Repro Technology was founded over seven years ago. The founding directors of the company were Jerry Widdowson and Tony Longhurst. 

Jerry Widdowson owned a major shareholding in three repro/pre-press companies and had been at the receiving end of varying qualities of sales and post-installation support from a number of suppliers.

Tony Longhurst had many years of experience in financing high technology products.

The company’s unique attitude to marketing, finance and support has come about as a direct result of these personal experiences.

The company initially concentrated on the supply of quality refurbished imagesetters. Over the past eighteen months, several major pre-press manufacturers have chosen Repro Technology as their national distributor. This has led to the company installing an increasingly large proportion of new equipment.

Support is paramount to Repro Technology’s work ethic. The company now boasts more manufacturer-certified engineers than many of its higher-profile competitors.

The company now has in excess of 500 installations throughout the United Kingdom. To ensure that customers are kept running at all time spare parts stocks exceed half a million pounds in value.

To make purchase decisions as simple as possible, Repro Technology has always been aware of the importance of providing the right finance package. With this in mind the company now operates its own finance company - Repro Technology Finance Ltd.

Repro Technology currently operates from five sites in the UK. The company has two offices in Croydon, one in Crawley and two in Cheltenham.

Relationships within the industry

Linotype-Hell and Heidelberg
Following the take-over of Linotype-Hell by Heidelberg in 1996, Repro Technology purchased a large proportion of the spare parts inventory for the older imagesetters and scanners. The company also purchased 80% of Linotype-Hellís stock of the older imagesetters and scanners, which included large numbers of Linotronic 330s, 560s and 630s.

Not satisfied with these acquisitions, Repro Technology then employed 15 ex-Linotype-Hell staff who had been closely involved with distribution and technical support, and also purchased Linotype-Hell’s racking, forklifts and delivery trucks.

Ultre
Ultre is a relatively new name in the United Kingdom pre-press market. The company manufactures a range of imagesetters, which have achieved international success.

Ultre was part of Linotype-Hell and is now a Division of Heidelberg. Ultre operates from its manufacturing plant in the US. In the UK its earlier imagesetter models were sold by Linotype-Hell as the “Mark” series. Since the take-over, Heidelberg has reduced its range of imagesetters which now includes only the Quasar, Herkules and SignaSetter.

In 1996 Repro Technology was appointed Sole UK Distributor for Ultre. The company also acts as Ultre’s European Parts Distribution Centre. One machine included in the current Ultre range was originally marketed as the Linotronic 560, the most recent incarnation of the worldís most successful 4-up imagesetter.

Scangraphic
Scangraphic Pre Press Technology GmbH is a German manufacturer of sophisticated internal-drum imagesetters and computer-to-plate equipment. It was the first manufacturer to launch an internal-drum PostScript imagesetter, and the machines have always provided excellent value and return-on-investment (ROI).

Repro Technology has over six years experience refurbishing and reconditioning older models of Scangraphic imagesetters.  It was not surprising, therefore, that Scangraphic appointed Repro Technology as its sole distributor for the United Kingdom.

The Scangraphic range of imagesetters gives Repro Technology B3, B2 and B1 internal drum imagesetters, capable of satisfying the demands of the most quality-conscious customers.

Repro Technology currently has the complete range of spare parts, test equipment and trained staff to support Scangraphic installations - old and new.

Service and Support
Todayís pre-press equipment is more reliable than ever before. Despite this fact it is important not to under-estimate the importance of a first-class support team. 

Even pre-press manufacturers with subsidiaries in the UK have dramatically cut back their service staff numbers over the past few years; some even sub-contract all their service responsibilities. So it is important to ask how many staff your supplier can count on when things get hot.

Some companies offering support and technical services do not have access to factory spare parts, so that if they do manage to get your machine running again, it may contain parts that are already older than the one being replaced.

Repro Technology has fourteen engineers on hand should a problem develop. These engineers are all factory-trained by the manufacturers and are equipped with factory-authorised spare parts. Repro Technology has in excess of half a million pounds worth of spare parts at any one time.

As well as training and spare parts, Repro Technology has also made significant investments in test equipment ñ making the company one of the most self-sufficient support organisations servicing the printing sector.

Repro Technology Finance Limited
As a further commitment to providing our customers with the ultimate service, Repro Technology together with The Finance and Leasing Corporation Ltd. formed a new joint venture company - Repro Technology Finance Limited - with a specific mandate to provide an efficient, flexible and time saving approach to print finance.

Repro Technology is one of the UK’s largest independent pre-press systems integrators. The company has over 500 installations in the UK and is a national distributor for Scangraphic and Ultre. The company has four UK offices and an office in Hamburg.

Contacts

Jerry Widdowson
Repro Technology
Unit 4 Progress Way Industrial Park
Progress Way
Croydon CR04XD

Tel: 0181 686 9899
Fax: 0181 686 9898
jerry@reprotec.co.uk

Jerry can be contacted at IPEX on his mobile phone number: 07971 244285

PR Contact
Andy Houldsworth
Digital Ink (Solutions) Ltd
36 Hyde Road
Croydon
Surrey CR2 9NP

Tel: 0181 407 1103
Fax: 0181 407 1102
a.houldsworth@digital-ink.co.uk

Andy can be contacted at IPEX on his mobile phone number: 0468 893 948