Our printing units are equipped with up to 8 inkers. This does not mean we can always print 8 colours; due to technical printing restrictions, it is possible that a colour must be printed with 2 separate plates.
For full coverage areas (i.e. background) to print, an extra (relief) plate must be used.
White ink may need to be printed with 2 plates to achieve sufficient colour strength.
Halftones, fine texts and images in combination with a solid colour for the background need to be split into 2 plates because of different machine settings and film thickness of ink.
Please check all tabs to ensure artwork is correct.
Spot Colours
All artworks should be submitted with each colour assigned to an individual spot colour. We do not accept CMYK artworks.
The spot colours in the artwork should represent a solid coated pantone reference from the PantoneLIVE directory.
Varnish
The over varnish does not count as a colour or take up an ink station. This is applied across the whole can after the design and inks have been printed.
Our standard varnish is Glossy. We also offer a Matt varnish as a premium alternative.
For a full list of possible varnishes and value-added products, see our Sample Store or Brochure.
Printing
Our printing machines are equipped with 8 ink stations. However, we recommend artworks are set up with a maximum of 6 different colours, as some colours such as the background may require two hits of the same ink, or we may need an additional plate to print any screenwork.
The smallest printable area of colour on any one printing plate must exceed 2cm2 (Due to ink drying up on rollers and the risk of colour variation).
Layout with 6 different colours.
Layout with 8 printing separations.
PantoneLIVE
PantoneLIVE is a collaboration between X-Rite and Pantone to create colour libraries for solid coated references.
With this cloud-based architecture, we can supply verified matchings to pantone references on aluminium.
PantoneLIVE comes in two opacities,
Opaque (LPAV) and Transparent (LPAQ):
Transparent
Opaque
Ardagh Metal Packaging can provide PantoneLIVE Rollouts measured and validated according to PantoneLIVE Metal Deco Aluminium targets:
Digital Colour
The PantoneLIVE collaboration also covers digital colour, with the ability to print colour emulating the real inks with digital proofing.
Each of our 5 Graphic locations across Europe are equipped with a digital printer to proof designs without physically printing onto the metal can.
Please contact your local Graphics department for more information.
Ardagh Metal Packaging can also provide a digital match of PantoneLIVE colours to give a quick and accurate representation of the related Metal Deco Aluminium PantoneLIVE colours. We can also provide a flat, digitally printed proof of your design, which can also be wrapped around a can for a visual replication of a printed can.
White should be displayed in artworks assigned to a White spot colour.
Substrate should be displayed in artworks assigned to the ‘Alu Base’ layer and coloured in grey.
Technical markers should be kept as CMYK.
