The company is flying over two of the 3.2m-wide, roll-to-roll LED UV machines for Sign & Digital UK between 19 and 21 April at the NEC in Birmingham.

UK and Ireland distributor Hybrid Services' national sales manager for industrial products Stuart Cole said the first UK showing of the £60,000, 110sqm/hr machine would be at the Midlands show.

“Fespa saw unprecedented demand and I fought tooth and nail to get the machine for Sign & Digital UK; we are flying the units over.

“We already have orders for demonstration machines but because there's no demonstration facilities yet in the UK we don't have end-user orders but lots of people are saying we want one anyway and we have dealers with stock orders in place," he said.

"Some people have even said they want one before they have had a demo.” 

Cole said the UJV55-320 was “ridiculously cheaper” compared with alternative models that cost in excess of £120,000.

“And the quality and colour gamut are superb. It's a 3.2m machine but you can duplex 60in rolls side by side. A lot of people say 'I don't need, or can't afford, a 3.2m machine'.

“But this one is affordable, so for someone running a couple of solvents for example, £60,000 isn't that much of a far reach.”

Cole added: “Mimaki reported significant orders during the exhibition and we expect a similarly impressive reaction when the machine shows for the first time in the UK.”

He said the JFX200 “rewrote the rule book" for 2.4x1.2m flatbed printers and added that Hybrid “fully anticipated the UJV55 to do the same for roll-to-roll machines”.

The UJV55-320 uses Mimaki’s latest flexible LED UV inkset to produce banners, backlit and POS graphics.

Features include LED curing and low running costs and the printer also has the option to run two narrower rolls concurrently, an inline lightbox for checking backlit output on the machine and the capability to run roll media up to 100kg in weight.

Last month Mimaki hailed Fespa Digital as the firm’s best after saying they had signed up more than 30 buyers for the show-launched UJV55-320 printers in the first two days.

A few days before, the manufacturer announced the launch of the printer, focusing on the claim that it cost around half as much as comparable machines.