RIT and KODAK ready platform for individual customer PSA certification engagements

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – KODAK’s NEXPRESS SX Digital Production Color Platform with HD Inks has passed the pre-approval phase for Printing Standards Audit (PSA) certification. The platform becomes the first manufacturer-initiated pre-approved platform for individual customer PSA certification, speeding the process for print service providers who know their buyers will require PSA certification.

Conducted by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), PSA is a certification awarded to individual print shops that go through a rigorous certification process based on the quality of the printer’s workflow and ability to produce prints that conform to a recognized characterization dataset operating in standards compliance. Pre-approval work done between RIT and KODAK makes the KODAK NEXPRESS SX Platform an approved asset to help expedite the process for printers working toward PSA certification.

“Having the NEXPRESS Platform pre-approved for customer certification will drive better engagement between print shops and the print buyers and specifiers who will be looking for PSA certification from their print service providers,” said Len Christopher, worldwide Electrophotographic Systems Product Marketing Manager for Kodak’s Digital Printing & Enterprise group. “They are trying to ensure a specific level of quality and color match capability.”

PSA Certification proves that a print shop has demonstrated the ability to operate in compliance with ISO 15339 (or CGATS 21) and its related graphic arts standards and has the ability to match a substrate color-corrected dataset consisting of 1617 individual colors. PSA is the first global standard that incorporates ISO standards and also addresses the substrate color adjustments required of the optical brightener agents (OBAs) in paper.

“Given the increased interest in inclusion of OBAs in the substrates, it’s become more difficult to fully match color proofing to print output processes – their inclusion affects color management and matching,” said Jeffrey Wang, Senior Imaging & Color Scientist at RIT. “PSA is the first process to incorporate and compensate for this globally, and having the KODAK NEXPRESS SX Platform pre-approved makes it an attractive option for print service providers.”

The KODAK NEXPRESS SX Platform enables significant gains in image quality, productivity and growth for print service providers by driving more jobs per shift and more profit per page, largely due to the platform’s flexibility in terms of speed and sheet size. The image quality of digital color output surpasses that of offset and enables high-value applications with a fifth imaging unit.