The five-colour machine, which was on Litho's stand, was shipped directly to the firm's digital facility in Bournemouth after the show.

"I'd heard a press was coming from Litho at Christmas and decided to hold off making a decision, until I'd seen what they were offering," said JPS managing director John Sparks (pictured left with Litho Supplies group sales director Eddie Williams).

JPS has three divisions, B1 litho commercial print, large-format display graphics and digital asset management. It was looking for a B3 machine for high-quality short-run work to complement these divisions.

The waterless design of the Genius appealed to the firm for environmental reasons and Sparks said the company may consider moving its B1 machines to waterless in the future.

"I'm absolutely delighted," said Williams. "We had incredible interest at the show. I'd never seen interest in a product like we had in those few days. The difference is because the Genius is built from the ground up to be waterless."

The Genius has been mobbed during demonstrations both on Litho Supplies and KBA's stands.

KBA, which sell the UV version of the Genius, has already lined up BD&H of Norwich to take the UK's first UV machine directly from the show.

Story by Barney Cox