The new press joins four other Heidelberg 105 XLs and six HP Indigo digital presses at the company’s 120,000 square foot production facility.

The press was installed at the end of February and has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week since. It is part of an ongoing investment programme, which has averaged £3m-a-year for the past five years.

“Our other presses are the XL format which are tremendously productive and high quality. We had a 10-colour on the floor but it was the previous Speedmaster generation so we were keen to bring that up to the XL specification to increase productivity and efficiency,” said sales and marketing director Richard Owers.

“We looked at others on the market but having all of the staff already trained on the XL format was certainly an advantage. The installation was very successful and we were able to put experienced crews on it straight away. All of our litho presses are now the XL format.”

The firm, which specialises in digital and litho printing, serves clients in the corporate, retail, creative and fine art industries. It also has in-house facilities for marketing collateral management, direct mail, packaging, POS and cross-media services. It employs 275 people and has a turnover of £35m.

Demand for its services has risen by more than 30% in the first four months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013.

“We’ve had a lot of customers press passing and they’ve been really impressed with it. In the premium end of the market that we serve, there’s a lot of interest in using additional colours and techniques. For image conscious retail and fashion customers and auction houses the quality of the colour is key to the end product, everything they do needs to be top notch,” said Owers.