The machine, supplied by Digital People, replaces an existing Indigo press and has been installed in the Pontypool company's digital operation MWL Digital.

The new investment comes off-the-back of steady growth in the company's digital arm, which has recently renewed several contracts and bolstered its sales staff.

Kelli Johnson, general manager of MWL Digital, said: "We've concentrated on building our colour digital side more and more.

"People now have tighter budgets, and short-run colour work, printed on-demand, can benefit from those requirements."

In addition to a quality boost to its digital offering, which Johnson describes as "critical to our business", the Welsh company is also looking to expand into personalisation.

"We can now do personalised, variable date pieces in no time at all. It just flies along and it's an area to grow," she added.

MWL Digital, which employs 22 staff, specialises in short-run book, brochure, poster and manual printing in runs of up to 1,000. The new Indigo 3050 complements a trio of Epson large-format machines, as well as its other Indigo digital press.

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MWL installs Pantera perfect binder

MWL lifts plate rate by 20% with new Screen