Prepress Technology Now & Challenge for the Future, 1990 Polymers, Laminations & Coatings Conference Proceedings

One of the most notable changes in the progress and pressroom environments began during the mid-1980’s and is gaining prevalance with every passing moment. That change is the creation of the computer driven workplace.

We have reached a level of technology where as an industry, we utilize computers ranging from PC’s to mainframes to accomplish the various design, development and production requirements of a given project.

While this has given us freedom to be more creative and cost effective when performing a specific task, it has created a major stumbling block when viewing the process as a whole. Because, as an industry, we use such a wide variety of computers and systems from a divers group of manufacturers, we encounter problems in getting different pieces of equipment to interface with one another. This problem arises from the fact that each unit’s software language is written to both a specific purpose and that particular computer’s processing and memory limitations. To illustrate the problems, consider the evolution of a new package design from concept to marketplace.