The central London firm spent over 250,000 on a MAN Roland DICOpress 500 and an HP-Indigo Press 1000 for jobs from brochures to greetings cards.

Managing director Colin Gardiner said the new buys would replace two smaller-format Chromapress 32is that had reached the end of their upgradeable life.

We needed to re-invest to jump-start the business. We looked at the market and instead of going for one brand went for two. This will offer customers a variety of format sizes and substrates.

The DICOpress offers four-colour web printing on 500mm-wide stock at 2,400dpi. The Indigo allows the 20-staff firm to work on heavier substrates up to A3.

Gardiner said only two other firms in London had the same press combination. But this is the first time two new presses from different manufacturers have gone in at the same time.

CDP is a one-stop-shop for agency clients, print farmers and corporations, said Gardiner.

We would dearly love to do more variable data, but the problem is selling the idea to the customer. Most runs are up to 3,000 and we turn that around in two hours. But we have gone to 20,000 for binding for 120pp books.

CDP moved into digital print six years ago because Gardiner thought at the time that conventional repro was on the way out.

Story by Jez Abbott