The five-colour machine on Litho's stand will be 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.

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 firm may consider moving its B1 machines to waterless in the future.

Sparks also said the design of the Genius and its clean operation meant it could be placed with its digital printers in "showroom" conditions.

"I'm absolutely delighted," said Litho Supplies group sales director Eddie Williams. "We've had incredible interest at the show. I've never seen interest in a product like we've had in the past 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