In those days the reproduction of a black and white photograph involved a complex process which started with taking another photography of the image at lower contrast and then transferring this in negative form to a lead block.

Things moved on from there with the introduction of litho offset printing and photocomposition. However, colour remained an expensive commodity and the production process was incredibly costly.

Colour printing requires the separation of the colour image into its four base component colours. Full colour printing generally requires the page to be printed on four times. In the not too distant past a colour image or page had to be sent to a separate supplier known as a repro house who would scan the image, separate it into the base colours and produce four sheets of film. These would then be used to make the printing plates.

And before all this the pages had to be designed, the words written, and so on.

Today, however, things could not be more different. Desktop publishing has revolutionised the design area while new technologies such as digital scanning and computer to plate (ctp) have eliminated repro houses, and new digital printing systems have made short run full colour printing an economic proposition.

The corner photocopying shop of 20 years ago is now a full service printing operation which can offer a complete one-stop-shop service from design all the way through fulfilment.

The Print Bureau is one such operation. With its sales office on Dublin's Pembroke Street and its headquarters at Goldenbridge Industrial Estate in Inchicore the firm offers a complete end to end service to customers.

"Twenty years ago we were that photocopying shop", says Declan Grace of The Print Bureau. "Today we have four full time graphic designers working for us, we have a full litho printing facility for four colour and two colour printing up to B2 size, we have a ctp system and we can handle just about any type of printing work for our customers who include government departments, semi-states, medium and large corporates, and many small firms as well."

Indeed, the Print Bureau handles jobs as small as a few hundred business cards and as large as 500 page, full colour reports. "We also do digital printing in black and white and colour as well as variable data printing and fulfilment for mailshots and so on", says Grace. "We can offer a full end to end service to our customers."

Hadleigh Print of Blanchardstown has seen business grow considerably since deciding to target the major corporates in their immediate catchment area some years ago. "About two years ago we took a look at our own immediate vicinity and decided to target it", says Tony Stapleton of Hadleigh Print. "That has been very successful for us and our client base now includes a number of the larger manufacturing companies in the area as well as a number of hospitals. We offer traditional litho printing as well as digital printing and we have recently moved into large format printing. We can supply everything that our clients need from standard stationery such as letterheads and compliments slips, to NCR pads, corporate brochures, as well as marketing and point of sale materials.

A key strength of ours is our local presence.

"We can do everything inhouse", he adds. "From concept through to design, printing and fulfilment. A client can walk into us empty handed and we can deliver a finished job to them. They can get a full service here without having to involve any other suppliers."

The Galway based Jaycee Print Group realised many years ago that the Irish print market was changing rapidly, more rapidly and alarmingly than most printers would care to believe. "With many outside forces including internet usage and international competition combining to put pressure on print volumes, this was often leading to more frequent orders but in smaller quantities", says Simon Johnston of Jaycee Print Group. "We responded by looking into new avenues of print procurement to meet ever changing customer requirements. Digital printing looked to be the answer. So with strategic planning and investment over a two year period Jaycee have become leaders in the digital printing sector."

The Jaycee ideal for their digital customers is to produce the highest quality print in the shortest possible time. Most digital items such as flyers, brochures, business cards or posters are processed for 24 hour turnaround, while larger reports, catalogues or manuals are finished quicker than ever before.

According to Johnston, digital printing covers much more than sheetfed print and one area of rapid growth is the wide format sector. Jaycee now houses multiple 60" poster machines to supply both indoor and outdoor graphic solutions. Display systems for conferences and retailers include pop-up exhibition stands, telescopic banner stands, point of sale stands and banners which are all produced inhouse from design to delivery. With shops already in Dublin and Galway and a nationwide clientele, expansion through providing a quality print service is the driving force behind the Jaycee Print Group.

At another level Walsh Colour Print of Castleisland, County Kerry has grown dramatically over the past ten years to become Ireland's leading trade printer. The company supplies the graphic design and printing market and offers a full colour printing, binding and finishing service with a 24 hour turnaround to anywhere in the country.

"We have an eight colour and a ten colour press and this means that we can print on both sides in one pass", explains Tony Walsh. "This enables us to offer a very rapid and cost effective service to our clients. Our next day delivery service is also a major advantage to us. We operate a night shift here so that a pallet of work such as full colour magazines can be printed and finished overnight and loaded up at 6 in the morning and be in Dublin by midday. This gives us a real competitive edge in the market."

Another significant advantage came with the installation of a new perfect binding system last year. "Many clients are now looking for their publications to be perfect bound", explains Walsh. "We installed our own perfect binding system last year and this has meant that we are able to deliver the same 24 hour turnaround on these jobs as well.

This is a great advantage to us and our customers."

While many printers will point to their investment in technology as proof of their quality, Prontaprint can draw on its vast experience and willingness to respond to market changes as evidence of its worth. At Prontaprint, technology is a given. It is its value added services that differentiates it from the competition.

Established in 1971 as a copy shop, Prontaprint is currently repositioning itself in the market as a Business to Business solution for all print needs.

Working extensively with the SME sector, it can offer a full suite of services, from creative design through to finish, and even mailing, where appropriate.

"We recognise that many smaller businesses may not have access to the same levels of creativity, or even access to the right mailing lists if they are undertaking a direct mail campaign, " said Laird Mackay, managing director of Prontaprint. "We can design, print and finish their works, up to a level where they would be happy to send the finished product to their clients. If we are dealing with a person who knows about printing, they can tell us what methods to use, but if they are not up to speed with print methods, we can design exactly what they want just by asking the right questions."

As a B2B solutions provider, Prontaprint also works with larger companies . . . for example, it designs and prints creative displays for a major international retailer. Across practically all levels of business, Prontaprint can offer more services and more creativity than most commercial printers are able to.

"We are currently looking at growing our network of franchises, particularly in Ireland, where we are experiencing the greatest growth, " said Mackay. "We are currently looking to expand our offering around the Ireland, opening new centre in Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Wexford. And as part of our new brand repositioning, we have partnered with WPP to provide us with the latest research and market information - this partnership is in keeping with our forward-looking approach to business generally."