MULTISETS Limited, in Stephenson Road, is a proud part of Swindon’s business history, so it is very sad to hear that it has gone into administration.

Without knowing every detail of the circumstances, it is difficult to say what led the firm into its current difficulty.

The usual reason for something like this happening is that the organisation in question has become a late casualty of the economic crisis which began late in the last decade.

Sometimes, though, the culprit is something even more implacable and potentially devastating: The passage of time.

Multisets specialises in producing items such as business forms, direct mail and cheques, and by all accounts its work is excellent.

Unfortunately, many of the items it creates have long since become well within the capability of a reasonably tech-savvy person with a computer and a printer of decent quality.

What the future holds for Multisets is difficult to predict. We very much hope that the staff already made redundant have been able to find alternative employment, and that some way can be found of securing Multisets’ future.

Ideally that future will involve diversification into other product lines, because for all that we’re able to do for ourselves these days thanks to technology, true skill has its place.