Our journey

From RIP vendor to industry 4.0 visionary

PrintFactory’s holding company, Aurelon, has been finding ways to make wide-format print more profitable since 1999.


CEO and lead developer, Erik Strik, set out to take the very painstaking pre-press process and find a simpler, more reliable way of getting the desired results - from multiple machines and even on separate runs - the first time, everytime.


With the first release of PrintFactory’s hero product, ProofMaster, in 2001, the complexities of colour management were starting to be unravelled. Here is a snapshot of the major milestones that have taken PrintFactory from this first iteration to the agile, automation-led print suite it is today:


  • 1989 - From what was initially a local, three-man outfit, PrintFactory CEO Erik Strik helped to grow Dunaway Systems into a company that employed 18 members of staff and sold its products in 45 countries.


  • 1999 - Dunaway becomes Aurelon and Erik takes on the role of VP of technology development, later becoming Director of R&D.


  • 2001 - Aurelon brings ProofMaster - a complete proofing solution for offset, gravure, flexo, newsprint and packaging simulation - to market.


  • 2008 - ProofMaster becomes PrintFactory (following the integration of additional software developed by the team).


  • 2011 - Aurelon is bought by global color management software business, GMG. The PrintFactory platform powers GMG ProductionSuite, with enhancements that allow printers to drive multiple printers, while delivering consistent colour reproduction across different devices and substrates.


  • 2015 - A management buyout sees Aurelon and GMG cut ties structurally (though the organisations continue to deliver complementary technologies). PrintFactory’s independence heralds a new wave of innovation. With a focus on pioneering cloud-based solutions for the commercial print sector, the team starts to take a different direction with automation at its core.


  • 2017 - PrintFactory comes to market with a whole new concept for wide-format digital print: LFP automation. Its new range of cloud-based tools deliver on the promise of a more simplified process that optimises every aspect of the workflow.


With the new technology also comes a new way of service delivery. Users can now sign-up to a ‘floating’ licence agreement where everything is stored in the network. No dongle and automatic updates mean the software is more accessible and print shops are always working with the latest version. And with easy integration into existing management information systems (MIS), PrintFactory is now much more than just an RIP solution. Features such as automated ‘just in time’ job scheduling are already transforming global print shop operations. The cloud can take this transformation to the LFP market masses.