Graphic Measures International

GMI, run by Graphic Measures International, is a widely recognized third-party program that assesses and grades the quality of print and packaging production. It exists to answer a simple question that brand owners and retailers care about a great deal: can this supplier reproduce our printed materials accurately, consistently, and run after run? GMI evaluates the printed output itself, things like color accuracy and print consistency, alongside the production processes and controls that stand behind that output.

When a print or packaging supplier meets the program's requirements, it earns GMI certification, sometimes described as qualified status. In practice, that credential functions as a shared, independent yardstick. Instead of every brand sending its own auditors to every printer, they can point to GMI as a common standard of print quality and let a neutral third party do the assessing.

It helps to think of GMI as covering two connected things at once. One is the finished work: does the printed color match the target, and does it stay matched? The other is the system that produces the work: are the presses, measurement tools, and procedures under control so that good results are repeatable rather than lucky. A supplier passes by showing strength in both.

GMI is built for the companies that physically produce printed and packaged materials for consumer brands and retailers. If your business turns a design file into finished print, and your customers are large brand owners or major retailers, GMI is very likely to come up. Typical candidates include:

• Commercial printers producing displays, inserts, and marketing print
• Packaging converters making flexible packaging, pouches, and printed film
• Folding carton and corrugated manufacturers producing retail-ready boxes and cartons
• Label printers producing pressure-sensitive, shrink-sleeve, and in-mold labels
• Other print suppliers that serve, or want to serve, brands and retailers that require GMI

The most common reason a supplier pursues GMI is not internal ambition but a customer request. A brand or retailer tells its print suppliers that GMI certification, or meeting GMI's quality requirements, is a condition of doing business. That makes GMI a market-access credential more than a legal one: no statute requires it, but the accounts you want to win or keep may well require it. If a customer has raised GMI with you, that is usually the signal that you need it. We help you confirm exactly what your specific customers are asking for before you commit time and money.

A GMI assessment examines both the printed result and the quality system that produces it. On the output side, the central concern is the consistency and accuracy of printed color and reproduction, whether what comes off the press matches the intended target, and whether it keeps matching across the length of a run. Reliable color is the heart of what brands are buying, so it sits at the center of the evaluation.

On the process side, the assessment looks at how well you control the printing operation. That means the discipline around measurement, calibration, and process controls: the instruments you use to measure color and print quality, how they are maintained and calibrated, and how you use the numbers to keep the process in check rather than reacting after the fact. It also covers documented procedures, so that the right way to run a job is written down and followed rather than living only in an operator's head.

Assessors also weigh consistency across runs and, where relevant, across multiple sites, because a brand needs the same result whether a job runs today or next quarter, in one plant or another. Underpinning all of it is evidence of continual quality management, that you monitor performance, catch problems, and improve over time. To keep this accurate: GMI applies its own scoring and qualification criteria, and we deliberately describe those in general terms here rather than quoting specific scales or thresholds, since those belong to the program and can change.

The most immediate reason is commercial. For many print and packaging suppliers, GMI certification is a prerequisite to win or keep business with major brands and retailers. When a customer names GMI as a purchasing condition, the certificate is what keeps you on the approved supplier list. Without it, you may be quietly excluded from opportunities before a conversation even begins; with it, you can compete for and hold accounts that uncertified competitors cannot reach.

Beyond access, GMI is a credible signal of reliable, repeatable print quality. It tells a buyer that an independent party has looked at both your output and your process and found them dependable. That reassurance shortens the trust-building that would otherwise slow down a new relationship, which matters when a brand is deciding who gets its work.

There are operational gains too. The same discipline that earns the certificate, tighter color control, calibrated measurement, and documented procedures, tends to reduce rejected jobs and reprints. Fewer rejects means less wasted material, less press time lost to rework, and fewer late deliveries. So the effort you invest to satisfy customers also pays back inside your own plant, while strengthening your competitive position in a market where proof of quality increasingly decides who wins the contract.

For more than 30 years we have focused on getting organizations ready for third-party assessment and helping them stay ready. More than 900 organizations have earned certification with our help, and every one of them passed the first time, which is how we hold a 100% first-time pass rate. One point we are always clear about: the GMI assessment and the certification itself are granted by GMI, not by us. Our job is to prepare your facility so thoroughly that you pass it.

We start by assessing your current print-quality practices against GMI's expectations, so you can see plainly where you already meet the mark and where the gaps are. From there, our proven 10-Step Approach carries you through building the process controls, measurement discipline, and documentation you need: getting color control and calibration onto a sound footing, writing procedures your operators will actually use, training your team, and running the internal checks that surface problems before an assessor would.

We keep the paperwork lean. Our single-level documentation typically stays under 200 pages, one clear, usable level rather than the towering stack of manuals other consultants leave behind. On a press floor, where the real quality work happens in measurement and day-to-day control, that simplicity is what lets your people own the system instead of fighting it. We work alongside your team and develop your internal owner, so the discipline stays in place long after we finish.

• Chasing certification without knowing what the customer wants. Requirements vary by account. We confirm exactly what your specific brands and retailers are asking for before you spend a dollar.
• Unreliable color control. Good color on one job and drift on the next is the fastest way to fail. We get color measurement and control onto a repeatable footing.
• Uncalibrated or poorly maintained measurement tools. If your instruments are not trustworthy, neither are your numbers. We build the calibration and maintenance discipline that makes measurement mean something.
• Procedures that live only in operators' heads. Undocumented know-how walks out the door with the person. We capture the right way to run a job in procedures people will actually follow.
• Inconsistency across runs or sites. A result that cannot be reproduced later, or at another plant, undermines the whole credential. We put controls in place so the outcome is repeatable.
• Documentation overload. Bloated manuals no one opens do not improve quality. We keep it to one lean, workable level your press floor can run.