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June 17, 2008
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Quality Conundrum
Q: What do density, dot gain, ink trap and register all have in common?
A: The title gives it away. They are all part of print quality.
I wrote about quality in my January 2008 American Printer column. It seemed a good way to start out the year, because just like New Year's resolutions, printers always seem to resolve to have higher quality, but can't agree on a definition. No wonder, because there is no one definition. In fact, it's a moving target.
Summarizing my own article: About every five years, someone comes up with a magic cure-all for printing and 'discovers' a new print quality factor... In the 1960s it was process ink color; in the 1970s it was density; in the 1980s it was dot gain; and in the late 1980s it was trap. In the 90s it was spectrophotometry, and in 2000 it became gray balance.
Here's the truth of the matter -- quality is all those things and more. Print is a complex process and many factors make quality.
Here's the other truth of the matter -- quality doesn't have to be subjective. I'm a productivity guy, and if quality couldn't be controlled, or measured, or standardized, I wouldn't be talking about it because it wouldn't be a productivity issue. It would be an issue strictly for art critics or some other professional who gets paid for opinions.
If you look at the plants that are consistently considered quality operations, they are also consistently productive operations. They have process controls in place, have defined quality for themselves, continuously strive towards reaching that achievable goal, and celebrate when they attain it.
The moral of the story: they attain it over and over again. That's not only quality, it's consistent quality, and standardized productivity.
~ Productively yours
Ray
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Our Gentleman Consultant
Ray Prince is NAPL's Vice President and Senior Consultant, Operations Management. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and has done more than 1,000 plant assessments to improve operations quality, productivity and profitability.
Contact Ray:
E-mail: rprince@napl.org
Ph: 605-941-1492
www.rayprince.org
----------------Upcoming Speaking Engagements
June 18-20: Plant Operations Peer Group,
Des Moines, IA
August 9-12: NAPL Management Institute, Washington, DC
September 10-12: Lithographic Relationships and Variables Workshop, RIT, Rochester, NY
----------------If you received this newsletter from a friend and would like to subscribe, e-mail subscribe@napl.org and put "Prince e-newsletter" in the subject line.
For more info on what NAPL has to offer, go to www.napl.org.
Ph: 1-800-642-6275
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