At the heart of MPG's investment lies the UK's first Kodak Prosper 1000, which will be allied with the first Timsons T-Fold folder/collator and a Kolbus KM600 binding line.
Tony Chard, group chief executive, said: "These engines – both HP and Kodak – are designed to take out litho and up to we believe, depending on page extent and format, between 1,500 and 2,000 copies the inkjet will eat litho.
"It is as fundamental a technological change as offset litho was to letterpress and we all know what offset litho did to letterpress."
Installation of the £3m digital book production line, which is due to begin at MPG Biddles in King's Lynn next month, follows 12 months of investigation and paper trials.
Unlike rival CPI, which has opted for on-line binding on its Quantum line, MPG will install its Kolbus KM600 near-line, to allow for greater flexibility in production.
Chard said: "We're going for near-line because, the KM600 has log feeders which read datametric barcodes that are printed on each section, which means we can get a colour plate section in the book, in-line at speed, which no-one else can.
"The Prosper is 650ft a minute, which is the fastest mono engine on the market at the moment; the folder will run at conventional Timsons web press speed, which is bloody fast, and the Kolbus will run at 4,000-5,000 an hour and we'll be at full lick on a very solid and substantial binding line."
Chard added that the decision to go near-line was also made to allow for the planned expansion of MPG's inkjet production capabilities early next year.
"The way we've set it up that will allow us to drive the investment even harder, because we can add a second inkjet press and T-Fold without needing to buy another binding line," he said.
"We're looking at adding a second press by March 2012, whether its mono or colour we haven't made a firm decision yet – I'm certainly hoping it's colour but it's too big a move not to be backed up by customer requirement."
MPG's T-Fold folder/collator will output web-folded, notched sections in pre-gathered bundles, allowing for a variety of binding options.
"It will allow us to have sections ready for sewing as well, which I'm not sure all of the others do," said Chard. "Our point with all of this is that, if you look at Timsons and Kolbus, they’re solid world-class organisations that build solid pieces of kit that do exactly what they say on the tin.
"The T-Fold is an adaptation of what's on a Timsons web press and Timsons have so much experience of getting millions of metres of paper from one end of the press to another."
MPG is set to beat its main rival in the short-run trade and academic book and journal printing market into production with its inkjet investment, which is scheduled to be up and running in June, several months before CPI Antony Rowe's T350 arrives.
Chard also stressed that the technological switch to inkjet would not only eliminate litho from the mix, but also render toner-based systems uneconomical.
"This installation will destroy things like the Oce Colorstream, because inkjet is five times faster and fives times cheaper," he said. "Personally I don't think setting your stall out on a toner-based technology just as everyone piles into inkjet would be a good strategy and when we bring it to bear in the journal market it's going to be an interesting 12 months."
