Swanage-based Purbeck Press has installed a Graphtex 400 Publishing System from AB-Dick-Itek. The top-of-the-range Graphtex 400 digital production system comprises Acorn's powerful RISC computer, a 21 inch monitor, an A4 flatbed scanner, full page production software plus a 600dpi A3 laser printer.
Partners Jim Farrer and Graham Jordan bought the business in 1969 when it was still using letterpress. Today, the company operates two A3 AB Dick offset presses - a single colour and a two-colour - a Heidelberg Platen, a repro camera and has recently installed a new guillotine.
"Located at the tip of the Dorset coast, Swanage is almost an island", explains Jim Farrer. "This means we're quite isolated geographically and therefore it's important that we can handle everything in-house.
"On the typesetting side, we have been using an AM Varityper optical system for several years. Obviously, technology has moved on a pace and we wanted to upgrade to a system that could go straight to artwork and handle graphics."
Jim Farrer and Graham Jordan started to look for a replacement at the end of 1993 and were inundated with Mac-based systems.
"Initially we were impressed but we lost confidence because the Apple kept introducing new models", adds Jim Farrer. "Each time we spoke to a dealer, we were told the previous system we had specified and been quoted on had been phased out."
The company first saw the Graphtex Publishing System at the Acorn World exhibition at Wembley in October 1993 where AB Dick were demonstrating a full production system.
"The Acorn-based system offers all the functionality of a high-end Mac at very impressive speeds and is competitively priced", comments Jim Farrer. "Other major vendors then announced that they were also moving to a RISC-based architecture and this, combined with our knowledge of AB Dick, gave us the confidence we needed."
Although the Acorn system is completely different from the AM system, after just two days training, Purbeck Press is successfully producing commercial work. It has just completed a three-colour, A3 show card - comprising a map and many individual advertisements - which previously would have been produced as several different bits of artwork and pasted up traditionally.
"We haven't even started to realise the potential of the system", concludes Graham Jordan. "In the longer term, we hope to make full use of the wide range of sophisticated graphics packages available and start running direct to film."
A typical high street printer, Purbeck Press attracts the majority of its work from within a 30 mile radius of its print and stationery retail outlet, which acts as a 'shop front' for the printing works situated at the rear.
Founded in 1978, with 1992 revenues of £48.2m, Acorn Computers is the premier supplier of IT solutions to UK education and has been the leading provider of 32-bit RISC based personnel computers since 1987. In 1990, Acorn established an associate company, Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) in a joint venture with Apple Computer and VLSI Technology Inc to develop and exploit further Acorn's RISC processor technology. Acorn works closely with a strong community of other industry partners, users and software developers to provide innovative technology solutions for the education, consumer, publishing and international markets. Acorn Computers Limited is part of the Acorn Computer Group plc, which went public on the USM in 1983.