Techkon receives 2025 FTA Technical Innovation Award

Techkon US has received the prestigious FTA Technical Innovation Award 2025 for its in-line color measurement system SpectroVision. According to the company, the Techkon SpectroVision is the first in-line mounted spectrophotometer capable of measurements at full production speeds. It includes three devices: a full 31-point spectrophotometer capable of taking 3000 spectral color measurements per second, a web viewer/inspection camera, and a barcode grader at a fraction of the cost of competing systems. This marks the second Innovation Award Techkon US has received in a row.

The award was presented on May 4 during the Awards Banquet ceremony at Forum and Infoflex 2025, FTA’s annual four-day technical conference and exhibition. 

George Adam, president at Techkon US, received the award on behalf of the entire Techkon team and expressed his excitement: 'We are honored to receive the FTA Technical Innovation Award again this year, our second award in a row. We at Techkon US work daily to make color management for flexographic printers and their customers - the brands -as easy and painless as possible. The SpectroVision in-line system, with the invention of our award-winning SmartInk technology, is the culmination of many years of work and is a breakthrough towards nearly fully automated color control for flexographic printers, both during make-ready and throughout production.' 

The company states that after years of engineering and refining, Techkon’s SpectroVision is a machine designed to automate color measurements on flexographic and web presses at an affordable cost. 

Its spectral color measurements are fast enough for full-speed production runs. Precise color measurements of the full-color bar, including tints and solids, can be measured across the entire web width, including in-image locations. It provides a nearly closed-loop experience with SmartInk ink toning technology. Predictive alerts buzz when color begins to drift during the run. It offers seamless data collection, sharing, reporting and analytics in the Cloud for every run and every impression in two seconds. 

The company claims SpectroVision is easy to use, and press operators do not require much knowledge of spectrophotometers, computers, or color matching. 

SpectroVision automates the color measurement process and eliminates all press starts and stops associated with off-line color measurements, significantly reducing wasted ink and substrate and allowing more jobs to be run on press throughout the day. 

SpectroVision eliminates the guesswork and provides press operators with clear and actionable feedback regarding color and press adjustments to achieve the required color specifications for the job. Automation ensures that color measurements occur regularly throughout the entire press run and eliminates the operator's measurement burden. 

SpectroVision can provide many more color measurements during the press run, allowing for tighter color tolerance. The integrated award-winning AI-driven SmartInk technology provides precise ink recipe adjustments if the ink is off-shade. 

Kent Gundlach, president of Victor Envelope Company, shared his experience with SpectroVision: 'It’s simple to make a lot of bad envelopes. A lot can go wrong in maintaining good color throughout the run. When you run multiple shifts, you want to maintain the color from morning to night and back to the next day. The Techkon SpectroVision allows us to measure and record information on color throughout the day to maintain good color.'