Print Inspection

In print production, the images from one or several printing plates are repeatedly transferred to the surface of the print substrate. Printed products are seemingly identical but at closer examination show many deviations resulting from the mechanical limitations of the printing press and the substrate. To distinguish non-significant process fluctuations from relevant defects in line art, halftone images and text, our inspection systems employ a rich set of inspection algorithms.

Print inspection relies on the comparison of a “reference image” with each copy of the product. The rightness of the reference image is of paramount significance to inspection. Early systems used to read reference from the beginning of the job, today linking the inspection system to prepress and acquiring the reference from a PDF file is the technology of choice.

Nikka Research inspection systems detect a variety of print defects like spots, missing print, registration, color deviation, doctor lines, insects, etc. These are type classified and the user can set the sensitivity of the system to meet quality requirements for each product.