The group invested £10m in two HP T400 107cm-wide inkjet web presses for its purpose-built Speke facility last year, and group technical director Chris Ingham described HP's Inkjet Web family as its "platform of choice" as Communisis seeks to establish a market-leading proposition in "intelligence-driven communications".

"The future could be a bigger facility at Speke, or it could be two sites. It depends on contract acquisition," Ingham said. "We absolutely want to be in the game and be last man standing."

Communisis already has two HP T300 76cm-wide presses at its Leeds-based direct mail operation.

The 9,300sqm Speke factory opened in 2007, after Communisis took over HSBC's in-house statement printing operation at the end of 2005. The £208m turnover PLC has since built up the client base by adding a raft of new customer wins including Centrica, Co-operative Bank, TNT, and Wolseley.

The site runs 24/7 and employs 330 staff.

The T400s are driven by a Pitney Bowes frontend system and have a range of inline finishing and inspection options, including dynamic perforating and the capability for printed output to run to reel for large-volume jobs, or fan-fold for smaller quantities.

"The T400s allow us to concatenate very small volumes into one big print file, reducing the amount of complex hand work," Ingham explained.

Communisis is holding a customer event today about the role digital printing technology can play in improving communications. Speakers include British Gas head of customer communications and retention, Jess Poore, who said digital print had "future proofed" billing at the company.

British Gas owner Centrica has removed a huge amount of complexity in managing different pre-printed base stocks by moving to a white-paper in solution on the T400s.

Ingham said more customers would adopt the white paper route over the coming year: "In about nine months' time we will have got rid of the vast majority of pre-printed stationery," he added.

[O] Separately, Communisis has announced that it plans to close its chequebook printing facility in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, in order to consolidate its cheque operations at its Crewe site as the market declines. Up to 46 jobs could go.