Short Run triples digital printing capacity

Short Run Press, a short-run book manufacturer, has moved 40 per cent of its black and white litho work on to a digital printing system supplied by Oce, which has tripled digital printing capacity.

New business opportunities are being opened up for Short Run Press (SRP) now that tens of thousands of pages a year are being produced on one of Oce's digital book printing systems.

Around a third of all work is now being produced digitally by Short Run Press of Sowton, Exeter, which specialises in academic journals, mainly in the scientific and education markets.

At SRP, more than 250 scientific titles are produced each year.

The company employs 20 people and has a GBP1.6m turnover.

Three years ago, the digital figure was less than 5 per cent of its turnover.

Pivotal to the success has been linking two Oce printing systems, a mono VarioPrint 6160 and colour CS650, to provide high quality output for all forms of binding.

The printers are driven by Oce Prisma software, which enables the CS650 to intersperse with the VarioPrint where required and deliver complete collated book blocks.

Mark Couch, marketing and sales director for Short Run Press, said: 'There's a lot of talk about the e-book and internet delivery but, from our perspective, there's no sign of that happening.

'The reality is that there are more books than ever waiting to be published.

'Digital processing is making it more democratic and more versatile, putting high-quality publishing within reach of private imprints and specialists who were once ruled out of the commercial marketplace.

'It's much easier nowadays for printers to meet demands and to provide shorter runs.

'The colour capability was also important - journal publishers want colour, but not additional costs.

'Oce has helped to further build our volumes and reputation in the marketplace.'.

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