Color Consistency Problems

We use Macintosh G5 computers with CS3.
We have a Xerox DocuColor 6060 Digital Color Press/Printer. The problem we are having is with the color changing from week to week. We can print the same exact job, from the same computer and the colors will change. We have a lot of work for advertising agencies and I need the color to match. How do I get the consistency for my customers? Is there any specific program or something we are not doing correctly? I would appreciate any and all help anyone can give me on this.
thanks!

Not sure what type of process ( i.e., inkjet, laser, plate ) printer the Xerox 6060 is, but it may be necessary to calibrate the printer once a week. Environment could have a lot to do with the performance of the printer, things like room temperature and humidity. Humidity affects paper and ink holdout. Your color drift could be affected by so many factors, too many to list here. It may be helpful to contact Xerox and have a rep take a look at the problem.

Sunshine,

your printer is a toner printer, opposed to an inkjet.
Toner printers can be calibrated rather fast because
one hasn't to wait for ink drying, but they are not
very stable. In my experience there are sometimes jumps
without any reason, which require a new calibration.

You'll need heavy equipment like GretagMacbeth (GMB)
Eye-One Pro (instrument) and ProfileMaker5 (program).

Before you buy anything you should ask an expert about
the best solution for your purpose (not necessarily
GMB = X-Rite).
Before you buy something by GMB you should deliberately
check the content of the 'bundle'. A bundle consists
of the instrument and a couple of program modules.
Which modules is often a mystery until you open the box.

Of course you'll need a RIP (raster image processor) which
accepts RGB and CMYK input profiles and which uses the
output-profile as found by calibration.
The RIP can be the already installed standard printer driver.

Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann

Which type of color server do you have?

In my experience with Xeroxes and Fiery or Creo servers, the server software should have calibration tools included. Specific hardware (densitometer/colorimeter/spectrophotometer) needs to be used with the software, of course. The calibration software should indicate which hardware you'll need.

It's a very quick process to recalibrate this way, and I've always had success with it (although I've only done this with the Fiery server).

Hope this helps!