Single Aussie ISO greets two more local standards

Standards Australia has finally published another two ISO standards for the local printing industry, bringing the regional total to three.

It has taken six months for the international standards to be adopted for the Australian industry. Not a bad result since it could have taken two full years, said Luke Wooldridge, chairman of Australia’s TC 130/ISO AU standards committee.

“Because it was only a direct text adoption of existing international standards that are already widely used around the world, we were hoping that it would be published sooner rather than later,” he says.

The new graphic technology standards join what has been the sole Australian ISO standard for graphic technology, AS ISO 12647-2, which was adopted in 2008 for the process control of offset presses.

The TC 130 committee in cooperation with industry bodies such as the L.I.A, Printing Industries, GAMAA, and TAFE has pushed for local adoption of international standards to make then official, rather than de facto unofficial benchmarks.

“Everyone believes that the Australian industry would be better off having clear benchmarks on quality. The new standards for measurement devices and proofing complement the existing AS ISO 12647-2 print standard,” said Wooldridge (pictured).

“To follow there will be lighting and ink standards that will be rolled out in the next six to 12 months. By the end of this process we hope to have a whole fleet of standards that all relate to each other, giving Australian printers a clear indication of what quality is acceptable and what can be achieved.”

Wooldridge notes that the ISO standards still awaiting direct adoption by Standards Australia encompass lighting, ink and print validation. “It’s just a matter of time.

“Even though the new standards refer to half-tone colour separations, the print doesn’t have to have a dot in it. It simulates the visual finished result and most proofs these days are contone, meaning there are no actual hard dots,” he adds.

The official names of the two new Australian Standards are:

1. AS ISO 12647-7-2012 Graphic technology — Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints — Part 7: Proofing processes working directly from digital data
2. AS ISO 12647-1-2012 Graphic technology -- Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints -- Part 1: Parameters and measurement methods

These new Australian standards are available for purchase from Sai Global.