IPAC Improve Process Analytics and Control GmbH, based in Villach, Austria, describes the ACMS process tool for spatially resolved color measurement (true color hyperspectral scanner) as the only instrument on the market that can analyze and optimize the printing process and evaluate the quality of decorative surfaces. The software has been launched for digital printing this year, and visitors to LIGNA 2017 can experience its features for themselves.

The measurement information of the ACMS, which is designed to provide support in defining, evaluating and reproducing the color impression of decorative surfaces, is obtained by using an industrial hyperspectral scanner for spatially resolved color measurement. IPAC developed the ACMS to imitate the visual color impression perceived by a well-trained, healthy human eye and to subject this to a comprehensive, objective evaluation. It measures on an area of 8 x 22 cm (spectral resolution 5 nm in the CIE-specific spectral range of 380-780 nm). The ACMS is already in use at leading companies in the print and wood materials industries, where it replaces visual quality evaluation with objective measurement data and cuts process costs, because physical dispatch of samples is no longer required, for example. The ACMS can also shorten employee training times and benefit the environment. What's more, IPAC reports that its system can also enhance communication along the entire value-added chain (using defined parameters).