The company will install the machine in its Coventry pressroom by the end of the year, doubling its large format capacity.

Paul Cockerill, Clifford Press’ works director, said he would encourage other print companies to make large investments in equipment.

"Print is an art form and we need to push ourselves harder as an industry. If everyone held their nerve on prices it would help the industry as a whole," he added.

The company also looked at buying a digital printer for shorter runs to free its existing Rapida 162 for long runs.

However, Cockerill said the company decided the compromise in quality wasn’t worth it. "Digital is an up and coming force but it will take a long time before it starts threatening large format litho in terms of quality. We work with the cosmetics sector, where skin tones have to be spot on," he added.

Sales director Paul Thomas added that the company had had to pass up jobs this year so as not to compromise its existing workload. The new machine will double the company’s capacity. "In effect we will be offering 48 hours of large format capacity every day of the year," said Thomas.

The new KBA Rapida 162a will include the KBA Qualitronic inline colour measuring system, which the company hopes will help it achieve ISO 12674-2 certification.

Cockerill said the company’s exisiting KBA Rapida162a would be upgraded to network with Logotronic and Qualitronic and retrofitted with CIP3 data to enable more automated colour control.

"So we’ll have complete calibration from our Luescher CTP and Esko worflow through to proofing and the pressroom," he added.Tweet