Production manager Taggart Aston said the 100ppm machine was due to arrive at the firm next summer. "Allegedly were down for June but Ive told them I want a very early one. I want to get on with it," he said.

The firm currently runs a 12ppm DocuColor 12 and a 45ppm DocuColor 2045, which was the first to be installed in Northern Ireland in September 2000. A second 2045 is due to arrive in the autumn to help build volume in preparation for the arrival of the iGen3.


Aston saw the iGen3 when it made its UK debut at Ipex in April and claimed the print quality was "incredible". "I went to see the iGen3 and then I stepped out into the land of the dinosaurs [offset presses]. I was lifting sample sheets of what presumably was their best work and thinking thats a bit lacklustre," he said.

The firm will shortly relocate to new 414m premises when it will assume its new name of Futurecolour. The name is a tribute to the development name of the iGen3, FutureColor.

"When I went to Ipex I was berating Xerox and asking why on earth did you change the name? Then I thought if theyre not going to use it I will," Aston said.

Story by Lauretta Roberts