The C9 Sheetfed Offset Ink Evaluation Process Review Meeting Was Successfully Held

This meeting focused on the tough issue of standardizing ink supplies, bringing together nearly 30 industry experts from top domestic publishing houses, printing companies, specialized schools, ink manufacturers, and color service agencies. They conducted in-depth discussions and evaluations around the C9 ink evaluation system, including actual measurement data, core evaluation indicators, standardized testing procedures, industry color tolerance norms, and assessment processes, laying a standard foundation for achieving full-chain closed-loop control in the C9 system across equipment, processes, and raw and auxiliary materials.

Zhao Pengfei, Party Secretary and President of the China Printing Science and Technology Institute, gave the opening speech at the meeting. On behalf of the institute, he expressed sincere thanks to the companies in the industry chain and experts who participated in multiple rounds of on-site ink testing and supported the development of the system. Zhao Pengfei pointed out that ink is the foundation of color and the base of quality, and standardizing key consumables is an important piece of the overall quality control puzzle. Systematic deviations in basic color shades across different ink brands directly lead to common industry problems such as uneven real-world colors, offset in overprinting color gamut, and inconsistent batch colors, which are major bottlenecks limiting high-quality publishing and printing development. This evaluation meeting used the implementation of the C9 ink evaluation system as a starting point to build a collaborative platform for the entire industry chain, incorporating first-hand measurement data and practical experience, unifying quantitative evaluation rules for sheet-fed offset inks, filling the gap in quality evaluation of core printing raw and auxiliary materials, and pushing the C9 system toward a new phase of standardized control across equipment, processes, and consumables.

中Zhao Pengfei, Party Secretary and President of the Chinese Academy of Printing Technology

Guo Chuntao, Party Committee Member and Assistant President of the Chinese Academy of Printing Technology, chaired the meeting.

Guo Chuntao, Member of the Party Committee and Assistant to the President of the China-India Academy of Sciences

To ensure that this review process is well-founded, the China-India Academy of Sciences has completed comprehensive system development and multiple rounds of on-site validation. The project started in 2025, and the academy, benchmarking against domestic and international standards, identified core evaluation dimensions like ink hue, density, color difference, and overprinting, along with standardized testing methods. Using the C9 color database to set benchmark ranges, three rounds of on-site testing were organized: the first trial in June 2025 in Hebei Erxin Hua, the second validation in December 2025 in Tianjin Xinfeng Hua, and a comprehensive lab test on multiple inks and paper in April 2026 in Beijing Xinhua. Additionally, expert technical discussions on ink were initiated in February 2026. Throughout the project, extensive effective test data such as Lab color values and ΔE00 color differences were collected. After multiple rounds of data analysis and internal review iterations, a complete and practical ink evaluation plan was developed and submitted to external experts for final determination of official procedures and indicator thresholds.

Three Rounds of Field Tests and Expert Technical Discussion

At the meeting, Li Zhijie, Director of the Process Research Center at the China-India Academy of Sciences, went over the entire project cycle in detail and presented the results of the tests at each stage along with ideas for optimizing the solutions.

Li Zhijie, Director of the Process Research Center at the China-India Academy of Sciences

During the discussion and review session, all participating experts had a thorough exchange around six core topics: Lab parameters for evaluating C9 inks, color difference tolerance ranges, selection of test paper and inks, on-site testing procedures, technical criteria for ink suppliers, and data acceptance standards. They reviewed the evaluation details, testing steps, and judgment criteria one by one, and proposed optimization recommendations for the areas where ink losses frequently occurred in practice. In the end, they reached a consensus on the complete evaluation process, core technical parameters, and judgment rules for C9 sheet-fed offset inks.

Next, the China-India Academy of Sciences will continue to use the C9 system as a central focus, connecting the full-chain quality management of printing equipment, processes, and consumables. This aims to address the key challenges of inconsistent colors across factories, machines, and batches. By fostering standardized innovation, they hope to cultivate new high-quality productivity in the printing industry and support the standardized upgrade of China's publishing and printing sector.