly and in a nutshell ‘does what it says on the tin’. No doubt there are many good colour management products out there, but the GMG brand is synonymous with colour management. In terms of business, it has helped reduce colour related issues. Using the GMG system we are accurately and confidently simulating press output within the studio/planning environment helping make our production workflow more efficient whilst simplifying the decision making process with regards to colour.’
Bakers is an established trade label printer of almost 50 years and an early adopter of digitally printing labels since 2006. As a trusted trade supplier with many longstanding accounts and customers one of the considerations that needed to be made was how any legacy jobs would be managed through a new system and how difficult it would be to change from one system to another. So far though the GMG software has been successful in producing jobs correctly.
‘The installation went very well,’ Jamie continued. ‘The GMG members on the install team were very helpful in not only giving us a starting point with the system but also explaining to us the background of how it works to further our knowledge with the product.
‘The GMG installation gives the ability to match historic jobs, even if they were originally printed incorrectly for whatever reason. The spot colours are scanned in, verified by outputting an Epson proof and then sent to press. This technique has proved very reliable with us pretty much matching all spot colours first time when we eventually get to running them up on press.’
GMG Color sales manager Paul Williams consulted with Jamie to provide the best colour solution for Bakers’ production environment.
‘We feel privileged to partner with Baker Labels in its quest for colour matching and print room efficiency, in what is a very complex environment with differing print technologies and multiple substrates. Bakers is using GMG ColorServer Multicolour to consistently convert customer supplied files into the desired output colour space of the various printing technologies, through the integration of GMG OpenColor profiling technology. As the whole process is automated, we have been able to achieve significant time savings in data processing for Baker,’ said Paul.
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