Crown helps maintain color consistency on Molson beer cans

Crown Beverage Packaging North America, a subsidiary of Crown Holdings, is helping Molson Coors Canada streamline its printing process in an effort to ensure that cans of beer are more faithfully colour matched across the company’s packaging.

The process has helped enhance colour consistency across different packaging facilities with a range of tools that support the company’s colour management program.

Most recently, Crown worked as part of a project team with X-Rite and Inx International to integrate a new automated colour measurement tool for Molson Coors Canada.

The X-Rite SP-64 system enables the company to assign numeric values to colours that are applied as standards across the company’s three production facilities. Previously, these colours had to be gauged by eye, subjecting them to variations in lighting and the challenges of measuring on a reflective surface. By asserting an automated colour standard, colour harmony is achieved across locations, enhancing the efficiency of Molson Coors Canada’s package printing operation and ultimately speeding time to market.

“Package graphics play an integral role in establishing and maintaining brand identity,” says Donna Razik, packaging graphics specialist, Molson Coors Canada. “Having a colour and print standardisation process in place ensures consistency across all of our packaging and that our brand identity is accurately represented everywhere our products are sold. Crown worked closely with X-Rite and Inx International to establish standard operating procedures to monitor colour and effectively deliver results for can printing.”

Crown provides additional support by training operations personnel to use new printing technologies and maintains all of the colour measurement records.

In addition to helping implement the X-Rite SP-64 measurement tool, Crown worked with Molson Coors Canada to apply colour blocks when printing on beverage cans. On cans that feature screen work, which can reduce the areas of solid shades, the colour blocks enable Molson Coors to verify correct colours using just the spot impression. First implemented in 2008, Molson Coors Canada remains the only beverage company that uses this technology for beverage cans.

“Colour is one of the most recognisable attributes of any brand identity, so taking the proper steps to ensure consistency on colour and print standardisation and overall quality is essential,” says John Corelli, manager of graphics planning, customer and technical service North America. “We’re pleased to be able to partner with Molson Coors Canada, X-Rite and Inx International and help ensure that every package that comes off the line is uniform and reflects the high quality of the product inside.”

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