The Crewe-based printer, which already operates a five-colour Manroland 705 with coater, had looked around for a secondhand Roland press with UV fitted.

It said it could not find one to match the 16,000sph 2006 conventional Manroland 700 it had located in the Czech Republic through Ossett-based used equipment dealer BBR Graphics.

“Business has grown and we’ve almost doubled our turnover in the past five years to £4m,” said Jaymar Packaging production director Gary Marsh.

“We’ve invested heavily in our finishing department in new gluing lines and cut and crease machines but we needed additional capacity with a second press to support the 705, so we can do the larger-volume work but still maintain a quick turnaround service.”

He added: “I’m a Manroland man through and through. We go from very thin stock to very thick stock and the Manroland covers everything. The 705 is a very reliable press so we had no hesitation in looking for another Manroland.

“We found a very good press, which has had a conventional life but was also ready prepared for UV by Manroland so it made sense to get that press, ship it over and retrofit the UV to it.”

The printer was installed at the firm’s premises in September and the retrofit was carried out by IST (UK) - which has just launched its UV retrofit service - over a two-week period last month.

“We’re getting more and more enquiries for UV and tactile finishes from our customers. We outsource quite a lot of UV work but there’s nobody locally who can do it,” said Marsh.

“When we outsource we’re not as competitive as we could be and our lead times are not as good as they could be either. We believe that by having an in-house UV system, we can attract more trade work and offer a better service to our existing clients who are looking to add value to packaging.”

The press will be commissioned and in full production at the firm’s plant by the end of January. The factory has recently been expanded by around 1,200sqm to 4,645sqm to accommodate the new machine.

“It has been an efficient and trouble free retrofit. It was planned so that the IST engineers would work alongside the press engineers during the installation and build of the press,” said Marsh.

The total investment cost, including the press, UV retrofit and site expansion came to around £800,000. Marsh said the retrofit cost was comparable with the price the firm would have had to pay for a press with UV already fitted.

The press is also fitted with Colour Pilot and Roland’s Eagle Eye quality system and it is anticipated that the machine will also drive further investment in the finishing department.

Jaymar Packaging, which has 32 staff, serves clients in the pharmaceutical, automotive, FMCG and other packaging markets.