When I started out in graphics, the consultancy I worked for was one of the first to produce all of their work digitally. Back then in 1991 it was very unusual to give a printer a CD (well then it was a SyQuest Cartridge or three) and for all the artwork to be on it. At the very least the repro house would usually still be dropping in scanned images for you. Anyways...
Artwork was still output to film and with it you would be given a set of Cromalin proofs made from the actual film. This allowed you (and your client) to check the artwork for mistakes and immediately see if the colour was correct. Changes could (and would) be made at this stage (though new film and Cromalins would be required).
Once you were happy, the filmwork and the Cromalins would be passed to your printer who would usually be instructed to "match the Cromalins for colour". The printer would then make plates from the films provided, and then give you a 'wet proof' - they would use the actual plates they had made and print a set of full colour proofs on a printing press using 'real' inks on the actual stock you had specified.
We would then show the wet proofs to the client for final sign off and we would diligently mark-up the proofs instructing the printer to remove unwanted marks, correct miss-registration etc. Of course it was not unknown for clients to make changes at this stage resulting in new film, Cromalins and plates. Oh, and a larger invoice at the end!
Although very expensive (yet it was a 'normal' expense at the time), it did mean that there were no surprises and the end result was usually just as everyone wanted it to be.
Of course today, by-and-large, all of the above is history. Artwork is supplied formatted and ready to go (often just requiring imposition into printer's spreads) and is output digitally direct to plate. If you do see any proofs from the printer they are normally digital proofs and all they can reliably tell you is if the printer has managed to print out your artwork OK. You can't tell what the colour of the job is really going to be like, how the ink will interact with your chosen stock or substrate etc.
So at KMI we usually do a print pass the first time a job is printed. This involves travelling to the printer and, once the press has been set-up correctly, checking each different sheet of a job for colour, registration etc. We will ask for tweaks to be made to colours etc until we are 100% happy with the job (we have pulled jobs to make amendments to artwork if we cannot achieve a top-quality result on-press). Once approved the printer has a series of agreed settings they can refer to if a job is re-printed.
All of this can take up a considerable amount of time - especially if you're approving jobs being printed abroad! But delivering top-quality packaging and literature into store is a 'must' for everyone at KMI so, until hell freezes over, you'll find members of the Design and Production teams at KMI out and about, hunched over printer's presses and light boxes, checking, checking, checking!
