Maxime Dumesnil, commercial director of the Paris-based pre-press business, made a flying visit to Ipex on Thursday (27 March) to sign for the Ultra, which is having its UK debut at the Excel.

Dumesnil said that he had been looking to diversify as revenues from the Paris-based firm's core design and pre-press business for the commercial print and packaging markets was flat.

"Our core business was not growing and I was thinking: what will be my business in 2-3 years and where will the margin be," said Dumesnil. "Then a few months ago I saw the Scodix machine on the web and I saw an opportunity to move the business model from pre-press into digital finishing.

"There's no real value-add in pre-press but with the Scodix we can make a new experience for French consumers. When you take a flat print and turn it into something you can feel, with layers of texture, it creates a connection and an emotional response - it makes it 20 times more memorable."

DLW will take delivery of the Scodix Ultra in June and will take on another 2-3 staff to run the machine. Dumesnil said the company would initially focus sales efforts for its digital finishing service on its trade customer base.

"We will start with a focus on printers, to help them sell more value-added print to their customers, and then the second step is to target brands such as leather goods, because the Scodix can replicate the feel of materials like leather, wood, etc on the print," he added.

"The other thing that was important for us was that it is a green process versus something like a UV varnish, which you can't recycle - the Scodix prints are completely recyclable."