Although the partnership does not officially begin until 1 June 2010, M-Partners is inviting all Mitsubishi customers to its stand (11/D226) to discuss in detail their plans for the future.

M-Partners managing director Murray Lock said: "What we have been asked to do is look into how we can increase Mitsubishi's presence in the UK."

MLP has been without a UK supplier since previous agency Litho Supplies went into administration at the end of last year.

As well as dealing with potential new sales, M-Partners will offer its services department to existing Mitsubishi users. The company uses a small team of technicians, backed up by Mitsubishi-trained independent engineers.

Lock said: "Customers generally want to deal directly, but we have proved that we can add value and keep the cost down. We don't have large overheads, which is an outdated way of working.

"You can't run with a huge [sales] team these days. You won't get much change out of £60,000 for a salesman so you need to be selling several machines just to pay for that.

"We will be talking to all Mitsubishi customers over the event, firstly to understand what they currently need from us, but also to discuss services that we should be offering in the future."

Lock also said that M-Partners would be announcing two highprofile additions to its team later in the show. One is expected to be on the technical side, while the other will be heading the company's sales team.

According to Lock, the advantage a Mitsubishi has over other machines is its lower running costs, which he believes is key to increasing its presence in the UK.

He added: "We have experience of other presses so we know that running costs are lower. It may be more expensive to begin with, but in the long run it will be cheaper. If you are paying £20,000 on the running costs, that is £200,000 extra in print you need to sell."