Printing disputes are the most unwanted but also the most frequently encountered problems in the interaction between printing factories and customers. The emergence of printing disputes may be due to the unqualified quality of printed products. Another important reason is the objectively existing printing errors. For professionals engaged in printing for a long time, they know that these errors are unavoidable. However, for customers who receive printed products and play a decisive role in product acceptance, they may not fully understand these errors sometimes.
Thus, during the handover of finished products between the printing factory and the customer, the printing factory often believes that the products leaving the factory are qualified, while the customer insists that the products are unqualified or even unacceptable. As a result, after a dispute arises, communication between the two parties becomes extremely difficult. The customer thinks that the product quality of the printing factory is not up to standard and is making excuses. The printing factory believes that the customer is being unreasonable and has problems with payment credit. Therefore, this article lists seven common types of printing errors to help customers and printing factories further understand these objectively existing and unavoidable factors.
Text errors in typesetting
Typesetting is an important process before printing. From the perspective of the printing factory, before plate making and printing, the customer is generally required to sign for confirmation. However, sometimes due to tight job deadlines and a certain degree of trust between the two parties, the customer may sometimes completely delegate the right of typesetting confirmation to the printing factory. In this case, if a problem occurs, the customer may blame the design and production personnel for being irresponsible, such as the appearance of wrong words or other typesetting errors. It should be said that the occurrence of such errors is not caused by the mechanical problems mentioned above, but entirely by problems in process control.
Therefore, we generally require that there must be customer's signature confirmation before film output and proofing. Through joint comparison by both parties, these errors can be greatly reduced or eliminated. However, even so, in fact, some errors may still appear in the customer-confirmed manuscript. In this regard, we suggest learning from the practices of some multinational companies. When they print some important printed materials, they will mark at the end "This information is for reference only. Our company shall not bear any liability for errors in the printed products" to eliminate joint liability caused by typesetting errors.
Film output and proofing errors
After the typesetting work is completed, it enters the film output process, which is what we usually call film output and proofing. Generally speaking, the film output accuracy of a laser imagesetter is in the range of 0.01 mm - 0.1 mm. At the same time, due to the use of different films, certain errors will also occur. The most direct manifestation of this error is that among the four films (black, red, yellow, blue), if a problem occurs with one film (such as the black plate) and a patch is needed, since the films are different during film output and the resolution may be different (not in the same batch of films), resulting in dot changes, the patched film may have problems with misregistration with the previous three films.
Therefore, efforts should be made to complete the film output in one go and minimize patching. Of course, if the relevant personnel are conscientious, font replacement errors or font changes during film output can be avoided. After the film is produced, traditional analog proofing requires a set of four films for proofing. When proofing, to achieve accurate and stable colors of the four-color ink proofs, three links must be controlled and standardized, namely equipment, materials, and quality standards.
In terms of equipment, the pressure of the proofing press, the plate table temperature, and the air-cushioned blanket must be adjusted to ensure that the proofing press is in the best working condition. In terms of materials, the same brand and series of inks should be used in a standardized manner. Using four-color inks of different brands will cause the proof to be different from the characteristic file in the scanner, directly affecting the color correction accuracy. In addition, the paper should also be standardized. In principle, the same paper should be used for proofing and printing. In terms of quality standards, attention should be paid to the solid density value and the printing relative contrast value. If these factors are not taken into account during proofing, errors will occur between the printed product and the proof.
Color errors
There are three types of color errors. The first is the deviation between the printed product and the proof color; the second is a certain degree of inconsistency in color within the same batch of printed products; the third is a slight deviation between the printed product proof color and the finished product color.
The first difference is what we usually call the failure to match the proof during printing, such as ink problems, paper problems, and dot reproduction problems. For this difference, printers should try their best to match the sample. If the difference is large, the customer should be notified in time and the customer should sign the sample in person. The second difference is also a problem that has been difficult for printing machinery to solve. During the printing process, the ink application of the printing machine is a dynamically balanced process. When the ink on the ink roller is reduced to a certain extent, the printing machine will automatically apply ink for compensation. And this "certain extent" will directly lead to a color deviation between the first printed product and the last printed product of a batch of printing jobs. The third difference is actually a psychological expectation problem. The customer does not recognize the color deviation, but the printing factory believes it is acceptable. For this situation, it cannot be entirely blamed on the quality control of the printing factory.
To be exact, the color of the printed product cannot be exactly the same as that of the proof. Moreover, there will also be ink color deviations within the same batch of printed products. The proof is only used as a reference standard because it comes out first, and the customer may be preconceived and think that the proof is good and correct. In this case, the printing factory usually takes care of the color of the product picture first during printing, then the color of other pictures, and finally the decorative color bars or color blocks. For printed samples for ordering, we often suggest that the customer add a note at the bottom of the printed product: "The colors in this printed product are for reference only. The actual color shall prevail" to avoid unnecessary disputes.
Paper errors
Due to problems in the papermaking process, the brightness, thickness, and texture of the same type of paper produced by different papermaking factories will be different. In addition, for the same type of paper with the same gram weight produced by the same factory, due to different production times, there may be slight changes in the production process.
In fact, in the label of each batch of paper purchased by the printing factory, the papermaking factory has made such a statement in advance, requiring that it cannot be mixed with previous paper to avoid deviations when users make comparisons. For the printing factory, before each printing, a paper sample of the printing product to be used should be provided to the customer for confirmation before printing to avoid such disputes.
Printing machinery errors
According to the printing machinery industry standards in China, the registration accuracy of the printing machine, that is, the superposition accuracy of dots, is required to be 0.033 mm. The actual mechanical accuracy is generally higher than this standard, mostly 0.01 mm. Of course, some printing machinery is 0.1 mm (mostly monochrome machines). However, even so, if a 40x magnifying glass is used to observe the printed product, it can still be seen that the superposition of dots is deviated. Therefore, during the handover of printed products, we can only reach the point where there is no problem when observed with the naked eye.
Cutting size errors
After printing is completed, the next important step is to cut the printed product using a paper cutter. When cutting the finished product, due to the error of the cutter itself, the error after cutting the finished product also objectively exists. In fact, according to relevant national standards, the error range of the cutting size of RMB printed products is 0.5 mm, and the error range of securities printed products is 1 mm. That is to say, the size of RMB and negotiable securities is not completely consistent, but the error must fall within a certain range. For general printed products, the cutting size error is mostly within ± 2 mm.
Psychological expectation errors
To be exact, psychological expectation errors should not be included in the category of printing errors. The reason for mentioning this issue is that it is a problem that printing factories often encounter, is difficult to solve, and has to face. For customers who have long been in contact with printed products, through long-term experience and knowledge accumulation, they know which errors are acceptable and which errors are unacceptable, and it is easier to communicate with the printing factory. However, some customers may have very high psychological expectations when producing printed products. For these customers, the printing factory should communicate more with them to avoid poor communication affecting cooperation.
Some errors are caused by defects in the machinery itself and are unavoidable, rather than being caused by human factors such as poor management and improper quality control. Therefore, the printing factory can briefly introduce these printing errors mentioned in the article to customers, so that customers, as outsiders, can fully understand and reduce or even avoid disputes.
Post time: Dec-31-2024
