Research & Technology
As a company, we are known for the ongoing investment we have made in cutting edge technology and equipment through to developing new solutions to solve customers’ communications challenges.
Ever since the opportunities unearthed by the technological revolution in 1970s, we have maximised our competitive edge by adopting the latest technology.
- We were the first printing business in the UK to install a web large format 48 page A4 press and one of the first commercial web printer to be 100% Computer-to-Plate (CTP).
- We transformed our processes by introducing image and text databasing, helping Pindar secure the hugely important contract for the typesetting of Yellow Pages telephone directories for BT.
- Over 21 years in content management innovation led to the first off the shelf content management system being created in 1993
- Customers requirements to simplify, speed up or make communications processes easier to access led to the development of:
- Proof Manager – helping marketing and production teams to mange and speed up the proofing process of catalogues, brochures and prospectuses
- Visualizer – to help marketing and design teams agree designs and page layouts quickly and more effectively by being able to view the same pages remotely in real time
- Image Tracker – customers using our photography service can check and give instant feedback remotely during a photo shoot which saves extra proofing rounds and potential misinterpretation between customer and studio
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Investment in Pindar's book publishing services and mastering the development of XML workflows including ePub and ereader outputs has made us a leader in this field.
Our investment in software and electronic media has placed us in a strong position to respond quickly to the creation of new opportunities and we have always adopted a marketing and customer-led approach to transform the business of communications. Our vision for business is to provide a stream of integrated services, which has added value through our ability to partner with our customers.
In the last financial year we invested £20m in new plant and machinery. These investments have helped us to further improve the quality of the finished product and the overall effectiveness of the service to the customer while taking greater responsibility for our impact upon the environment:
A new heat set web offset short grain press with the latest environmental features at our Scarborough site. Investment in accompanying infrastructure included a central ink storage system which is energy efficient and cuts down on transport emissions.
10 and 12 colour perfector sheet fed presses at our Preston site have improved make ready times and the closed loop colour system both improves colour reproduction and save paper/energy wastage. Alcohol usage has been reduced and the presses use vegetable based inks.
Our latest 6 colour cover press which gives a very high gloss UV coating on top of conventional inks, runs faster and allows us to improve further quality of cover work on a range of printed products.
New perfect binders at our Tewkesbury and Scarborough sites have improved the effectiveness of our finishing processes and quality of the product and the introduction of Rima robots can handle precision loose, stacked or banded bundles.
Our respect for our customers drive other process improvements through the business such as the extensive work to get the best possible colour proof matching to printed product; the installation of MIS at our Tewkesbury site and virtual server technology which uses less energy, is future proof and restructuring of our Commercial teams to ensure the customer gets the award winning service for which we are renowned.
