Installed earlier this week, the toner-based LP4 is Riviera's first digital press. It was bought at LabelExpo Europe last month by the Torquay-based company and will help service a market that requires ultra-short runs of between one and 10. 

“A lot of our new customers are independent businesses making food and beverage products like jams or beers,” said director Peter Burnard.

“This means a smaller number of labels and greater variation. We needed a machine that was up to the task of these ever-smaller demands from start-up businesses.

“Alongside increasing demand for shorter runs, designs are getting increasingly complex, which is why digital seemed like the right way to go this time – no tools are required to set up printing the designs on our Compress, it comes from a file on a computer."

Supplied by Impression Technology Europe, the new Compress runs at up to 9.1m/min in black and white mode at a maximum resolution of 600x1,200dpi. It can handle substrates up to 210mm wide and between 64gsm and 320gsm, and offers a 'micro-fine' LED toner.

Burnard added: “The quality we get on the Compress is fantastic and it prints on most substrates, which means we can keep up with what our customers request from us in more instances.”

Following an MBO in 2002, Riviera's five-strong team has strived to be “energy conscious”, installing a solar array two years ago and running LED lightbulbs among other environmentally minded measures. The LP4 consumes just 1.2 watts of energy in sleep mode.

“All the measures we take have seen considerable savings in our energy bills,” said Burnard.

Riviera operates from a 650sqm site and currently has a turnover of around £500,000. Following the LP4 and solar array investments, the company is looking to invest in finishing equipment in the coming year.