Representing a total investment of £600,000, the two machines arrived together to both replace an older Vutek and add 3.2m cutting capabilities to the Leeds-based firm.

The h3 is the first printer Quarmby has run that can produce text too small to be read by the naked eye, suited to small decals, barcoding and machine labels, while its opaque white ink will also open up further application opportunities.

“We wanted to replace our older Vutek to gain more productivity but to keep our print quality and the highest it can be,” said director Damian Quarmby. “Having looked at what was available, we fell back on EFI again because we have been with them for a long time and have always been happy with the quality and reliability of their machines.

“Our business has grown and changed of late and, now we are offering direct-to-substrate services, we needed a little more ‘oomph’ on the finishing side. We have always been a Zünd house, but we opted for Esko this time because the C64 can do both the finesse and also the really meaty stuff.

“We have more work coming in and the new machines give us more control over what we can take on and deliver to deadline. It is about making the company as streamlined and efficient as possible, which is very exciting.”

The Vutek h3 is a hybrid system capable of taking flexible and rigid substrates up to 508mm thick. It has multi-roll capability of two 1.52m rolls and can print up to 74 boards/hr at a maximum resolution of 1,200dpi.

Kongsberg’s C64 cutter has a work area of 3.21x3.2m and can cut at speeds up to 100m/min.

Quarmby Colour employs 13 members of staff and runs print kit from HP, Mimaki and EFI at its 560sqm premises. It is set to turn over £2m this year with the aid of the new machines.