Group managing director Natalie Stephens said the software will give complete consistency across digital and litho processes and offer economic, environmental and production savings through reducing ink usage. 

“As less ink will be carried on the press this will give better consistency, helping to improve drying times and make finishing a lot quicker ultimately reducing turnaround times,” she said. 

Her company in Woking, Surrey, runs kit including a Kodak Nexpress SE3000 and an M700, two Roland 700 machines and a Heidelberg SM 74 and offers a range of services including high-end property brochures, digital personalisation and smaller jobs for items such as business cards. 

Optichrome also runs a Magnus Q800 platesetter with Electra XD thermal plates, all driven by Prinergy workflow software, Stephens said. 

“With the software we really wanted to make it simpler and easier to achieve colour consistency in general and particularly, as far as our clients are concerned, greater colour consistency between the litho and digital presses.” 

Optichrome is a family business that was launched 50 years ago by Stephens' grandfather Ken. Her father, Ted Stephens, was group managing director until he passed away earlier this year when his daughter took over running the 55-staff business. 

“It's been a tough year on a personal level but from a business point of view, it has been very good. It's great there seems to be more confidence in the industry. We are investigating several new ideas in the coming year; our ethos is to invest in new technology and improve efficiency and quality.”