For professionals who have been engaged in printing for a long time, some printing errors are objective and impossible to avoid; for customers who receive printed matter and play a decisive role in the acceptance of finished products, sometimes they do not fully understand these errors. As a result, after the dispute, communication between the two sides was very difficult. The customer thought that the finished product of the printing factory was unqualified, but he was making excuses and unreasonable sophistry. The printing factory thinks that the customer is unreasonable and there is a problem with the payment credit.

Here is a brief introduction to the objective errors in printing. The reason why it is said to exist objectively is that these errors are inevitable due to the limits of the machinery itself, rather than due to human factors, such as poor management, improper quality control and other factors. These errors include:

1. Text error in typesetting:

Typography is an important process before printing. To be exact, typesetting is a text arrangement work performed by designers and producers using corresponding software under the instructions and requirements of customers. Therefore, from the point of view of the printing plant, before the plate printing, customers are generally required to sign for confirmation. However, sometimes due to the tight schedule of live parts and the 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, in the event of a problem, the customer may blame the designer for irresponsibility, such as typos or other typographical errors.

It should be said that the emergence of this error is not caused by the mechanical problems we mentioned above, but is entirely a problem with process control. Therefore, we generally require that the customer's signature be confirmed before the production of the proofing. These errors can be reduced or eliminated to a large extent by mutual alignment. But even so, in fact, there may still be some errors in the client's confirmed manuscript.

In this regard, we recommend learn from the practice of some multinational companies, which generally mark "this information is for reference only, and our company does not bear any responsibility for the errors in printed materials" after the important printed materials printed, so as to eliminate the joint and several liability caused by typesetting errors.

2. Production and proofing error:

After the design and production personnel have completed the typesetting and production work, they enter the distribution process, which is what we usually call the production proofing. Generally speaking, the output accuracy of the laser phototypesetting machine is in the range of 0.01-0.1mm. At the same time, due to the different films used, it will also lead to certain errors.

The most direct manifestation of this error is that in the four films (black, red, yellow and blue), if there is a problem with one film (such as the black version) and a patch is needed, due to the different films and the different resolution (not in the same batch of films) when the film is output, the dot change may occur, and the patch film may be inaccurate with the previous three films. Therefore, in the film should strive to a forming, as far as possible to reduce the patch. Of course, garbled characters or font changes due to font replacement during film production can be avoided if relevant personnel are serious and responsible.

After the film (film) is made, the traditional simulation proofing needs to use a set of four films for proofing. When proofing, in order to achieve the accuracy and stability of the four-color ink sample color, three links must be controlled and standardized, namely equipment, materials and quality standards. On the equipment, the pressure of the proofing machine, the temperature of the plate table and the air cushion blanket must be adjusted to ensure that the proofing machine is in a suitable working state. In terms of materials, the same series of inks of the same brand should be standardized, and four-color inks of different brands should be used, which will cause the sample to be different from the characteristic documents in the scanner and directly affect the accuracy of color calibration.

In addition, the paper should 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 density value and the relative contrast value of printing. If these factors cannot be taken into account when proofing, it will lead to errors in printing products compared with proofing. For example, the ink used for printing is different from the ink used for proofing; The paper used for printing is different from the paper used for proofing (for example, different brands of paper are used, or different types of paper are used, such as copperplate, film and special paper); When proofing, one-sided pursuit of dot increase and decrease, resulting in small white holes in the dot center. If these deviations occur, they will directly lead to the printed products not being able to catch up with the proofing. In fact, even if it is the same set of film, if it is proofed twice, the proofs will be different.

3. Color error:

There are three kinds of color errors. The first is the deviation between the printed matter and the color of the proofing. The second is that there is a certain degree of inconsistency before and after the color of the same batch of printed matter. The third is that there is a deviation between the color of the product printed in the printed matter and the color of the object itself. The first difference is that we usually say that the printing can not catch up with the proofing, the reasons have been discussed above, such as ink problems, paper problems, dot restoration problems.

