The Mimaki, which cost £60,000, was installed in early July and is Artisan’s first machine to print wider than 2.5m.

It replaced a 10-year-old Mimaki JV3, which Artisan general manager Alison Davey said was only being used as a back-up but had “served Artisan well”.

The UJV55 was purchased via Preston-based Mimaki reseller Granthams, which has been supplying Artisan Signs for 18 years.

Davey said: “We were looking for a 3.2m printer; we searched for what was around and this was new and was fantastic quality, which was our driving force. There was also the history with the kit and the supplier.

“We want to move more into textiles and bring in-house the work we were outsourcing. In terms of production and speed it’s very good for what we require. A lot of our work is quality-led, it is high-end, so you can’t run it in fast draft speeds but we can achieve the quality we want at the speed we want.

“The price is also hard to ignore and given the fact that we have this history with Mimaki, we did samples and tests, looked at the quality and thought it was great; we love it.”

Davey and her husband and Artisan managing director Graham Davey signed for the printer at the Sign & Digital UK show in April 2016. 

The UJV55 prints at speeds of up to 110sqm/h and has UV-curing ink, including white. It also has an Inline LED Lightbox for backlit print inspection, which Davey said had been useful in examining proofs.

Kettering-based Artisan, which is approaching its 20th anniversary, mainly produces work for companies and agencies in the retail and exhibition industries. Davey said that while retail was a bit of a “mixed bag” at the moment, Artisan is “gearing up for a busy exhibition season”.

The 12-staff printer operates from one 700sqm premises, with no plans to increase shifts or recruit more staff. It runs printing equipment from HP and Canon and does all finishing in-house.