The company spent "upwards of £350,000" on the two-over-three perfecting model, which it said would allow quick throughput of 2/2 jobs as well as the capability of adding a fifth colour for sealing or specials to four-colour jobs.

Berforts installed the Komori Enthrone 529 Perfector three weeks ago. Richard Woolmer, production director at the Hastings site, said: "It offers a faster turnaround, with average make ready times of ten minutes and more consistent quality."

He also said the machine would allow the company to do faster four- and five-colour short run litho jobs because it is equipped with pre-inking and plate changing and uses CIP3 data to enable more automated colour control.

"The machine's small footprint suited the company’s production space, which was recently reduced from 13,000 to 9,000 sq ft," he added.  

The investment is part of Berforts’ drive to increase the turnover at its Hastings site from £1.8m to £2.2m by the end of 2013. Woolmer said he hoped to do this by investing in technology in order to increase its customer base.

Berforts’ Hastings site has also invested in a Konica Minolta Bizhub C8000 press, which arrived earlier this month, a single colour Konica machine, which it will receive this week and a used four-colour B2 perfector, arriving in the first week of December.

Woolmer said the company would consider increasing the Hastings facility’s four-person sales team if it succeeded in increasing its turnover in 2013.

"We’ll see how the existing sales team manage," he added. "But we’d only take on new staff if we were sure we could keep them."