As we know, the complete production of a printed product includes prepress, printing and postpress. Since its establishment, ISO/TC130 has primarily focused on prepress document processing and print process control; there have been no standards for postpress. In May 2010 at the ISO/TC30 spring working group meetings in Switzerland, China took the lead to establish a Task Force for postpress standards. The initiative was supported by many countries including Brazil, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland and Sweden. At the plenary meeting held in October 2010 in São Paulo, TC130 resolved to establish Working Group 12 Postpress. WG12 immediately started work on two postpress standards: ISO/WD 16762 Graphic technology: – Requirements for Postpress – General; and ISO/WD 16763 Graphic Technology: – Requirements for postpress – Bound products.
ISO/TC130 Working Group 12 works to develop and review standards and other documents concerning print methods, process control, quality control, testing, measurement and other topics related to postpress.
ISO 16762 is the first of a number of international standards for Post Press processes within the graphic arts sector. It specifies the requirements for the handling, storage and transfer of printed products between printing and post-press. It also identifies information that may be necessary for successful completion of post-press operations (job ticket). In addition, the document specifies the handling of materials used within post-press operations. ISO 16762 was published in 2016 and reviewed and confirmed in 2022.
ISO 16763 specifies quality requirements and tolerances of bound products and intermediate components. It is applicable to products requiring industrial binding, for example, books, magazines, catalogues and brochures. It was published in 2016 and reviewed and confirmed in 2022.
WG 12 has also completed ISO 19594 Graphic technology – Postpress – Test method for the determination of the binding strength for perfect bound products – Page pull test working upwards. This standard specifies a test method for the determination of the binding strength of perfect bound products by pulling out single sheets from the book block in an upward direction. ISO 19594 was published in 2017 and reviewed and confirmed in 2022.
A new project related to flatbed die cutting on paper and board is currently underway. We plan to develop three standards for die cutting: die cutting on paper and board; die cutting on corrugated board; and die cutting for labels.
There are more topics in the field of finishing, such as stamping, lamination, varnishing, and digital finishing. We hope to have more experts join our work to contribute together to the development of graphic arts technology standards.