Skills shortages, margin pressure, and rising SKU counts are forcing packaging printers to organize their value chain more efficiently and on a more data-driven basis. A high-quality printed product remains the foundation, but the decisive factor is increasingly the ability to create quotes faster and manage jobs reproducibly with as few touchpoints as possible.
To achieve this, color information must be available across the entire value chain, clearly prepared, and usable for each specific role: from customer communication and quotation through data inspection, prepress, and softproofing to production and quality assurance.
This is exactly where Hybrid Software Colorspace comes in: as an open, flexible, and highly integrable product line that turns color management into a data-driven decision-making foundation for modern packaging production.
Making Decisions Where They Arise
Christopher Graf, Managing Director & VP Color at Hybrid Software, summarizes this shift:
“Hybrid Software is at the center of prepress automation for packaging printing. With the Colorspace product line, we make color information available where decisions are made: in customer communication, quotation, data inspection, prepress, softproofing, and production. This helps our customers make decisions faster, more transparently, and with a higher degree of automation.”
Digital Printing and Hybrid Production as an Efficiency Challenge
In hybrid production environments, color decisions must be made as early as possible — not only at the press. This is where prepress becomes a decisive lever for efficiency.
Manuel Schrutt, Head of Packaging EMEA at Fujifilm, explains:
“The Jet Press FP790 is designed for maximum efficiency — which is why we recommend Hybrid Software’s workflow. Color management and data preparation belong in prepress, not as a bottleneck at the press. When customers use Colorspace, critical color decisions are made upfront. The press does not need to be stopped for corrections; it can keep running continuously. That is the key to profitably connecting digital and conventional production worlds.”
Customer Project: Yourpac Invests in Scalable Processes
Yourpac, based in Hamburg, produces sustainable packaging such as stand-up pouches, sachets, and reels. With MyCLOUDFLOW, the company invested in transparent, efficient, and resource-saving production processes.
“Maximum transparency and efficient processes are crucial for us,” says Melanie Harms, Sales Manager at Yourpac. “MyCLOUDFLOW helps us manage jobs more easily, plan better, and produce in a more resource-efficient way.”
Colorspace complements this approach with automated color management: color information and conversions become available early in the workflow, enabling digital print production with high quality, repeatability, and efficiency.
Flexibility in the Software Architecture
Victor Asseiceiro, General Manager Color at Hybrid Software and responsible for the ColorLogic products, underlines the technological approach:
“The real value of Colorspace lies in its flexibility and deep integrability. Color information is created at many points in the process. It must be reliably prepared and presented to the different participants in the way each stakeholder needs it. With Colorspace, we help customers structure this complex information chain and work more efficiently across departments.”
For Hybrid Software, this development is part of a clear strategic direction. Guido Van der Schueren, Executive Chairman of Hybrid Software, explains:
“Color management is a strategic component of modern packaging production. With the Colorspace product line, we offer open ICC color management that enables customers to make their business processes more efficient. Our goal is to provide maximum flexibility — regardless of whether customers produce digitally, conventionally, or in hybrid environments.”
The Colorspace Product Line
Color Optimizer and Color Profiler form the technical foundation of the Colorspace product line: measurement data is prepared, checked, and optimized; from this, ICC, DeviceLink, and SaveInk profiles are created, along with color strategies for separation and gamut mapping. These can then be used in production processes in a standardized and automated way.
PACKZ Colorspace brings color decisions directly into the PDF and artwork context. SmartLink Technology enables color strategies to be applied dynamically. Softproofing helps users evaluate the color appearance under defined output conditions at an early stage.
CLOUDFLOW Colorspace ultimately brings color management into browser-based, automated workflows. Color checks, conversions, reports, and decision logic can be deeply integrated into existing business processes. With Proofscope and its approval engine, color-accurate softproofing can also be seamlessly embedded.
Conclusion
Hybrid Software Colorspace represents a shift in color management: color is no longer treated as an isolated technical task, but as an integrated part of the business process. For printing and packaging companies, this means fewer manual steps, better-founded decisions in hybrid print production, and greater reliability across the entire value chain.
