CTS Color Program History

For those concerned with color measurement, one truth has remained constant: if the color and appearance of a product and its component parts do not match, then that product will likely be viewed as flawed. Even if the color or appearance has no real impact on the actual use (or usefulness) of the product, the bottom-line implications are obvious. However, achieving agreement on color measurement has always been easier said than done.
 
Decades ago, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) began to assist industry by running interlaboratory programs to improve measurement agreement between laboratories. In 1971, NBS in cooperation with The Manufacturers Council on Color and Appearance (MCCA) conducted an interlaboratory survey on retroreflectance. In September 1972, the same two organizations initiated a color and color difference survey. Later in the 1970s CTS began to operate this program, building on the established color and gloss studies. With the publication of the Color and Appearance Report #50 in 1985, CTS operated the program independently of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST formerly NBS) with the MCCA as Program Affiliate.
 
Key to the program's success in the early years was strong support from color instrument manufacturers. The reason is clear: no matter the increasingly sophisticated software, the introduction of new instrument designs, and the diversity of industries involved in the control of color, color measurement fundamentally relies on the basic agreement between color and appearance instruments. The CTS Color & Appearance Program plays a key role in this process by coordinating color measurement systems across instrument manufacturers, instrument models and calibration systems. Without the ability to communicate color across these different systems it would be nearly impossible to deliver consistent color to markets worldwide. Todays international manufacturing system and the difficulty sharing physical color product standards, as well as the desire to specify color using only numeric targets, makes the agreement of color measurements more important than ever.
 
Organizations world-wide participate in this unique program, which has become accepted by laboratories as the de facto standard for color and appearance proficiency testing. In addition, several organizations have established corporate vendor programs using the CTS tests to establish a vendor's ability to comply with their particular specifications.
 

CTS Color Program Schedule

Enroll at any time during the year. A subscription includes four cycles, which are outlined below. Note that data due dates occur approximately 6 weeks after a shipment date and that results must be submitted on or before a data due date in order to be included in the report. Participants can track shipments, submit data and access reports through the CTS Customer Portal.

Enroll Between August 26 - November 25

Samples Ship:	Data Due:	Reports Issued:
early January	mid February	early March
early April	mid May	early June
early July	mid August	early September
early October	mid November	early December

Enroll Between November 26 - February 25

Samples Ship:	Data Due:	Reports Issued:
early April	mid May	early June
early July	mid August	early September
early October	mid November	early December
early January	mid February	early March

Enroll Between February 26 - May 25

Samples Ship:	Data Due:	Reports Issued:
early July	mid August	early September
early October	mid November	early December
early January	mid February	early March
early April	mid May	early June

Enroll Between May 26 - August 25

Samples Ship:	Data Due:	Reports Issued:
early October	mid November	early December
early January	mid February	early March
early April	mid May	early June
early July	mid August	early September

Summary Reports

Portal Links

Participants in CTS Color Program tests can access Test Instructions on the CTS Customer Portal.

A Guide to Interpreting Performance Analysis Reports, available as well on the CTS Customer Portal, assists participants in understanding and getting maximum benefit from the individual reports issued at the completion of each testing round.