The cost of owning and operating laser printers and multifunction products (MFPs) is depended on the cost of consumable supplies such as toner cartridges, imaging drums, fuser and belt units. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can be combined with print volume and print coverage assumptions to give companies a reasonable estimate of the monthly and annual TCO for a specific printer or MFP.
There are different methods used for testing and reporting consumable yields, however it is typically done using "5% coverage" but that did not guarantee comparable results because many other testing variables affect, which includes:
1-Page size and margin settings
2-Image types used
3-Number of cartridges used during testing process
4-Number of printers/MFPs used during testing process
5-Environmental testing conditions (humidity, temperature, and so on)
Any variation in these factors during the testing process can cause nontrivial differences in reported yields. The development of an industry standard methodology for testing and reporting consumables yields has helped alleviate these inconsistencies, and gives customers the reliable information they need to make their decisions.
The ISO/IEC Consumable Yield Standard
The ISO and IEC have adopted a standard for black-and-white devices – ISO/IEC 19752 which is described as a "method for the determination of toner cartridge yield for monochromatic electrophotographic printers and multifunction devices that contain printer components". Toner Cartridge Yield: Average XX,XXX standard pages
ISO/IEC 19798 is a similar standard that has been adopted for color laser devices.
ISO/IEC 24711 is another standard that has been adopted for inkjet and solid ink devices.
Standard yield and Actual yield
The ISO/IEC standard allows for objective comparisons of stated toner yields for different printers or MFPs, regardless of OEM. Many prospective customers use consumable yield information to estimate the toner life they can expect to experience with their particular applications, and adherence to the ISO/IEC standard enables this analysis.
It is important to note that the ISO/IEC yield is a comparative statistic and not a predictive tool. The number of pages that customers will get for their own applications will depend on a variety of factors, with page coverage having the highest impact. Research has shown that the industry average black-and-white page coverage is between 4% and 5%. There is an inverse relationship between page coverage and toner yield — the lower the page coverage, the more pages the toner will yield. Conversely, higher coverage pages result in lower toner yields.
