Chairman Harry Skidmore explained that the company reached its decision to buy the Roland 500 after visiting Manroland's stand at this year's Drupa.

"Because we are not a 'normal' print business – just putting ink on paper – there were a number of important elements that we needed to ensure could be handled by the machine," he said.

The B2 machine will be installed at Easibind's Heanor factory in the East Midlands, and completes its line-up of UV offset kit.

It will be used predominantly to print on difficult substrates, such as polypropylene, and will run alongside a B3 format set-up, that includes a KBA Genius waterless press and two HP Indigo digital offset systems.

Most of the materials Easibind prints on are used to package paper and documents, and include binders, wallets, folders and diaries that often carry corporate branding.

The company also prints on polymers used in plastic card production, such as for loyalty and membership cards, and security wrist tags.

Easibind said it chose the machine because it could print on substrates ranging from FSC papers to 1,000 microns; it had UV capabilities; it had rolling power to give top quality solids for Pantone colours; and could handle opaque white anywhere in the printing sequence.

The company also needed a machine that was able to work in an extended B2 format of 590x740mm.

The Roland 500 is capable of printing up to 16,000sph and can print on substrates up to 1mm thick.

Easibind was recently nominated for the Lord Stafford Awards East Midlands, in the Innovation Achieved category.