Welcome to Under The Cone

As we close out Earth Month, sustainability has been the recurring theme, not just in Earth Day posts, but in the fundamental connection between workflow efficiency and environmental impact. Efficiency improvements almost always reduce environmental impact, and automation that saves time usually saves materials and energy too. Looking ahead to May, technological sustainability coverage will […]

Notification fatigue could be killing your workflow effectiveness. If every file triggers an email notification, notifications become noise that everyone ignores. It may not be needed to send alerts for normal successful processing that copy entire teams on every error. There needs to be a distinction between urgent and informational messages. A better strategy is […]

Spring brings longer days and more natural light in production facilities. That's great for morale, but can be hard for color evaluation consistency. So an important question as we head into Q2 is, when's the last time you checked your viewing booth's D50 bulbs? Bulbs degrade over time, shifting their color temperature. Add seasonal sunlight […]

Your Switch flows are talking to each other, right? 🔄 Most operations build workflows one at a time to solve individual problems, which can lead to 15 flows that don't communicate. Here’s an example: Flow A preflights and color-converts files. Flow B handles imposition. But Flow B doesn't know if Flow A already processed the […]

Switching to recycled or FSC-certified stocks is a common sustainability move, but these substrates often have different white points than conventional papers, affecting color reproduction. Standard color profiles assume specific substrate characteristics but recycled papers with different whiteness or texture can require profile adjustments. You can adjust your strategy by creating substrate-specific profiles for your […]

This more planet-friendly ink option means using a seven-color process (CMYK + Orange, Green, Violet) instead of mixing thousands of spot inks. This can result in dramatically reduced chemical waste from spot ink mixing, reduced press wash-ups between jobs, less ink inventory sitting on shelves, lower VOC emissions from unused inks, and simplified waste disposal. […]

It’s time to stop guessing which workflow processed your file. Can you tell which Switch flow handled a specific job from three weeks ago? If the answer is "maybe" or "I'd have to dig through logs," your workflow tracking might need work. Smart tracking strategies include enabling detailed logging in Switch with meaningful descriptions, adding […]

The greenest print is the one you only have to print once. 🌱 Sustainability conversations often focus on substrates and inks, but there's another environmental angle: Eliminating waste through better workflows. Every file error that reaches the press creates environmental impact. If 10% of your jobs require reprinting due to file issues caught late, that's […]

Last week's ExpoPrint Latin America and various other regional shows this quarter provided insights into where the industry is heading. Here are some key takeaways: Switch integration for wide-format demonstrations showed how finishing automation is becoming a standard expectation, not a premium feature. Operations are moving from "Can we automate this?" to "How quickly can we implement […]

A St. Patrick's Day meditation on metamerism, rich blacks, and what our eyes are missing Every St. Patrick's Day, millions of pints of Guinness are poured and people across the world try to “split the G”. While most beer admirers see a beautifully dark, black stout topped with a creamy white head, those who work […]