|
Q: How does Lexmark plan to inform its customers about this change standard?
A: Besides the joint press release we issued with HP, Epson and Canon, anywhere product information regarding toner cartridges page yield is communicated. This includes places such as on the Web, in product marketing materials, etc. This will be done once the required certification testing, as outlined by the ISO standard, is completed.
Q: Which customers does Lexmark expect will pay the most attention to the standard?
A: Any customer purchasing laser printers who are sensitive to the capacity of toner cartridges and/or the cost per page of toner cartridges. The customer advantage of course now is that with the standard, the customer can be sure when comparing across various laser/toner manufacturers, they have an "apples and apples" comparison.
Q: Will Lexmark be restating previous yields on cartridges? Can you provide that information to me? Will the yields under the ISO standards be higher or lower than the previously stated yields?
A: Generally, for many months now, Lexmark has developed and tested many laser cartridge products to the preliminary and evolving versions of the ISO standard and document, and specified those products' yields in anticipation of this standard. Thus, we don't expect to be restating laser yield claims.
Q: Is Lexmark retesting existing cartridges using the new ISO standard? Which cartridges are being retested?
A: Yes, Lexmark is implementing ISO compliance on all mono laser printer cartridges introduced after 1999. This date choice is based on the fact that the original joint press release by HP, Lexmark, and Xerox supporting the development of this standard was done in July of 2000.
Q: Will Lexmark do its own testing or does the ISO test also?
A: According to ISO protocol and in compliance with the ISO standard, Lexmark will perform the testing.
Q: What toner darkness level will you be using for testing under the new standard?
A: The new ISO standard defines the darkness level to be the factory default settings at which the laser printer is shipped.
Q: How long has the ISO standards committee been working to get this standard approved? From Lexmark's perspective, what were some of the issues involved during the ISO committee meetings?
A: Lexmark, Xerox and HP announced on July 26, 2000, that the National Committee for Information Technology Standards had approved a proposal to develop a standard for measuring the page yield of toner cartridges. The impetus behind this group effort began in September 1999, when HP endorsed International Data Corporation's (IDC) testing methodology. Since then, HP, Xerox and Lexmark have worked in this area for the benefit of consumers.
Q: How does the ISO standard differ from the National Committee for Information Technology Standards (NCITS) proposal that Lexmark was supporting back in 2000? Is the ISO standard the eventual outgrowth of the NCITS standard?
A: The initial development work for the ISO standard was done by a work group within NCITS. The resulting draft standard was then revised based on international comment in the process of creating the ISO standard.
Q: The remanufacturing community, namely the I-ITC, tells me that there is one glaring error in the new standard. They say that the lack of a specification for print coverage (e.g., 5 percent coverage) makes it meaningless. They take the position that companies could design cartridges to maximise yields at the expense of print density and, ultimately print quality. Comments?
A: The test page that is incorporated into the standard is designed to be similar in toner usage to the documents that manufacturers have used historically, so it is nominally a 5 percent page. It will be much easier for a customer to relate to this specific test file that is the same for all manufacturers than to a nebulous 5 percent coverage statement. The standard requires the test page to be printed at the default darkness setting. Manufacturers are clearly motivated to provide their best print quality at this default setting to satisfy customer expectations.
Q: My Opinion: It seems to me that the new standard will work to the advantage of the remanufacturers. With no standard for page coverage, they could tweak certain cartridge parameters to maximise yields and make claims such as "20 percent better yield than the OEM" and so forth. Comment?
A: The expectation and qualification for print quality will still be required.
Q: What is Lexmark's timeframe to begin testing to this standard?
A: Generally, for many months now, Lexmark has developed and tested many laser cartridge products to the preliminary and evolving versions of the ISO standard and document, and specified those products' yields in anticipation of this standard.
Q: Will Lexmark conduct this test for currently shipping printers or add this test for future products only?
A: Lexmark is implementing ISO compliance on all mono laser printer cartridges introduced after 1999.
Q: What is the process for testing a cartridge that works with more than one printer?
A: According to the ISO standard, a cartridge is to be tested with every unique printer model in which it is used.
|
