CMYK²by Owllys (opens in a new tab)
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Engineering you can check.

The engineering inside CMYK2: ICC colour (FOGRA39, GRACoL 2013) and CIEDE2000 ΔE, trapping, preflight and PDF/X-4, multi-market compliance rule packs, CP-SAT press scheduling and shop-floor OEE. This page names the standards, the methods and the maths, and keeps the roadmap in its own section where it can't be mistaken for a feature.

Print forgives nothing
  • ¼ mma quarter-millimetre of misregister
  • 1 ΔEone ΔE too many
  • 1 lineone missing allergen line
M · 01Colour intelligence

Colour measured, not argued about.

Brand colour is judged by numbers, not by eye on a different screen. Files carry their colour intent with them, and differences are measured with the industry's own formula.

  • ICC colour managementConversion through LittleCMS, with bundled ISO Coated v2 (FOGRA39) and GRACoL 2013 CRPC6 profiles.
  • PDF/X-4 with OutputIntentThe press profile travels inside the file, with an automatic conformance check on export.
  • CIEDE2000 ΔEUsed for brand-colour governance and by the trapping engine to judge which colour is lighter.
  • Spot colours in LabSpot colours defined in Lab and HKS; out-of-gamut warnings on the CMYK picker.
  • Ink kitchen recordsFormulations, mixing batches, target and measured Lab with a ΔE tolerance per job (Operix Print).
Target (brand red)L 48 · a 68 · b 42
Press sample
CIEDE20000.00

The formula here is the same CIEDE2000 used in Packaging Studio's colour code. Screen colours are approximate; measuring a real press sheet needs a spectrophotometer, which is on the roadmap.

Halftone screens at their classic angles: cyan 15°, magenta 75°, yellow 0°, key 45°. Overprinted, they form the rosette that makes full colour.C · 15°M · 75°Y · 0°K · 45°the rosette
Fig. 01 · Screen anglesC 15° · M 75° · Y 0° · K 45°
C · 02Prepress

Prepress inside the artwork, not after it.

Packaging Studio runs the prepress work in the same place the artwork is made, so problems are caught by the designer rather than discovered at the printer.

Trapping. With no trap, a small plate shift leaves a white gap between colours. A spread grows the lighter colour into the darker one; a choke tucks the background under the object, so the gap never shows.no trapspreadchoke
Fig. 02 · TrappingWhy a small plate shift doesn't show
  • Trapping engineChoke and spread in three tiers, with presets for offset (coated and uncoated), flexo, gravure and digital; step, image, keep-away, zone, spot-pair and manual modes.
  • PreflightResolution, bleed, safe zone, RGB in a CMYK job, total ink coverage, fonts, minimum text size and barcode zone, with printer-specific profiles.
  • Overprint & rich blackOverprint preview, auto-overprint black and rich-black detection.
  • Separations & impositionColour and spot-colour separation preview; step-and-repeat imposition.
  • OutputPDF/X-4, SVG, AI/EPS and CFF2 dielines; font subsetting with a font-licence gate on export.
Preflight · Packaging Studio's check familiesIllustrative artwork
  1. Image resolutionAll placed images ≥ 300 ppi at final size
  2. BleedBack panel artwork stops 1 mm short of the 3 mm bleed
  3. Safe zoneNet-quantity text sits 1.5 mm from the fold
  4. RGB in a CMYK jobOne placed photo is still RGB
  5. Total ink coverageRich black reaches 320% on the side panel
  6. FontsAll fonts embedded and licensed for print
  7. Minimum text sizeMandatory text at or above the legal minimum
  8. Barcode quiet zoneEAN-13 check digit valid; quiet zone clear
  9. Overprint blackBlack text set to overprint
  10. TrappingSpread applied where magenta meets yellow (offset coated preset)
  11. PDF/X-4 conformanceRe-check after fixes: OutputIntent FOGRA39
11 checks ready
M · 03Compliance & proofing

Rules written as code, versioned by date.

On-pack rules are coded into rule packs with effective dates, so the question "which SKUs does this change touch?" has an answer. Every check is a check, not a certification: a regulatory sign-off stays with your people.

India

FSSAILegal MetrologyBIS marksEPR

EU & UK

EU FIC 1169/2011EU CLPEU PPWRUK FICNatasha's LawUKCAGB CLP

Global & other

CodexGHSGS1 GTINISO symbolsUS nutrition panel & 21 CFR 101.9 roundingBrazil ANVISA

  • Reads the artwork itself

    Outlined text is read off the rendered artwork and compared with the approved copy.

  • Barcodes & Braille

    EAN-13 and EAN-8 check digit and quiet zone; Braille checks.

  • Impact graph

    When a rule changes, every affected SKU and artwork is found through the packaging graph.

  • Instant Audit

    Upload legacy artwork and receive a cited, multi-market compliance report.

  • Audit trail

    Every agent run and approval is written to a hash-chained, append-only ledger.

Y · 04Scheduling

A constraint solver, not a rules board.

