The award is intended to recognise outstanding production achievements among KBA's customers, and the Aberystwyth-based company picked up the accolade for the performance it has achieved on its ten-colour long perfecting Rapida 106.

Cambrian's Rapida was installed in the first half of 2009 and is fitted with a number of makeready- and efficiency-enhancing features, including simultaneous plate changing and KBA's Qualitronic quality assurance system.

In one 12-hour shift production manager Darren Crane, working with a young printing assistant, ran 47 different four-back-four sections, involving 376 plate changes and 47 makereadies. Run lengths ranged from 210 to 440 sheets, and the paper stock was 115gsm.

Chairman Robert Read said: "We're absolutely delighted with the award. When we bought the press it was our biggest outlay to date and a major commitment as far as our company is concerned.

"We're so pleased to be reaping the benefits. Since this award-winning shift we have achieved further performance increases on the press, too."

KBA named the award in honour of the date when the first power-driven press, designed by Friedrich Koenig and built by Andreas Bauer, was used to print The Times newspaper of 29 November 1814.