The press has been installed at the company's Boston, Lincolnshire site, and is said to be the first installation of its kind in the UK.

Mick Shooter, Norprint operations director, said the new press bridged the gap between flexo and digital on short-run work.

It has eight UV-flexo units, a hot foil facility, and is used primarily for short-run work.

He said: "It sets itself in minutes and is clearly designed as an operator's press – it has everything you need where you need it.

"Print quality is outstanding, and in the first four weeks of production we ran 58 jobs on the P5."

The company said it had an average 23% saving in makeready time, and an overall 26% reduction in substrate waste.

The Mark Andy P5 has a new printhead design, which along with its automatic register system means jobs can be run off quickly and efficiently with minimal waste material. 

Shooter said: "This is vital because the substrates we run are very expensive per linear metre – what used to be viewed as a consumable is now very much a valuable commodity."

He also said the machine was "keenly priced", and said the nearest competitor was 25% more expensive and offered no more productivity.

Norprint is now part of the Magnadata Group, which has a consolidated annual turnover of £40m. 

The company was unavailable to comment further.