Artisan Press is aiming to create a 75-80% "filmless environment" within the next 12 to 15 months after buying a CreoScitex CTP system.


The two Lotem XL thermal platesetters, which are undergoing trials and should go live in the next fortnight, came with two Brisque4 Extreme Impose digital front-ends, two Iris 43WIDE imposition proofers with Brisque interface, a Server 5000 with Timna data management and InkPRO CIP3 software.


The whole system cost over 1m, and will feed Artisan's Heidelberg M3000 and M600 presses.


Managing director Stephen Denbigh said: "We had been looking at Creo for quite a while, and then it came together with the Scitex front-end."


Denbigh said Artisan's mail order customers were up to speed with digital workflow and some blue-chip retail clients were moving in the same direction.


Artisan will still offer customers a choice between supplying film or digital files, but Denbigh said the CTP move "really was a sea change".


As for digital uptake, he added: "We will push people. It depends on how quick the pendulum will swing." He said the firm was also looking to "move further into" the magazine market.


Artisan has geared up for the CTP installation by employing computer-literate graduates from Leicester College for its new pre-press department.


This year, Artisan has also spent over 2m on a 30-station Muller Martini Corona binding line, which is housed in a new 3,500m2 plant.


Story by Gordon Carson