The company, which has already placed close to 100 of the machines since its official launch in June, also revealed that the first UK install of the new Meteor machine has gone into a digital printer in east London.

The joint open house was held at the Hemel Hempstead headquarters of its UK distributor MGi Technology in conjunction with kit supplier M Partners, which also supplies MGi kit.

Speaking at the event, Kevin Abergel, director of marketing at MGi said many digital printers have suffered from a "me too" mentality where a saturation of companies offering the same range of print products has helped eroded margins.

He said: "Many of our customers elsewhere in Europe and the US have actually grown sales through diversification in recent years when a large number of printers have experienced the opposite.

"Print companies would ideally like to differentiate themselves on quality but we all know that the key factor now is pricing. We see the Meteor DP 8700 XL as a way for companies to really stand out and offer their customers something different."

The 8700XL can print a maximum sheet size of 330x650mm in its standard specification, but has an optional configuration to print sheets 40in (1020mm) in length and at speeds of up to 4,260 A4 pages per hour (71 A4ppm).

It can handle paper up to 350gsm as well as plastic, polycarbonate, vinyl and PET substrates as well as envelopes.

Retailing for £165,000, it can use any of 25 regular and stochastic line screen choices for different types of print including two simultaneously to cope with text and images.

"With this new team of MGi Technology and M Partners, we are confident that we can boost our UK profile as they know the market and they know the technology," he added.