CSW Expanded Gamut Case Study in packagePRINTING

You can read the whole story on the packagePRINTING website, but here are some takeaways:

What is EG, ECG, expanded color gamut, expanded gamut, or extended gamut printing: It’s not a new concept (some of us remember the days of Hexachrome and Opaltone, for instance) but the latest iteration is gaining traction among brands and web printers. Currently, the EG ink set includes CMYK + OGV (orange, green violet).

The benefit of EG to a web printer is the ability to print a wider range of colors – including spot colors – without having to change inks. So they experience less changeover time and also can reduce inventory since they only need to stock 7 colors. EG flexo printing can reduce the appearance of pinholing in the solids, too, since every color – even large solids that would normally be printed with a single spot ink color – is an EG process build, usually of 2 or 3 inks. The printer still has a couple of stations available for white or metallic ink, if needed.

The benefit of EG to a brand is the broader range of reproducible color that is available to their designers, including more of the Pantone library than they would be able to build with just CMYK. It is also useful for running seasonal or local promotional items – brands can gang these shorter runs across the web since they are all using the same 7 color ink set, so they are saving on charges for press time.

CSW helped Nestle Waters NA procurement by explaining these benefits to their brand team, working with designers to educate them on the possibilities, and by helping the printers involved with testing and best practices before the production run. We not only moved new items to this flexo print workflow, but also re-separated existing items using an EG ink set and made them match the CMYK+3 spot color separations that were already in market. And we did it all in record time – about 18 months.