During the past week there have been contradictory statements made about the certification of print companies to ProzessStandard Offsetdruck (PSO). In dispute was the claim that Melbourne printer On-Demand was the first digital printing company in the world to achieve PSO certification to ISO 12647-2 under the auspices of UGRA.
On-Demand was certified by UGRA head Erwin Widmer and UGRA-certified auditor Garry Knespal of GASAA on an HP Indigo 5000, printing 2,200 sheets, of which 44 were tested by UGRA.
It was then claimed in a letter to ProPrint by Robert Gatto of Kayell and Yves Roussange of ColourProcess that a digital press cannot achieve PSO for the simple reason that a digital press does not print offset. The committees of both Fogra and Bundesverband Druck und Medien (bvdm) agreed, saying that PSO can only be applied to offset printing techniques.
However, UGRA is prepared to include digital presses in its deliberations, as exemplified by On-Demand, which achieved UGRA PSO certification.
According to bvdm, the employer and trade federation of the German printing and media industries, the first digital printer to achieve compliance — but not actual certification — to ISO 12647-2 was Wegner GmbH on an HP Indigo 3050 in July 2008.
GASAA’s Garry Knespal responded to Gatto’s and Roussange’s letter to ProPrint by saying that On-Demand had indeed achieved PSO, despite their objections. On-Demand’s Bruce Peddlesden declined to comment publicly, but sent a digital copy of the company’s UGRA certification stamp (pictured) to ProPrint as proof of certification.
In a statement to ProPrint this morning, Roussange said, “I would like to close the discussion regarding PSO and digital printing based on a technical statement: On-Demand Printing was not the target of my letter; I was merely concerned about the draft of the press release and its terminology.
“PSO is the highest recognised achievement in offset printing, which has been obtained by 450 printers worldwide. It is therefore very important to use the correct terminology when referring to this process, so PSO expectations are not downgraded.
“The minimum requirement for a PSO certification is a 5,000-sheet print run.
“A statement from Fogra says that, ‘Certification of digital printing technology according to PSO does not make sense. Process Standard Offset-print is only for offset printing (see the dictionary’s definition of offset).’
“A statement from bvdm says that, “Digital presses and offset presses are different technology. By definition, PSO (and certification to PSO) applies to the offset printing process only!’”
Tell us what you think:
Do you understand PSO certification, and what it involves?
Is PSO a worthwhile investment for Australian print companies?
From the Editor:
Look out for more feature stories in upcoming issues of ProPrint which will analyse in depth the meaning of PSO, the organisations involved, the means by which printing businesses can achieve PSO certification, and what it will do for their future business development.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
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