Oh, the fuss Christinger Partner has caused in the sedate world of standards development. For those of you too busy earning a crust to have noticed, Christinger Partner, based near Zurich in Switzerland, has been certified for compliance to ISO 12647-2. Heaven forefend! This is the ISO standard for process control for sheetfed offset printing but Christinger has received its certification not offset printing, but for a digital press, and an HP Scitex TJ8350 wide-format digital press at that.

The problem is that people are getting too worked up about following the rules. The rules of 12647-2 are that it is for offset printing, because that's what it says in the standard's title: Graphic technology – Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints – Part 2: Offset lithographic processes. Nowhere does it say that you can use this standard as a tool for controlling a digital press, and wide-format industrial printing of the kind the TJ8350 does so well isn't mentioned at all. So for some of the self-styled standards development Gestapo it is just terrible that Christinger has chosen to demonstrate compliance with this standard with a digital press.

Luzi Bytyqi (chief turbojet operator) and Oliver Schmitter (colour management specialist and project manager for the ISO certifications), Christinger Partner

ISO 12647-2 is generally recognised as the bee's knees of quality control tools for sheetfed offset. How dare someone use it as a tool to improve and manage output quality on a wide-format digital printing device! The argument is that a standard written for digital output should be used instead of 12647-2 because the process differences are so very extreme.

But objecting to the application of a standard, any standard, to a workflow misses the point. Christinger Partner's achievement is proof that the TJ8350 can achieve a quality level comparable to that of an offset press. This is quite frankly pretty astonishing, however it is the result of a great deal of work on the part of the company, which has considerable experience with the ISO 12647 standard. The certification was done by the Swiss printing industry federation UGRA and is good for two years. The certification confirms that the TJ8350 can produce output that is comparable to offset lithography and that the output is repeatable.

Christinger Partner worked closely with its suppliers, including HP for the hardware and GMG for the colour management software. The end result benefits Christinger Partner's customers who have proof that the company knows what it's doing and that it can manage output to a consistently high level of colour quality across devices and production paths. The company regularly produces large graphics in short runs digitally and in longer runs on its litho presses. Such things as displays and back-lits all have to look the same, as do large outdoor displays and in-store posters and POS materials, regardless of output path.

This is a remarkable achievement for Christinger Partner. The company has worked to understand the rules and to then go beyond them into new territory. Their achievement should be celebrated, not derided or criticised.