Amann/Datacolor
(Source: Amann)
A good color management process starts with raw materials, where different substrates have different colors or whiteness levels. Knowing that the base color of any material is a crucial factor for dyeing, Amann & Söhne GmbH & Co. KG, Bönnigheim/Germany, includes whiteness tolerances in supplier specifications to ensure there are no surprises when dyeing begins.
After a batch has been dyed, a sample is drawn and worked up accordingly. It then goes through both visual and digital assessment to ensure the color meets expectations. While more and more companies are moving toward digital color control, some still rely on visual evaluation. To meet the needs of these customers, Amann uses a lightbox to assess color samples. They also perform a digital measurement using the Datacolor 800 Spectrophotometer of Datacolor, Lawrenceville, NJ/USA.
These measurements are combined with a visual evaluation, which together support the color decision and recipe adjustment. Using color measurement technology at this step removes much of the subjectivity typically associated with dyeing and re-dyeing, and ultimately results in a faster match.
Amann keeps virtual samples and uses a digital population tool customized by Datacolor. Each dye house can access this centralized database to see whether the colors meet the specified quality requirement.
When Amann dye houses in Romania, UK, Germany, Vietnam, China and Bangladesh all dye on the same material, the result must always be identical. This color measurement standard enables Amann to bring each global location onto one level and ensure good quality comparisons. Recipes can be exchanged among different facilities with the assurance that results will be identical since every location is using the same colorimetric data.