BLI Lab Spotlight: This Lab is Jumpin'

BLI Lab Spotlight: This Lab is Jumpin’

Our New Fairfield Lab Sees an Influx of Devices

By Marlene Orr, BLI Senior Analyst, Printers/A4 MFPs

September 8, 2015

Just three short weeks ago, BLI’s lab was completely empty, as the technical crew moved to our new location in Fairfield, New Jersey.

Now that the dust has settled from our Summer 2015 Picks, BLI is starting to install the next wave of copiers, printers and scanners for testing. Since our testing is the most extensive in the industry, we wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the early phases of testing.

Today, BLI’s lab is filling up with printers, MFPs and scanners submitted for testing.

Once the initial setup is complete (either by trained service technicians from the manufacturer submitting the device or by BLI’s own technicians, when the device is user-installable), initial quality samples are gathered, so our team of experts can evaluate output using a combination of methods: Technicians perform a visual examination, using a dedicated light source and camera to magnify detail, darkness of black and color output is measured with a densitometer and a series of targets are analyzed ImageXpert software. Once the test targets are scanned, ImageXpert analyzes print quality features and reports numerical results for a number of key areas, including tone reproduction, toner adhesion, text quality, overspray, and detecting ghosting and residual images.

BLI’s staff of expert technicians amid the hustle and bustle of installing and testing new devices its state-of-the-art lab.

After that, technicians install the drivers to perform speed testing to compare their productivity to each device’s group of peers. Once speed testing is finished, the devices are subjected to BLI’s exhaustive reliability testing, which includes a mix of various length jobs, high- and low-volumes, as well as periods of inactivity, to simulate real-world usage.

While there is still some time to qualify for the upcoming Winter 2016 Picks and 2016 Line of the Year (both to be announced in early 2016), we expect our lab to fill up fast—so there is no better time than now to send in your devices. Product managers: If you don’t see your MFP, printer or scanner in our lab yet, be sure to contact BLI Lab Director Pete Emory to make arragements for testing ASAP!

Keep checking bliQ in the coming days for initial test results, as well as to find out what other models have been submitted for lab testing.