The Stockport-based business took delivery of the new device, which was purchased direct from Konica Minolta, at the end of June.

The 81 A4 colour ppm C4080 can print at a resolution of up to 3,600x2,400dpi due to new lasers in the imaging system, and can handle substrates in the range of 62-360gsm simplex and duplex.

The IQ-501 Intelligent Quality Care system delivers automatic and real-time colour and registration adjustment and the creation of profiles without the need of specialised skills, reducing input time and errors.

Deanprint print manager Liam Davies told Printweek: “We are constantly monitoring for additional functions that will increase our efficiency and this machine presented a step forward for us.

“There were improvements in the new models that we could benefit from greatly. The addition of the IQ unit will help keep registration and colour consistency to levels that we wouldn’t see previously for digital print.”

He added: “The biggest benefit for the business though is the ability to feed long sheets. Previously, to print A3 landscape spreads for section sewn work we would have to print on a B1 litho press, now we can print these digitally which opens us up to short run work that previously would not have been cost-effective.”

Davies said training on the new machine, which has replaced a Konica Minolta bizhub Press C6000, was “better than expected”.

“We have had Konica Minolta digital presses for 13/14 years so I didn’t expect there to be much to go through, but the addition of the IQ unit and the trainer’s knowledge of procedures was valuable and lead to us reworking our best working practices and calibration procedures required for ISO 9001.”

He added the company had initially been looking at another model from Konica Minolta but that that machine could not duplex as long a sheet as the C4080.

“After seeing an announcement of Printweek that Konica were bringing out a new model that could duplex up to 864mm long, we changed our enquiry.”

The business also runs a Konica Minolta bizhub Press 1052 black and white machine while on the litho side it operates two Speedmaster 102 ZPs and an MO from Heidelberg.

Deanprint’s 35 staff turn over around £2.5m from the company’s purpose-built 4,645sqm print and finishing plant. The company’s typical work includes government and educational contracts as well as commercial print and trade finishing services.