It's fantastic to see John Crosfield's genius being recognised with the award of an Ipex "Champion in Print" accolade.

His is a remarkable story of a true visionary, and it is no understatement to say that his work laid the foundations for some of the sophisticated quality control systems we take for granted today.

It really is quite incredible to think of him setting up his eponymous company up in 1947 with the aim of tackling such immense tasks as automatic register control for gravure printing with the Autotron, before moving on to develop the first colour scanner a decade later. His original vision of improving colour quality and reducing waste through material savings still holds good today.

As well as celebrating a home-grown genius, we can also rejoice in the fact that this polymath is still with us - by my calculations he will be 95 this year.

This also started me thinking of all the industry alumni spawned by Crosfield Electronics, one of whom was the late, great Lawrence Wallis who had this to say: "Among the most talented people that I have met in printing must rank John Crosfield, a man of immense vision who was instrumental in gaining acceptance for electronics in the industry." Quite.

A quick list of ex-Crosfielders who've made and/or are still making their mark in print follows, I know I'm bound to have missed heaps of people off, but it's a start...

Brian Forsdike and Derek Connelly (Screen)

Bob Leslie (Centurfax)

Lars Janneryd (ex-Lüscher)

Paul Evans (lately of PrintIT!)

Guy Thompson, Steve Donegal, Chris Baker (Indigo past and present)

Miranda Clegg (Vio)

Dave Chandler (The Bespoke Agency)

Andy Cook (FFEI)

Phil Eaves (Xaar)

Chris Payne and Nick Gilmore (Kodak)

Jim Salmon (Dalim)