The 25-year-old business, which offers personalised direct mail, fulfilment, large-format and general commercial print to SMEs and national blue-chip companies, may split the investment over two financial years.

Managing director David Wyvill said he was looking at a Komori H-UV worth £750,000 and a Xerox iGen worth £300,000. It was an either or decision but "ultimately we will probably end up buying them both over time", he said.

"In some ways the recession has helped: we have refocused and looked at process improvements. In the old days printers put up prices 10% and people accepted it, now we have to look at making savings and being more efficient.

"We want to keep ahead of competition and like to invest every year rather than end up with a great bill every five years," he said of his £3.5m-turnover, 28-staff business based in Harrogate, north Yorkshire. "This spend isn't down to picking up a big account, but wanting to stay ahead."

His team also runs a Ricoh Pro C901, Komori Lithrone 528 and two Mimaki JV33 machines. The software investment on GMG ColorProof, ColorServer and InkOptimizer packages aimed to streamline proof production and increase output accuracy and consistency across its, machines including large-format and litho, said Wyvill.

Production director Mark Plummer said maintaining consistent colour across all output devices was a major issue.

"I was looking for something that could streamline and automate our production, all the while making the process of colour and profile management as easy as possible for our operators. GMG was one of the few suppliers able to come into our plant and demonstrate with live samples," he added.

The new software has enabled his team to standardise colour space conversions and deliver faster and more consistent results regardless of machine or substrate, while InkOptimizer has cut ink costs and saved drying times, he explained.

"Often we’re asked to turn around jobs very quickly, and the reduced drying times that allows us to meet those challenging deadlines more easily. GMG ColorProof, with ColorServer and InkOptimizer, have allowed us to deliver higher quality and more accurate results."