Studio Box Instad is aimed at large retailers in the point-of-sale (PoS) market that need to make automatic changes to in-store documents and either print them in-house or send the PDFs direct to a printer.

Studio Box director Adrian Goodman said: We can flow PDFs directly from the database, so you dont need someone with QuarkXPress skills. You dont need a highly skilled operator doing the sausage work.

Goodman said the Instad system, which starts from 15,000, could be used by large retailers to react quickly and easily to changing market conditions. It gives retailers like superstores the ability to control all the information themselves, he said. Prices may go down, there could be a special offer or whatever. They can react very quickly.

The Instad software also checks that prices correspond to each offer.These files could then be printed on a digital printer in-store, or sent to a printer to overprint existing PoS backings as required.

Studio Box has sold PoS artwork software to Sainsburys, Safeway and The Co-Op. The new Instad software has been developed in conjunction with unnamed printers and retailers.

The company has also installed automatic publishing systems for newspapers to merge advertisement pictures and text. It has supplied systems to Reed Business Publishing, the Birmingham Evening Post and the Mirror Group.

Story by John Davies