"It's a risk, we're conscious of that fact, but we believe it's a practical response to an increasingly global market, but one well worth taking," said William Alden, managing director of the family-run firm.

The Oxford-based academic book and journal printer began work on the 14 staff 750,000 facility last year, installing a raft of Heidelberg kit in the Autumn of 2005.  Its first commercial journal was for New Zealand publisher ADIS International.

The sheetfed B1 Malaysian facility will be linked to the firm's web-based MIS, to allow customers across the globe to access real-time job information.

The plant in Penang is headed up by CG Lim, assisted by two full-time UK managers, Scott Howell (pictured left) and Justin Freeman (centre).

"We learned from our Indian operation that we need to support local management with expertise from the UK especially in the early stages," said Alden.

The site was set up in response to Blackwell Publishing's mooted move to Singapore. "So in that respect it was a defensive move to enable us to compete if [its] book and journal printing moved to the Far East," said Alden.

He added, however, that since its inception, rather than take work out of the UK the operation has picked up a number of contracts in Australasia.

"We're not aiming to canabalise our UK manufacturing... the lead times of the UK and Malaysian plants are very different," said Alden.

Alden opened a book and journal pre-press operation in Chennai, southern India, five years ago, which now employs 500 staff.

The firm is "watching" China, with a view to possibly setting up a site in the country, but it has no hard plans to do so at the moment.