At its heart is ISO 12647, a print standard that defines the aim values for printed work and that allows printing by numbers.

TypeMaker believes that defined and measurable specifications provide a solution to the 20% of jobs that are in dispute over their appearance, half of which end up being offered free or at a reduced rate.

If you came from any other industry youd think it was the logical approach, said TypeMaker sales manager Alan Dresch. In engineering you have a specification that both sides understand.

By printing to numbers the firm said it would open up the opportunity to provide different levels of quality and price, making sales and marketing simpler.

PrintNavigator consists of three modules Pre-PressPilot, PressroomPilot and CommercialPilot covering the repro, print and sales and marketing aspects of implementing a standard.

The firm claimed that using PressroomPilot could cut five minutes off the average makeready a saving of just over 100,000 per press each year. A typical installation with a scanning densitometer will cost 20,000.

Visit: www.typemaker.co.uk, www.iso.org

Story by Barney Cox