#TheDress

Despite the brilliance of the human mind, and that sight is so natural for us, few know how colour perception actually works.

#TheDress is a good example.

Forgetting the technical niceties of how the eye works to gather spectral data and light, the mind decides what you "See". Eye witness evidence is easily contradicted if several eye witnesses to the same incident are questioned separately.

In short, the mind may or may not make use of the data supplied by the eyes when deciding the "Best" course of action at the time. Ask your wife next time she has her hair coloured, and you don't notice. The mind registers the "Wife" file and does not bother to update a "Known" object. Women may have better eye for detail, but su fer  rom the s ame pro lem.

(Did you fill in the gaps madam?)

Precise colour Communication is only possible with precise tools from suppliers like www.narich.co.za

A Light Conversation

More and more customers are asking for Colour and Spectroscopy solutions. many of these are already formed solutions available "Out of the Box" while even more require some conversation to configure and implement. As the choices grow, so doe dht need to chat with customers more often and more in depth. To this end, a dedicated Scientist can talk Spectroscopy, NIR can be discussed with an Industry Specialist, and Computer Colour matching can be implemented with a dedicated specialist trained in both the theory in Europe, and the production environment in Africa. Contact us for access to these services, or join our event on the 13th of August.

New Website, New Services from Narich (Pty) Ltd

After an explosive year of growth we have taken a short breather to radically improve our website with focussed product selection for the African market, dedicated service for technical support particularly with Spectramagic NX and Colibri support, as well as Spectroscopy. This has lead to a dedicated "Centre of Excellence" being established at Stellenbosch University under the CAF facility with expertise to help with most systems, focussing on NIR. We also have a Sasol RAMAN Resource for assistance.

We continue to close the circle for one stop shopping: Consultation, Sales Process, Installation, Implementation, Certification, Service & Support all via web based forms and help procedures.
have a new look at www.narich.co.za

Dear Customers, Colleagues, Principals, Suppliers and Partners, we wish you all a safe and sacred Holiday Season and look forward to being with you all again in 2014


Richard & Natalie Majewski and all of us at Narich (Pty) Ltd

How the senses affect taste perception

I came across this great article in FOOD PRODUCTION daily.com which is worth sharing, particularly with reference to our interest in colour. See the article here: Taste beyond flavour: How colour, texture and environment influence taste perception written by Caroline Scott-Thomas

Warranty Policy - Konica Minolta Instruments - South Africa, SADC countries and Nigeria

A lot of publicity has been given to new Consumer Protection Legislation which does not necessarily relate to Industrial customers. To clarify our Warranty Policy for Konica Minolta Sensing in our region, the procedures are as follows:

When the instrument is delivered and installed, typically an Implementation Completion document is signed by the customer. This serves two purposes. 1) That the customer is happy that all is up and running as expected and no parts or accessories are missing and 2) The 12 month warranty period offered by Konica Minolta time period is initiated.

Narich (Pty) Ltd monitors these dates, and towards the end of the warranty period, typically a reminder is sent to the user. Please keep us updated of User Detail changes.

Each Instruments history is recorded in detail, recording Calibration Services and any other repairs or maintenance issues.

In the event of an instrument failure within the 12 month period, proceed as follows:

• Securely pack the Instrument and all accessories in the ORIGINAL PACKAGING (or suitable alternative) and ship the Instrument to 21 Clare Street, Gardens, cape Town South Africa.
• Shipping is at the customers cost.
• Narich Service will carry out a diagnostic routine and confirm the issue, as well as if it is a warranty claim or not. this service is billed for.
• If the Instrument is found to be defective  and a PART is at fault, the PART will be replaced free of charge. Labour will be billed.
• The Calibration Certification will be renewed - No Charge
• The Instrument will be returned to the customer at Konica Minolta's expense.
• The same procedure is followed should in extreme cases the Instrument is required to be sent to Germany or Japan for more extensive repairs.
• The repair is warranted for another six months.

Depending on the actual customers circumstances and the actual fault at the time, we reserve the right to change this procedure. This is usually in favour of the customer. Konica Minolta fiercely protect their brand.

SpectraMagic NX - Why the Dongle - Can it Network - I can't Connect to Windows

Konica Minolta's brilliant Quality Assurance and Analysis software is easy to use, reliable and affordable with over a 100 local implementations. Its Windows based and follows Windows look and feel, so its fairly easy to learn. Over the years, three questions come up quite often, and we answer them here:

Why do we use a USB Protection Dongle instead of a software licence?

SpectraMagic NX is essentially a free download from Konica Minolta. (See this link) (http://www.konicaminolta.eu/en/measuring-instruments/products/colour-measurement/software/spectramagic-nx/introduction.html)

To enable the software use with an Instrument, and to activate all the features, a protection Dongle (Hasp) has to be purchased. It is therefore intended that wherever you wish to use an instrument, the Protection Dongle must be present as well. You are free to load the software on multiple computers, but Instrument activity will only take place when the dongle is on that same computer. The advantage of the dongle system is that you do not require to pay annual licence fees or top-ups to keep your software  as long as you have a dongle you can download the latest version free.

Can I Network the software?

the DATA from your readings is stored in any windows format, and can be on a Network, while the Dongle feature is NOT Networkable, it must be local. If you have ONE Dongle, you can Connect ONE instrument per PC with a dongle, but you are free to move that instrument to multiple sites, along with the dongle.

What happens if the Dongle is lost or stolen?

Treat the Dongle the same as an Instrument. In fact keep them together. USB devices tend to go missing when IT decides to upgrade or change your PC and they are blissfully unaware of the value of the Dongle. Insure it and care for it as you would the Instrument.

In the event of a genuine theft or loss a new dongle can be purchased at a reduced price if accompanied by a Police Affidavit to that effect. The reduction in price is however not more than 30%

If you loose a dongle, you DO NOT loose the data.

I Cant Connect My Instrument to NX?

As long as the instrument is powered ON and switched to REMOTE, the cable is not damaged

and it is inserted into a working local USB port, only one other issue causes failure to connect, and that is the incorrect COM PORT allocation. Windows dynamically allocates port numbers and sometimes if an instrument is reconnected via a USB port or port adaptor (Usb to 232) a new port number can result.

To rectify this:

Open Device Manager
Select the device and see which port number has been allocated

On the NX Menu select Instrument / Communication Setup

select the port number as per the device manager allocation

Press OK (All the other settings are by default correct)

Press the blue Connect button

Either the calibration icon will show, or the software will ask you to now calibrate the instrument

When in doubt NX has interactive help (The blue I button) and a PDF Format Manual which you can word search for the correct answer.