TAC excesses costing industry

Excessive total area coverage (TAC) for deep blacks could be costing the global print industry hundreds of million of euros, according to the results of a study by the Flemish Innovation Centre for Graphic Communication (VIGC).
 
VIGC said the long-held belief in the industry is that TAC should be between 320 per cent and 360 per cent, but its own investigation showed 260 per cent, or even 220 per cent, is more than adequate, as long as the conversion is carried out with the correct profiles.
 
VIGC director Eddy Hagen said: ‘We wanted to find out how low you can go in terms of maximum ink coverage before you see an unacceptable difference. The final result was amazing. The old truth - that you need between 320 per cent and 360 per cent TAC – is not borne out, provided you convert colors correctly.
 
‘The cost of ink represents around 2-5 per cent of the cost of the printed material. So imagine that if on the basis of this investigation a company can reduce its ink consumption by 10 per cent, we’re talking about saving more than €6 million to €15 million here in Belgium alone. When you apply this on a global level, the figures are even more impressive. The turnover of the print industry worldwide is estimated at more than €400 billion, so if you apply the lower TAC principle on this level, the savings equates to more than a billion euros. Plus being more economical with basic materials in this way would contribute to more sustainable production and would be better for the environment.’