PressPilot models the plant as constraints and lets Google OR-Tools CP-SAT search the sequences, so the plan respects the press, the board, the ink and the date at the same time.

In

Changeover table

Per press and per tenant: substrate, ink, plate, colour, coating and board, each change with its own make-ready time and a readable label.

Constraints

Finite machine capacity, shift and holiday calendars, multi-stage routes (print → die-cut → fold-glue), and material availability with spoilage included.

Solve
Google OR-Tools · CP-SAT

Objective

Hit the due dates first, then cut sequence-dependent changeover.

120 s

Time box

The solver is time-boxed (120 seconds by default), so a plan always comes back.

Out

Promise reliability

Every promised date is recorded and later checked against the actual finish.

Fig. 03 · How PressPilot plansConstraints in · CP-SAT · promises checked
Y · 05Shop floor

Five ways in. One honest OEE.

Presses don't share a protocol, and many don't share anything at all. PressConnect takes whatever each machine can give, and never writes back to it.

Five ways in: connected presses, PLC registers, end-of-job reports, retrofit sensors and an operator app all feed one event stream, which produces OEE, downtime, a severity gate and planning memory. Read-only and outbound-only.Connected pressJDF/JMF · OPC UA · MQTTPLC registersModbusEnd-of-job reportPDF / CSV templatesRetrofit sensorscurrent clamp + photo-eyeOperator apptwo tapsone eventstreamOEE · A × P × QDowntimeSeverity gatePlanning memoryread-only · outbound-onlybuffered on site
Fig. 04 · Five ways inRead-only · outbound-only · buffered on site
OEE equals availability times performance times quality. Illustrative shift: 86% × 82% × 97% = 68% OEE.Availability86%Performance82%Quality97%OEE68%
Fig. 05 · OEEIllustrative shift
  • OEE, properlyAvailability against planned production time, times performance, times quality; by press, shift and job.
  • Severity gateEach floor event is classed ignore, alert or re-plan, so the schedule isn't thrashed by noise.
  • Planning memoryActual set-up, speed and waste by machine × job class × substrate.
  • Trust scoreA 0–100 data-quality score on every machine feed.
K · 06How we use AI

AI where it helps. Maths where money is decided.

Concepts, copy, layout and reading documents are where AI earns its keep. Prices, schedules and compliance verdicts are decided by deterministic engines and solvers you can audit.

  1. 01

    No language model sets a price

    Print Estimation is deterministic: imposition, make-ready, wastage, finishing and machine-hour rates.

  2. 02

    Solvers for schedules

    PressPilot's plan comes from a constraint solver, and every scheduled job carries a readable changeover label.

  3. 03

    Agents prepare, people approve

    APMS agents draft, check and route; approval gates and e-signature records stay with your team.

  4. 04

    Everything leaves a trail

    Compliance reports cite their rules; agent runs and approvals sit in a hash-chained ledger.

07Standards at a glance

Implemented, built for, and next.

Three lists, kept apart on purpose.

Implemented in the products

Standards and methods the product code implements and tests against.

PDF/X-4 export + conformance checkICC OutputIntentISO Coated v2 (FOGRA39)GRACoL 2013 CRPC6CIEDE2000 ΔELab and HKS spot coloursCFF2 dielinesEAN-13 / EAN-8GS1 GTIN rulesFSSAILegal MetrologyBISEPREU FIC 1169/2011EU CLPEU PPWRUK FICNatasha's LawUKCAGB CLPCodexGHSISO symbolsFDA 21 CFR 101.9 roundingANVISABraille checksOR-Tools CP-SATOEE (A × P × Q)GST quote splits

Built for

Shop-floor protocols the connectors are designed around.

CIP4 JDF / JMFOPC UAMQTT (Sparkplug-style)Modbus

Roadmap

Next on the list. Listed separately so it is never mistaken for a current feature.

Spectrophotometer integrationPress-side ΔE monitoringInk formulationG7 / ISO 12647 calibrationRIP and screeningJDF to platesetterA licensed spot-colour library
RoadmapNext, not now

What we are building next.

These close the gap between the file and the press sheet. They are roadmap items, not features of the products today.

  • Roadmap

    Spectrophotometer integration

    Measured press sheets feeding ΔE directly, instead of entered values.

  • Roadmap

    Press-side ΔE monitoring

    Colour drift caught during the run, not at final inspection.

  • Roadmap

    G7 / ISO 12647 calibration

    Press calibration workflows tied to the same colour targets.

  • Roadmap

    Ink formulation

    Recipes computed for spot colours from your ink kitchen's base inks.

  • Roadmap

    RIP, screening & JDF to platesetter

    The last step from PDF/X-4 to plate.

  • Roadmap

    Process physics for offset, gravure and flexo

    Folding carton and finishing are modelled first; each further process is onboarded by configuration.

Ask us to prove any line on this page.

Send a file, a quote or a schedule, and we'll show the standard working on it.

Ask for a technical walkthrough