ISO take up still to take off

Relaunched Colour Standards website reveals that only 38 Australian printers are ISO 12647-certified.

The new-look website, which went live last Friday, was driven by Luke Wooldridge, who came on board as chairman of the TC130 committee last year and has since been actively working to raise the group’s profile.

Wooldridge believes that this is the first time in the world that such a list has been made available to the public and will significantly influence and inform print buyers. “The reason behind this is that we feel it’s very important to promote standardised printing in Australia,” he said.

“These printers deserve the recognition for their efforts in gaining certification, and this website now provides a central point of reference for all buyers of print that need to acquire ISO standards-based product.”

Pictured: setting the standard, Philip Andersen, Luke Wooldridge and Grant Churchill at Printing Industries to announce the launch of the website.

Top of the list is three NSW printers: Hannanprint; Offset Alpine Printing and SOS Print+Media which have each paid $297 pa for premium listing. For Michael Schulz, director of SOS, it was important to be a part of the list as interest in standards grows. "There are more and more people looking for colour standards," he told Print21. "We have made a fair investment in certification and we can see that it's worth it."

The list very much reflects that the big end of town are those who have embraced ISO standards most. The one major player not listed is PMP, Australia's largest printer which, according to Wooldridge, self-certifies rather that using Ugra or Fogra.

Wooldridge anticipates that the number of listed printers will grow with the website updated quarterly. “It’s quite a small number – we’re hoping it will increase,” he said. “ISO certification is not overly expensive and those who don’t take the leap will be struggling with clients.”

A series of advertisements in magazines which target print buyers, such as advertising agencies, is planned to raise awareness of the website.