Cartridge Yield

Defining Yield measurement requires developing a standardized test Document that is relevant to the intended market, establishing a consistent definition of cartridge “end-of-life”, and a statistical analysis of the test data.

From the user’s perspective, yield of the Document is the yield of the digital file from the computer (they don't want to change the document to achieve some result on the printing device, nor be concerned with spot size and dot growth issues). Therefore, a relevant, standard test Document is required.

Since the yield may vary print-to-print on many printing systems, meaningful estimation of how many prints can be printed from an ink or toner cartridge requires actual testing of representative sample cartridges (or other fixed quantities of the key consumables). And since there can be variations in production from printer-to-printer and from cartridge-to-cartridge, results should represent the statistical average of multiple tested cartridges on multiple printers. Statistical confidence increases with sample size. Results of various SpencerLab research projects are available in Reports and Publications.