Founded in 1964, Penn Color develops and manufactures masterbatches, masterbatches and pigment dispersants with a product line as diverse as any other color company in the world.
For more than half a century, the privately held company headquartered in Doylestown, PA has met or exceeded customer expectations and has expanded and diversified to develop innovative solutions for all industries using colorants and functional additives . Penn Color has more than 700 employees and operates seven manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Serving the plastics industry, Penn Color provides custom formulated colors, liquid pigment and additive masterbatches, as well as high concentrations of individual pigment dispersants for use in all thermoplastic resins including PE, PS, PET, PVC, Nylon, ABS and others A range of polymers. The company's customers have come to rely more and more on its excellent color consistency, tight tolerances, and innovative solutions to difficult problems.
To achieve these goals, Penn Color adheres to X-Rite's range of professional color measurement and management solutions and uses X-Rite's CI7 and CE7000A benchtop integrating sphere spectrometers. The company was one of the early adopters in the world when it learned that X-Rite's next-generation Ci7800 benchtop Spectrophotometer was available, while the instrument was still in beta testing.
cutting edge features
"When we saw the X-Rite Ci7800," said Cesar Aristizabal, Penn Color's Color Science and Support Services, "we were impressed by the craftsmanship; The ease of correlating the Ci7800 measurements with values obtained with our existing CI7 and CE7000A has been a valuable addition to our range of color Measurement Instruments. We also like the fact that the display panel is unambiguous , allowing the operator to work quickly and accurately.”
Penn Color also appreciates some of the other new features offered by the Ci7800, including a range of aperture sizes, five reflective apertures from 3.5 to 25mm, and four transmissive apertures from 6 to 27mm. "The electronic signature records the aperture size used in transmission mode," Aristizabal added. "This, along with the instrument's auto-configuration feature, facilitates automatic setup, increases measurement efficiency, and reduces operator errors." According to Aristizabal, another advantage of the Ci7800 is its complete audit trail, which includes equipment condition, sample image capture and the measurement parameters for each measurement. Combined with its internal temperature and humidity sensors, it enables complete track and trace. “Being able to have all of this data, plus sample images, was extremely valuable in helping us troubleshoot any type of color issues that might arise during production,” he says. Having this level of data available also improves a company's ability to accurately and consistently communicate color standards to customers.
Aristizabal also uses X-Rite's advanced color quality control software, which reduces the guesswork when evaluating color; reduces color formulation costs; and allows the performance of color measurement equipment to be verified, optimized, and certified. This includes Net Profiler's ability to certify the measurement performance of its Spectrophotometer s, reducing variations between measurement devices due to aging, wear and environmental factors. “Thereby extending the life and value of our older instruments while seamlessly integrating the new Ci7800 into our equipment portfolio,” he said. Penn Color also takes advantage of Color IQC, a flexible, job-oriented software package that simplifies color measurement, reporting and documentation to maintain a centralized, cost-effective workflow.
Penn Color has many conditions for growth and development, and is actively expanding sales in emerging markets around the world. The company is also vigorously expanding its product line, with a view to further stimulating growth through independent research and development and mergers and acquisitions.
"With the ability to grow and continue to exceed our customers' expectations, we see X-Rite as an important partner for us," Walsh concluded. "Our past experience with X-Rite and Gretag McBeth products has been excellent, and the new Ci7800 is no exception. Having this next-generation instrument become an important part of our operations is critical to our continued drive to advance our color-critical business." The importance of ability cannot be overstated.”
