X-Rite, Incorporated has announced its next generation of handheld sphere spectrophotometers to help companies with their colour quality, formulation and monitoring programs by improving colour consistency, reducing production costs of complex materials and tracing measurements across multiple locations.

The Ci6x family of scalable solutions is able to read a wide range of materials and provide benchmark measurements that can be used at each step of the production or assembly process for products as varied as coatings, plastics, textiles, wood and other materials. An easy-to-use and affordable solution for process quality control, the Ci6x supports a breadth of materials, offering industries like paints, plastics, automotive, textiles and packaging a means to improve products within their production processes.

The Ci6x is X-Rite's response to customers' needs for a versatile handheld spectrophotometer that provides tighter controls of color for materials, in-process parts and finished goods along with an audit trail to ensure productivity for facilities with multiple sites. The Ci64UV product is equipped with UV illumination to support the growing trend of adding optical brightener agents to materials.

"One of the things that really stood out for us was the Bluetooth capability of the instrument," said Justin Laird, colour scientist in the stain mixing lab of The Gunlocke Co., which manufactures fine wood furniture for discriminating executives and professionals with private offices. "Having the wireless link offers flexibility to current quality processes making obtaining colour information easier."

"Prior to this device, we were at best a day late in tracking our colour data because of the way we downloaded measurements, so when we began using the Ci6x, we are able to see how we are doing on colour at different points in the production process."

With NetProfiler 3.0 enabled, the Ci6x allows companies to optimise and verify that their instruments are calibrated to a single centreline standard. NetProfiler 3.0 ensures that colour measurements taken throughout the supply chain -- whether design, production, lab or quality assurance -- are accurate and reliable. By simplifying and automating an audit trail, brands and manufacturing plants can monitor compliance at any facility.

The Ci6x key handheld features include:

• A Spectralon sphere for enhanced durability providing years of reliable measurements
• Embedded NetProfiler 3 delivers operations managers the confidence to share, validate and audit data from device to device
• Simultaneous specular included/specular excluded measurement in less than 2 seconds provides quick response quality control to determine if colour variance is caused by appearance.
• USB and available Bluetooth communications capabilities allows for easy connection to computers and remote measurement throughout an operation
• Ci64 Graphical Jobs