G7 training and the certification process are a meticulous and labor-intensive endeavor. And typically only the most talented printing industry experts will succeed in achieving the G7 Master qualification.

Print Buyers are Making G7 a Requirement

Print buyers understand that the similarity of the complete visual appearance across all printing products is critical for market adoption and consumer acceptance.

A consistent and constant vibrant color and color management scheme in an organizations visual messaging elucidates a shrewd but powerful communication channel of quality and trust. And it is the opposite that can diminish it – a dwindling loyalty to a brand resulting in consumers potentially rejecting it outright.

When presenting and showcasing your brand, your organization’s color scheme must be uniform, regardless of the printing mechanism that one uses. G7 training can help.

Different printing devices and vendors are likely to produce different marketing products or collateral. The output imagery is at risk of appearing slightly different in appearance. Especially so if the original printing requirements involve intricate and elaborate color schemes.

But if all the printed products have the same gray balance along with a neutral tonality – as defined and implemented by G7 – they will all resemble identical to the human eye. It is for this reason that print buyers are mandating G7 as one of their print buying requirements.

G7 Certification – Deep Dive

‘G7’ is an acronym for grayscale plus seven colors. The G7 certification system program will assess the capability of a printing software package that can precisely calibrate printing equipment to satisfy the G7 grayscale standard definition, using four 1-D curves.

• Ideallianceestablished the entire G7 certification process and support the application of the G7 methodology in process control.
• Following each G7 certified system is an instruction guide designed to assist producers, and end-users, in the customary use and operation of their now standardized printing systems.
• Utilizing a G7 certified system assures the ability to manage and perform a consistent G7 printing workflow, which will develop efficiencies, reduce direct and indirect operational costs, and increase the speed to market of all printed materials.

Key Objectives for G7 Onsite Training and Qualification

Before coordinating G7 training onsite at your printing facility, it is vital to understand – and set – the key objectives of the G7 training and qualification process for your printing team.

An example of a few key G7 training objectives for your organization could be as follows:

• It is important to realize that this training exercise is not a one-off training process but a substantial investment for your people and your printing organization. The first objective is to incorporate this G7 mindset into your short and long-term strategic business plans,
• G7 upskilling will be a sustainable quality method that will benefit your printing buyers. Make sure your current and future buyers are made aware well before the certification process reaches completion. After successful G7 training, market this notion extensively on all company media channels.
• Obviously, the G7 training provider will have a credible training organization with all the necessary training materials and knowledge to train others with.
• Prepare for an annual certification and G7 support costs for your printing facilities and equipment. And any changes or modifications to the G7 certification process will require corresponding upskilling activities within your organization.

Typical G7 Training Process at your Printing Facility

From Idealliance, the G7 printer program allows printing providers to dependably and effectively balance the visual appearance of printing multiple devices. This is to ensure all process colors are neutral and adjusted. While also advancing the overall gray balance, color matching, and color stability. G7 is appropriate for printing processes such as inkjet, offset web, offset sheet-fed, and flexo.

A custom week-long onsite courses will improve and update printing workflows. So they adhere to the compliance standards that G7 requires. And all applicable printing operators go through adequate training to achieve and maintain consistency and control with each print run.

Before training occurs, the G7 trainer will assist with preparing a G7 workflow audit for the following items:

1. Overall printing and press stipulations,
2. Color measurement and management equipment,
3. Device process control procedures.

Once the audit has been conducted and reviewed, any necessary advised updates or changes required for G7 training to occur need to be addressed. This pre-training activity will render the ideal conditions to maximize G7 knowledge transfer. And to ensure the right conditions, suitable software, and printing instruments are ready beforehand.

Conclusion

The G7 methodology is not a theoretical concept that has been extensively researched solely by academia. It is a proven process to consistently deliver high quality. The process also delivers a more dependable process control across multiple printing and different packaging operations.

Adoption is strong throughout the United States. Acceptance has been growing in other parts of the world. Within this competitive pandemic economic climate, printing and packaging operations should contemplate investing G7 in their key valuable assets – their printing staff and their printing devices.

If there is any drawback to the G7 method and G7 training, it is that it relies principally on achieving gray balance. If the print image does not hold sufficient grayscale information, the calibration could become inaccurate. Likewise, offset printing may be difficult to balance the grayscale. Because it involves a process called ‘wet-trapping’ – leading to inconsistent and irregular dark tones appearing in the final printed output.