X-Rite will bring a new certification standard to Australia with the announcement of a PANTONE Certified Printer (PCP) trainer in January 2017.
David Stead, X-Rite Sales Manager Australia and New Zealand, said X-Rite had wanted to test the waters in North America before taking the program global. "We wanted to see what the take up rate was for this program in North America before we decided to roll it out to the rest of the world. It is coming to Australia - we haven’t allocated a partner yet, but we are in the final stages of making that decision," he said.
The PANTONE Certified Printer program was launched in North America in 2011, with the aim of providing an 'all-inclusive' approach to print standards and certification - where standards like ISO and FOGRA are application-specific, PCP can be applied to any type of printing. "It’s not process-dependent – we can certify a gravure printer in the same process that we can certify a commercial offset printer. It’s more about understanding and managing the processes than about specifically how they get the ink down on paper," Stead said.
Stead says the benefits of the PCP program include increased customer confidence. "The key benefit is knowing you can easily achieve PANTONE colour standards, and customers also understanding you’re able to produce to those standards, thus boosting their confidence in your quality. It’s a way of quantifying the quality of your print and production work, and communicating it to customers," he said.
Not all are convinced that X-Rite will be able to deliver on its promises. 'Colour Doctor' David Crowther of Colour Graphic Services, which provides ISO and other certifications in Australia, says he's not surprised the PCP program is coming, but doesn't believe it will be of much use. "PANTONE are very good at marketing, but I seriously doubt their technical ability to deliver anything worthwhile. They’re very large, but I don’t think they have the skills or the staff or the resources," he said.
Crowther said X-Rite might not be able to provide the level of expertise or customer support needed to make the program a success. "What they’re offering requires specialised skills, training, procedures, measurement, records and so on. You need to be on the ground constantly, helping and aiding the customer, and I don’t know how PANTONE will do it here in Australia," he said.