The press has inline spectrophotometric measurement and Autoplate XL plate changing that achieves six-minute changeovers between jobs. It will be delivered to the Bristol-based B1 printer in November.

Matthew Trounce, managing director of the £5.5m-turnover company, said the purchase was a reaction to the changes in the marketplace. 

He said: "Price rises are unlikely, so you have to focus on costs. We realise the only secure route forward for our business is to manufacture much more efficiently.

"We achieve very good efficiencies on the current 12-colour press, but it's simply not good enough and certainly cannot compete with this new press."

Trounce said that makeready was key to determining whether printers made a profit or a loss.

He identified the shorter run market as the area where the business can be most effective, comfortably competing in the B2 market, as well as B1.

He added: "The enormous uplift in capacity the press will provide will afford us the ability to compete effectively and profitably in the toughest print market that I have experienced in 22 years."

The purchase follows on from a £700,000 spend with Heidelberg last year, when the company acquired Prinance MIS, a Prinect pre-press system, Prinect press room manager, a TH82 folder and an ST450 six-station plus cover feed stitching line.

"With the XL 105, we have no lowest limit on run length and with 12 units we can handle full process colours, a special and a seal. It is totally flexible."