19 December 2016

Ricoh UK Products Ltd achieves world’s first UKAS accredited ISO 12647 certification for a digital press manufacturer

Print and Media Certification Ltd (PMC) has issued the first ever UKAS accredited ISO 12647 certification for a digital press manufacturer; to Ricoh UK Products Ltd at its Customer Experience Centre in Telford. The certification for the BPIF ISO 12647 colour quality management scheme was awarded at the end of November, with a scope covering the company's digital toner based production and continuous inkjet production at the Customer Experience Centre. The certification was for the ISO 12647-2:2013 standard, with latest version of the BPIF ISO 12647 scheme now taking in all the ISO 12647 print standards, production methods and pre-press processes, thereby enabling certification for all the various print production technologies.

Ricoh UK Products Ltd's colour quality management systems and operations were audited by PMC's specialist audit team at a two stage initial audit, which included product tests for two different digital presses at the site:

PMC's Colour/Certification Manager, Jon Stack, commented:

"PMC is delighted to have issued certification for the BPIF ISO 12647 colour quality management certification scheme to Ricoh UK Products Ltd, who therefore have the distinction of achieving the first UKAS accredited certification for ISO 12647 to have been issued to a digital press manufacturer, and only the second ever accredited ISO 12647 certification to have been issued for digital print production. PMC's audit team were highly impressed by the sophisticated integrated management systems implemented by Ricoh in their operations at the Customer Experience Centre, and their performance in the audit's product tests."

Regarding the BPIF scheme, Jon added:

"The current version of the BPIF ISO 12647 certification scheme now gives the opportunity to all printers, including digital, lithographic and flexographic, as well as suppliers of reprographics, design agencies and print managers, to demonstrate colour quality through a recognised and independent third party certification.  
The scheme is simply a bolt on to ISO 9001 requirements, and the requirements of the scheme can be integrated easily into an existing ISO 9001 system, or indeed any ISO management system, as the management system structure has now been harmonised across standards by ISO.

"The ISO 12647 scheme has taken a global lead in putting together a set of colour quality system requirements, which can be applied in all printers, and an accredited certification approach, which gives customers real confidence in the certified printers supplying them. Printers are even able to make claims of product colour compliance on specific jobs to their customers, with the backing of a UKAS accredited product certification, which is therefore fully recognised on a global basis.

BPIF Membership Director, Dale Wallis, commented, 

"As the only UK certification body providing accredited certification for ISO 12647, PMC continues to support the BPIF's world leading scheme, which brings together robust product quality compliance and a colour quality management system to achieve consistently great results for customers."