Posted by Elaine Becker on Wed, Apr 28, 2010
CyberChrome Inc was an exhibitor at the recent American Coatings
Show in Charlotte, NC. Featured products included OnColor Profiler for improving inter-instrument agreement and the OnColor Suite of color management software for quality control and color formulation.
According to the press release from the American Coatings Society, "With 328 exhibitors and about 6,700 overall participants (2008: 331 / 5,600), the second edition of the American Coatings Show & Conference was hugely successful as the highlight event of the US paint and coatings industry. The combination of trade show and conference, held April 12-15, 2010 at the Charlotte Convention Center, North Carolina, thus once again exceeded all expectations."
Attendees came from not only North and South America, but there was a strong presence from Asia as well. Visitors at the CyberChrome booth included many US companies but also companies from Canada, Mexico, India, China, and other Pac Rim countries.
Interest in instrument profiling was high as companies struggle to manufacture to the same electronic color standards with tight color tolerances around the world. OnColor Profiler helps to meet the objective by providing much tighter inter-instrument agreement and allows them to meet the rigid color tolerances demanded in today's market.
Many larger companies are also interested in placing color matching systems at their distributor locations where they can match their own custom colors and reduce the burden on the color lab at the main facility. It also allows distributors to turn around custom matches in a much shorter time. CyberChrome's Match Express software provides an affordable and easy to use software package for distribution locations.
While attendance was "decent" at this show, exhibitors and attendees both wonder about the future of trade shows such as this one. With internet meetings, webinars, and the high costs of travel, it seems like fewer and fewer people attend these shows. There is still much to be said for face to face meeting, ralationship building and the social interaction that happens at events like this. What are your thoughts on attending trade shows in the future?
Posted by Elaine Becker on Wed, Mar 10, 2010
As the North American Manager of Color Services for Pittsburgh-based PPG, a $16 billion per year manufacturer of paints, coatings, chemicals, optical and glass, Shelley Sturdevant knows something about color matching. She manages and oversees color control for the Coil and Extrusion coatings business at 10 facilities nationwide, with a color palette currently holding over 100,000 colors.
We had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Shelley as she shared some of what she's learned managing color for PPG over the years:
CyberChrome (CC): What prompted your move into digital color matching and when?
Shelley Sturdevant (SS): About 10 years ago we decided we needed to find the right tools, the right hardware and software, to manage our color needs then and into the future. We needed to build a foundation to manage our huge color palette, including some colors we've been managing for more than 30 years. That's when we settled on OnColor.
CC: What were you looking for in a color matching software application?
SS: Two things primarily, speed and productivity. The OnColor software can search through 50,000 to 60,000 colors in seconds. And, uniquely, it gives you the ability to do very specific color calibrations. It's an important tool for us in the lab but it's also key to our production in batch correction so technicians at all 10 of our facilities can consistently produce the same colors.
CC: Anything else?
SS: Compatibility with a range of spectrophotometers. That enables us to get the best hardware to pair with the software. These tools form the foundation of our house so to speak, but where it really gets interesting and valuable is what you might call the ‘attached garage,' that is, how we use it to interface with our customers.
Now, we're all speaking the same language, not just internally, but we can communicate that directly to our customers. About 40 percent to 50 percent of our customer base has adopted our software and hardware systems models and we train them how best to use it. We can all access the same database which we put up on the Web and they can see new colors, research standard colors, and get precise, reproducible results.
CC: What are some of your newest challenges?
SS: Working to comply with the new ‘green' regulations that have recently been enacted, specifically achieving maximum solar reflectance values (SRVs) without sacrificing the quality of the color match.
These new formulations take the known color matching rules and throw them out the door. The use of brown (blended) pigments to effect L value (versus traditional black pigments) creates new color matching models and obstacles. So, we have to rethink how we match colors.
CC: Thank you for spending time with us.
SS: Thank you.
(Note: Shelley Sturdevant can be reached on email at ssturdevant@ppg.com)
Posted by Elaine Becker on Thu, Jan 28, 2010
Paying attention to details can help you get the most out of your investment in a color matching system, get you the best color match accuracy, and get your colors approved in the fewest hits.
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It's all about the database. Or what's under the hood? Color matching starts and ends with your color matching database. How good is it? How old is it? Just a few years out-of-date is a lifetime in technology improvements; five or more years borders on Paleolithic.
- Sampling sense. Were your samples prepared in a manner consistent with how you actually manufacture your product? Are the raw materials (colorants, bases, resins, substrates) you use today the same as you used when the database was prepared?
- Reliable replication. Good science and good business practice require that results be replicable, easily and consistently. Will a sample made by your lab technician today match your original used in the database? When preparing a new database, use your most skilled technician. Temporary employees are barely a good idea at your reception desk, let alone a temp managing your colorant database. Tighten up procedures and your color matching accuracy will tighten up too.
- Trust everyone but cut the cards. Check your incoming raw materials, especially the colorants, for shade and strength. Don't assume they are always 100 percent strength and exactly the correct shade.
- Standardize. Use standardized lots of colorants when you make samples. Get a COA from your supplier and note which lots were used to prepare the database.
- Duh! Not quite as fundamental as, "Is it plugged in?" but be sure your database is properly loaded. You'll never get the right results with a database incorrectly loaded. Look for negative data and wayward levels on the colorant build curve.
- Optimize, then verify. Optimize the database and validate it using known samples. Repeat the process of validating the database using known mixtures at least once a year.
- Know what you know... and what you don't know. Be sure you truly understand how to run your software. More important, be sure you know how to interpret the results and pick the best match for the task at hand.
- Think first, select second. Consider how the colorant combination will work in production before automatically selecting the "Best Match." Getting a practical, workable formulation up front makes production adjustments easier and causes fewer difficulties later.
- Apples to apples. Make sure your database was measured on the same instrument you are using. Differences between instruments will directly result in less accuracy in your matches and corrections. Using a "canned" database can seem like a good idea because it saves time and lab resources and pushes the responsibility onto someone else. However, if your measurements, procedures, and raw materials don't exactly duplicate those used to prepare the database, you may be very disappointed in your matches.
Are you happy with the way your colorant database is matching?