appointments  Lithotechnics 
Australia’s LithoTechnics Pty Limited has been honoured with a 2005 InterTech Technology Award from the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF) for Metrix, the first truly automatic layout calculator for commercial printers. Inaugurated in 1978, the InterTech awards recognise excellence in the development of new technology expected to have a major impact on the graphic communications industry over the next five years. Of the 52 entries submitted this year, Metrix was one of 17 to receive this prestigious award.

Metrix employs a print industry specific, patent pending algorithm, to optimise press sheet layouts for ganging multiple products, eliminating the complexities of gang printing and minimizing waste. Metrix enables even the least skilled planner to confidently create layouts of up to one hundred products, of different sizes and quantities, and mixtures of flat and folded work, considering unique bleed and grain direction requirements. Metrix then passes this information downstream to prepress and finishing departments, generating JDF, CIP3, and Preps template files.

"We are very honoured to receive this prestigious award," says Rohan Holt, LithoTechnics founder. "Our customers tell us they love Metrix, and I’m glad the judges also appreciate it’s value."

According to Andrew Cester, director of Whirlwind Printing, "Metrix has become an indispensable tool for our workflow. By automatically calculating all our ganged layouts, and enabling us to easily edit these layouts where necessary, while simultaneously checking that our edits don’t cause any errors, Metrix has reduced the total work time in our prepress department by 20 to 25 per cent."

LithoTechnics is a privately held company founded in 2003 by Rohan Holt. Holt is the original inventor of SuperImpose, the product that was adapted and renamed UpFront when it was acquired by ScenicSoft in 1999.

Based south of Sydney, LithoTechnics is a software company focused on providing key tools and technologies to enable print workflow automation. LithoTechnics is a full member of the CIP4 Organisation.