The press is due to be installed in the middle of October at Proprint’s Wellingborough, Northamptonshire facility. It was supplied by Edale, which has worked with Proprint since the company was founded by co-directors James Denny and Nigel Tollman in 2011.

“I’ve always felt that getting on that digital journey was something that would definitely happen with us, it was a case of when,” said Denny.

“We have a partnership with Edale, which I feel is second to none and they have supported us since the creation of the business. When FFEI came up with the hybrid version, it ticked all the boxes for us and will allow us to go to another level and complement what we are doing with our flatbed printing, signage and POS.”

FFEI announced it had added a number of new features to the press earlier this month.

The new 420mm-wide press comes with five colours, CMYK plus white. It is the first UK press to use Xaar’s print bar for the application of inline digital special effects and uses Xaar 1002 printheads, which Denny said are “fantastic” and gives Proprint a "different edge".

“The quality of the print is exceptional as well as the weight you can lay down with the opaque whites and the varnish. It really blew us away,” added Denny.

“Our company ethos has always been about service and with regard to the setup and the speeds it can deliver; this gives us options of packaging from 40 microns right through to thick cartons.”

It prints at a maximum single-pass speed of 50m/min and takes a variety of substrates ranging from 0.04mm to 0.6mm.

The hybrid press joins four current presses supplied by Edale: three Alpha FL1s and a seven-colour Alpha FL3. Since its setup, Proprint has purchased a machine from Edale around every 12 months. It also runs a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102.

Proprint mainly produces a variety of products for the fresh food retail sector. It employs 55 staff across its two sites, which total 4,400sqm, and last year turned over just more than £7m.