The Advent of Digital Color Standards in Automotive and Industrial Coatings
Fast and accurate color matching, quality control and overall costs are critical for automotive and industrial coating manufacturers who's products are held to the highest industry standards. In product design and development, the right color reflects mood and style and captures attention. During design, a standard can speed design approval and set color expectations. In production, certified reference standards are used to ensure that the color continues to match throughout the process.
Previously, large OEMs, paint companies, or company chains that needed to provide the same colored parts for final assembly, needed to physically establish master color plaques, an acceptable range of variance, and offset plaques. This procedure was to allow for the inconsistencies and variables that exist when many different companies are trying to establish a color match of one final product. The costs for this procedure are exorbitant and takes many man hours to create the panels, agree on them, distribute them, check them, verify them in the field, certify them, and to perform quality control on the parts. Producers want more powerful, sustainable and safe analytical methods delivered faster as testing and instrumentation become more complex and regulations more strict.
Why Use Digital Color Standards?
Digital color standards can be used in software to specify and communicate color, formulate colorants and raw materials, and control color quality. They give peace of mind to brand owners that the color they communicate is the color that they will produce and provide manufacturers with the confidence to work faster and more efficiently.
Digital Color Standards - Efficiency and Productivity Combined with Consistent Quality
One of the most important technology developments enabling greater efficiency and productivity combined with consistent quality is digitalization of color standards for remote, automated operation. Digital standards are colors identified by a name and the underlying data created by a spectral measurement. Spectral data describes a color's fingerprint to accurately communicate its unique identity. Transformation to digital color standards offers tools and capabilities that provide spectral color values to ensure everyone is aiming at the same target. This opens the gates to combating production errors, cost overruns and additional man hours.
Benefits of Digital Color Standards
- Offers accurate consistent color reproduction on a given substrate particularly in different parts being assembled as one.
- Provides sites around the world the ability to store, compare, analyze, and retrieve spectral data for the same target from one central location.
- Provides brand owners with confidence in color specification communication
- Offers quantifiable goals, the ability to work faster, and more efficiently with confidence
- Used with software to specify and communicate expectations of colorants and quality control
- Cost and Time Savings throughout process
The true benefit of using digital color standards comes from a singular point of control and distribution of that master standard, so that everyone is checking their product to the master. Digital color standards are one of the most effective tools to match colors and produce accurate color faster, with less waste.
To understand the benefits of Digital Color Standards the fundamentals of color measurement are critical. All color visual assessments and measurements require an observer, an illuminant, and an object. There are two observers available in instrumentation:
- 10-degree Observer - Best correlation to visual and used by the majority of industries
- 2-degree Observer - Used in printing applications
Both observers were developed by using the Wright/Guild Experiment. This experiment has a masking screen with an opening of 2 degree and 10- degree. All instrumentation has the option of using either Observer. There are significant differences between the two Observers. Therefore, it is imperative that all participants in a color program are using the same Observer. This is set in the Digital Standard so there is no confusion on the Observer to use.
The illuminant has many options in instrumentation, for example D65 (Daylight), A (Tungsten) and F2 (Fluorescent). Each illuminant has a specific spectral curve, these curves represent the reflected light from the illuminant. The curve for D65 (Daylight) has the most uniform curve for all wavelengths, where the A (Tungsten) curve has significant reflectance in the red wavelengths. If two different illuminants are used for the same sample the color difference can be significant. Therefore, the illuminant is set in the Digital Standard so there is no question on what illuminant was used for the measurement. The object can have many different characteristics, this includes gloss, absorption pigments, diffusing pigments, and effect materials.
Conclusion
Digitalization is driving operational optimization and excellence. Access to information and technology has changed the face of the paint and coatings industry. As digital color standards, content, and communications have rapidly evolved in recent decades, the ability to exchange information has accelerated communication with world-wide partners to instantly provide color matching data for separate assembled pieces quickly and efficiently. The true benefit of using digital color standards comes from a singular point of control and distribution of that master standard, so that everyone is checking their product to the same master.
Companies are rapidly implementing digital workflows to increase customer satisfaction by ensuring accurate color matching. Digital solutions also benefit paint retailers and manufacturers by streamlining color development, improving quality control, cutting costs and increasing sustainability.
