Delivered in November, the machine is an expansion to the Aylesbury commercial outfit’s kit line-up enabling it to move away from hand finishing and expand its offering.

The X24 is fitted with a multi-cut tool head that can work through a range of substrate types.

“While easing existing bottlenecks in large-format finishing, the Kongsberg also opens us up other markets we don’t currently target,” said Pelican managing director Scott Brookes. “For instance, we can now work on many different materials, not just things we print ourselves.

“We considered what was on offer from the market, the X24 gave us everything that we wanted, and it was more competitively priced. It has already been working on our Christmas mail campaign, in which we sent a bespoke printed box containing our calendar and desk Christmas tree to our clients.

“It also allows us to cut large-format jobs to shape. Until now we had avoided this type of work but we can now produce it at an attractive price and complete it in-house.”

The Kongsberg X24 has a working area of 1.6x3.2m and runs at up to 50m/min. It will used for cutting work that had until recently been carried out on a Heidelberg Cylinder, particularly Pelican’s short-run digital output.

It was supplied by CMYUK, as Brookes had previously been supplied paper by senior digital sales consultant Sarah Winterbottom when she worked in a previous job. They reconnected at The Print Show, where Winterbottom showed him the possibilities of the X24.

Alongside the cutter, Pelican Print's setup includes a five-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 with coating, an HP Indigo and a Fuji Acuity, as well as a wide range of finishing kit.

Moving into the new year, Brookes plans to take stock of what Brexit might bring in March and spend the year consolidating his business.

Working off 930sqm floorspace, covering two sites, the 25-staff operation is currently turning over £2.5m.