For this difference, the printing staff should try to chase the sample, if the difference is very large, you should promptly notify the customer, by the customer personally sign the sample. The second difference is also an objective existence, the printing machinery itself has been difficult to solve the problem. We know that during the printing process of the printing press, ink inking is a dynamic balance process. During printing, when the ink on the ink roller is reduced to a certain extent, the printing opportunity is automatically inking to compensate. However, the "certain degree" here will directly lead to the deviation of the color of the finished product printed at the front of a batch of printed live parts and the finished product printed at the back. The third difference is in fact a question of psychological expectations.

We once met a customer who claimed that the color of the printed product was not exactly the same as the actual product itself, which was considered to be detrimental to the company's image or even affect the company's order, while we believed that the color deviation was acceptable. For this situation, it should be said that this deviation is objective, and can not be entirely attributed to the quality control of the printing plant. As we mentioned earlier, to be exact, the color of the printed product cannot be completely consistent with the proofing, and there will be ink color deviation within the same batch of printed matter. Proofing can only be used as a reference standard because it comes out first, while customers may think that proofing is good and right.

In this case, we usually take into account the color of the product picture when printing, then the color of other pictures, and finally the modified color bar or color block. For printed samples for ordering, we recommend that customers add a clause below the printed matter: "The colors in this printed matter are for reference only, and the colors are subject to the actual objects" to avoid unnecessary disputes.

4. Paper error:

Due to the problem of papermaking process, the brightness, thickness and texture of the same paper produced by different papermaking manufacturers will be different. For example, the same weight of coated paper produced by Zixing, Daewoo and Jindong has different textures, and of course the differences are not too big. Another example is Asia-Pacific offset paper, the fineness and whiteness of the paper are better than other domestic manufacturers, but the price is also about 50% higher.

In addition, the same manufacturer of the same weight of paper, due to different factory time, in the production process may be slightly changed, coupled with acceptable errors and other reasons, its brightness, thickness, texture is also different. In fact, in the label of each batch of paper purchased by the printing factory, the paper mill has made such a statement in advance, requiring that it cannot be mixed with the previous paper, so as to avoid deviation when the user compares. For the printing plant, it should be before each printing, to provide customers with the printing products to be used, confirmed by the customer after the printing, in order to avoid such disputes.

5. Printing machinery error:

The error of printing machinery is reflected in two points. One is the problem of overprint accuracy, and the other is the problem of ink color. We know that color printing is actually a four-color overprint, that is, red, yellow, blue, and black are superimposed together, and the content of the overprint is reflected on the film, which is the dot we mentioned earlier. Small dots.

According to China's printing machinery industry standards, the registration accuracy of the printing press, that is, the superposition accuracy of the dots, is required to be 0.033mm. The actual mechanical accuracy is generally higher than this standard, mostly 0.01mm. Of course, some printing machines are 0.1mm (mostly monochromatic machines). But even so, if you use a 40-fold magnifying glass to observe the printed product, you can still see that the superposition of its dots deviates. Therefore, in the process of handing over the printed products, we can only reach the point where there is no problem with naked eyes. Unless the printed products are rare in a thousand years, it is impossible for the printing factory to accept the practice of finding faults with the magnifying glass.

For the ink color problem, due to the ink amount compensation of the inking device, there is also a certain deviation, which has been discussed above and will not be repeated here.

6. Cutting size error:

After the printing is completed, the next important step is to use the paper cutter to cut the printed product. When cutting the finished product, due to the error of the cutting knife itself, the error after cutting the finished product is also objective.

In fact, according to relevant national standards, in the finished RMB printing product, the error range of the cutting size is 0.5mm, and the error range of securities printing is 1mm. In other words, the size of the RMB and the securities in circulation is not exactly the same, but the error must fall within a certain range. For general printed matter, the size error of cutting is more than 2mm above and below.

7. Psychological expectation error:

To be precise, psychological expectation errors should not fall within the scope of printing errors we are discussing. The reason for mentioning this problem is that in the process of interacting with customers, this problem is a problem that we often encounter, difficult to solve, and have to face. For customers who have long-term contact with printed matter, after long-term experience and knowledge accumulation, they have gained insight into what errors are acceptable and what errors are unacceptable. It is easier to communicate with the printing factory.

However, some customers may have very high psychological expectations when making printed materials, hoping to make the printed materials beautiful. For these customers, the printing factory should take on the task of educating and training the market and communicate with customers more. After all, print is print, not art. Poor communication is an unpleasant memory for both parties.