The company signed an agreement on the first day of Drupa to take on the B1 digital press at its Cambridgeshire plant at the end of 2013 as its first "major move into digital print".

Firstan said it would work with Landa until the machine is ready for installation, running print trials and giving feedback to the manufacturer to develop the machine to the printer’s expectations.

The company has never before advocated brand new developments but trusts that Landa will deliver on its state-of-the-art technology, confident that it will be ready for the agreed time and corrections will be made before and during installation.

Andrew Hartwig, managing director of Firstan, said: "Landa has not spent this amount of money on something that is going to fail and neither are we. It feels like the finished article to me."

He added that the press was the only machine that fit with the infrastructure of the company, citing its wider substrate offering and finishing units set it apart from its closest digital competitors.

The company is a major supplier of packaging for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector and said the late-stage customisation that the S10 provides makes it a suitable solution for "anti-counterfeit, flexibility and brand protection" required by customers.

Firstan claimed that there was no other manufacturer on the market which could compete with the Landa S10 for the folding carton market. Hartwig added: "We are looking towards the next decade of printing and this ticks all the boxes – it does everything we want."