"TSS has the strength no one else has in the market they're perfect partners," said GretagMacbeth UK sales manager Mike Smyth (pictured left with TSS sales director Chris Wimbury).

TSS has been the exclusive UK agent for GretagMacbeth-owned densito- meter firm Vipdens since the early '90s, but the deal didn't include the parent firm's products and the two even competed for business.

The move reflects a change in strategy for GretagMacbeth from direct sales to a dealer channel, which according to Smyth was due to the launch of products such as the EyeOne spectrophotometer.

As a result of the deal TSS will also expand from its pressroom roots to take on more colour management further up the workflow. Wimbury described it as "an almost perfect fit".

He highlighted the EyeOne with ProfileMaker software at 2,500 being an ideal tool for printers to bring colour management inhouse.

He said it was a quarter of the price of the necessary equipment a few years ago and could save users a fortune compared to calling in a colour management consultant to edit profiles when production parameters changed.

Story by Barney Cox