Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, and with facilities throughout North America, Standard Register has a long history (since 1912) of facilitating business effectiveness through innovations in document technology and information management. With the advent of digital color printing, the company saw the opportunity to transform its transactional document business into a high-value color communications and marketing service for major brands. It also developed a long-term, consultative relationship with its clients and their brands.

„Demand for color quality has increased,” says Steve McDonell, Vice President of Engineering and Sustainability. “Our clients depend on Standard Register to deliver branded materials, in any quantity, on demand, at multiple locations, and to extremely high color quality standards. Consistent color matching digital to- offset and digital-to-digital throughout every plant is an absolute requirement.” McDonell cannot disclose the names of Standard Register clients, but indicates that they are very large corporations with highly visible consumer brands.

After evaluating several color management systems, the ORIS solution emerged as the best overall solution to Standard Register’s brand color needs. By using ORIS’ patented process, Standard Register operators were able to match digital press output to offset, and to maintain color consistency on the device over multiple runs. Device-to-device color match particularly for critical spot colors was achieved not only for similar devices in different locations, but also between different devices from the same manufacturer, and even between devices from different manufacturers.

The ORIS solution also dramatically reduced the amount of manual labor involved in calibrating devices and tracking device performance. ORIS Press Matcher // Web uses an automatic, iterative process, scanning a standard color target printed on the device, resulting in automatic device calibration to a defined normal state.

“Having this level of critical color accuracy over a multi-site network gives us a tremendous advantage,” says McDonell. “About 60 % of our clients are within a 1-day ground delivery zone from one of our production facilities, and more than 90 % are within a 2-day delivery zone. That means we can offer high quality and rapid response, at a competitive price. ORIS filled in the critical color piece, so we could do it all.”

Standard Register has helped many of its clients maintain their brand identity in powerful and cost-effective ways. By implementing ORIS for hands-free color management of its digital print operations, the company has clearly transcended the role of being a mere commodity provider. Standard Register has invested in the tools and technical savvy that have made it an integral supply chain provider for high-end marketing and brand image communication.