Prepress
ECRM, FOUNDED IN 1969, CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY
Thursday 27. August 2009 - News Highlights: Ø ECRM originally was an acronym for Electronic Character Recognition Machinery; Ø ECRM was founded by Professors Samuel J. Mason, William Schreiber, and Donald Troxel, all PhDs from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Melvin Fennell from The Associated Press on March 28, 1969; Ø ECRM has grown into the largest U.S. based manufacturer in the industry, and the oldest prepress vendor still retaining its original brand identity.
ECRM today announced that it is celebrating its 40th anniversary of successful operation. The company was founded March 28, 1969 as an OCR manufacturing company. The company name, which originally was an acronym for Electronic Character Recognition Machinery, has long lost its intended meaning and the company is referred to in the graphic arts marketplace as simply ECRM. Customers and employees have been proudly told through the years that ECRM stood actually stood for “Every Customer Really Matters, and its this philosophy that has been the vision that has propelled the company to both success and longevity.
President and CEO Rick Black Quote
“2009 marks ECRMs 40th year of service to the business communications industry and thousands of our customers which span the globe. In that time, our PR agency tells us weve now grown into the elder statesman of the prepress vendor community, having retained our brand identity longer than anyone else. Since 1969, weve had the opportunity to develop tools that have significantly enriched the production and business successes of literally thousands of global graphic arts operations, and this is very gratifying as well as humbling.
“But the credit doesnt just reside with only the men and women of ECRM. Its happily shared with the more than one hundred hard working dealer partners weve had the privilege of working with through the years. With a shared dedication to customer satisfaction and manufacturing excellence, weve all reaped the rewards. Today ECRM has grown into the largest U.S. based manufacturer in the industry, and we look forward to another four decades of serving the marketplace that we truly appreciate.
ECRM History
ECRM was founded by Professors Samuel J. Mason, William Schreiber, and Donald Troxel, all PhDs from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Melvin Fennell from The Associated Press. Together, they developed one of the first commercially successful optical character recognition (OCR) machines. In the mid 1970’s, the company developed the Autokon, the first laser-based scanning camera to have broad impact on the publishing industry, becoming a de facto standard for high-quality halftone images.
In 1983, Richard Black with William Givens acquired ECRM, and their leadership led to a number of successful imagesetter products, including the PelBox, ScriptSetter, KnockOut, Stingray, and MAKO product lines. Today, ECRM is still the largest imagesetter supplier in the world. At DRUPA 1995, ECRM displayed their first computer-to-plate machine (AIR 75) and ran it live in their booth.
In 1996 ECRM acquired Holotek Ltd., an innovator of holographic scanning components and holder of 15 U.S. patents. Holotek’s high-quality scanning components and subsystems have become important ingredients in ECRM’s ability to deliver highly reliable, high-resolution imaging solutions for graphic arts and publishing applications. The combination of ECRM engineering and Holotek technology have propelled the company to the leading edge of laser-based optical systems.
In 2002, a strategic decision was made to develop violet laser CTP systems. This has resulted in a complete product portfolio of MAKO CTP machines. ECRM continues to apply its research and development to the need for reliable, high-value, computer-to-plate devices in the publishing and commercial graphic arts. In 2006, ECRM acquired the polyester CTP business of Esko-Graphics. This acquisition allows ECRM to better serve customers with an even wider portfolio of products covering additional segments of the printing and publishing markets.