Measuring Yield: The ISO Standard for Toner Cartridge Yield for Monochrome LaserJet Printers


	»	Page yield

Consumers want to make informed decisions when buying printers and printing supplies. While printing capabilities, print quality, speed, product features and ease-of-use are typically the most important considerations, customers often want to compare costs as well. HP offers a broad range of printing systems with different capabilities, purchase price combinations and ongoing operating costs in recognition of the fact that customers have different needs. When comparing costs, consumers need to look at a range of factors, including quality, reliability and productivity. Measurements of page yield and related estimates of cost-per-page (CPP) are one part of the economic picture. To help customers make the best choice of printing system to meet their needs, HP seeks to provide meaningful information about all of these decision-making factors. This article will discuss monochrome LaserJet yield measurement.

In June 2004, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published the ISO/IEC 19752 toner cartridge yield standard for monochrome laser printers. HP actively participated in developing this standard and enthusiastically supports its industry-wide use. The standard addresses a broad range of important factors that affect yield and yield measurement including the test document, print job size, print quality modes, end-of-life determination, sample size and environmental conditions. A broadly adopted standard of this rigour represents a breakthrough in giving customers yield information that can be accurately compared.

Because of the standard's robustness and consistency, the industry-wide participation in developing it and ISO's unbiased, global approach, HP believes that the standard results in important benefits for customers and the printing industry. Therefore, HP adopted the ISO/IEC 19752 standard for measuring monochrome LaserJet print cartridge yield. HP is also participating in the development of ISO industry yield measurement standards for colour laser and inkjet cartridges and printers. These standards will help to improve yield testing throughout the printing industry and allow true comparisons.

ISO Methodology

The elements that make the ISO standard more rigorous than other proposed methodologies are its explicit test procedures, including test-page definition, statistical sampling and methods, environmental controls, and defined end-of-life conditions. For example, in the area of statistical sampling, some other methodologies test only one or two cartridges, where the ISO standard requires the testing of at least nine of each cartridge to achieve statistical validity.

HP supports the ISO standard and adopted it for all monochrome LaserJet print cartridges and printers introduced since the ISO standard became effective in June, 2004. HP also tested all products compatible with printers sold since June, 1999 in accordance with the standard to ensure compliance with ISO/IEC 19752.*

The ISO process: an inclusive, global approach

The Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a network of national standards institutes from 147 countries. The members of ISO's technical committees are national organizations, not vendors. Using a decision-making process based on consensus, ISO sets voluntary standards to facilitate trade, improve environmental performance and enhance customer choice.

For the development of ISO/IEC 19752, the ISO committee was composed of representatives from national standards bodies from many member countries. The representatives from these countries came from a wide variety of industry backgrounds including printer manufacturers and marketers, cartridge remanufacturers and test labs.

ISO/IEC 19752 specifies a rigorous methodology for determining monochrome toner cartridge yield for monochrome laser printers including the following key provisions:

Standard test document: Use of a standard page printed in a controlled environment with printer default settings. This ensures that settings remain consistent across different test events, independent of platform or paper size. The test document works with both letter and A4 paper sizes.
Number of cartridges tested: Nine of each cartridge are tested, allowing reliable estimates of lowest predicted yield with 95% statistical confidence.
Clear, objective, end-of-life criterion: Determines cartridge yield through measurements that establish an end-of-life criterion based on usable pages and that reflect manufacturers' recommendations on how cartridges should be handled as they approach end of life (for example, how many times they should be shaken). These recommendations are designed to reflect end users' behaviour.

Figure 1: ISO/IEC 19752 Standard Test Page

Number of printers: Cartridges are tested on three different printers (three cartridges on each printer) to avoid bias due to printer variability.
Controlled environment: The printing environment is controlled and consistent because temperature and humidity variations affect cartridge yield.

For reliable comparisons, cartridge yields from the products of different suppliers must be measured in accordance with a single, consistent standard. Cartridge yields determined using other methodologies are not comparable to those determined in accordance with the ISO standard.

HP monochrome LaserJet yield information published in accordance with the ISO/IEC 19752 standard is available on this website and will be published on monochrome LaserJet printer and print cartridge packaging. Print cartridge page yields can also be found by searching for the specific printer or cartridge in the product information available on hp.com.

Print Cartridge Yield: Only One Factor to Consider

Good yield comparisons are valuable to customers in comparing competing printer offerings. Yield measurements are also useful for planning when cartridges may need to be replaced or for ensuring that enough cartridges are available for large projects. However, remember that yield is just a small part of the overall value of a printing system and just one component of the overall cost of printing. When comparing products, customers should always consider all the factors to get the best overall value. Factors such as reliability, productivity and quality drive hidden costs. Products that work reliably ultimately save the time and expense associated with resolving problems. HP urges prospective printer buyers to look closely at their individual printing needs, as well as system reliability, quality and ease-of-use when selecting a printing system to get the best overall value.

*For all products compatible with printers sold before June, 1999 HP publishes yields using our previous proprietary yield measurement methodology, which is reasonably consistent with the ISO standard for toner cartridge yield. The HP method uses statistical methodologies that are similar to the ISO standard and more rigorous in some cases. For example, the HP method generally tests more printers and cartridges than required by the ISO standard. The HP method uses a test page based on 5% coverage. Yields for these older products can be found by searching for the printer or print cartridge in the product information on hp.com.

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