Lamb Print: digital technology in action

I visited Lamb Print today as a field trip for my other class (Editing and Publishing). It was really interesting to see cutting-edge high-tech machines mixed with a bit of old-fashioned low-tech employing-backpackers-to-handfold human labour. So much of their processes have been replaced by new digital technology - Lamb Print no longer use film at all for printing (it goes straight from the electronic file to be printed onto the plate), they have guillotines that are programmable with computers to the right guide measurements, many of their clients are over east or even in South Africa and send files by email or ftp, and they have these new printers which do everything automatically and in less than half the time as their older printer where the plates have to be changed manually.

One thing that struck me - our tour guide mentioned that some smaller printers still use film to transfer the digital files to the plates. I think this raises questions about inequity in access to new technologies because of lack of capital. Fair enough, if Lamb Print can afford the latest technologies, then they should buy them, but it just seems to snowball their advantage over others who can't afford this digital equipment which saves time and money, produces very reliable results for less effort and enhances the reputation of the printer. On the other hand, Lamb Print had lost power over the weekend which put them behind, and one of their plate-printing machines had died after only a few months and taken ages to repair, so it goes to show not even the best technology is 100% reliable.

I do think those beautiful old hand-printers have their own charm, too. I remember seeing one in action in an old monastry in New Zealand (of all places), and it was just lovely to watch the precision of the printers as they loaded the chase (I think) with the letters (backwards and upside down) and inked the plates and lined up the pages. I would never suggest it was a better method than the fast efficient machines used by Lamb Print, but every single non-modern book you see is a testament to the skill and patience of the old-time printers, and some of them are works of art.