The first fruits of this agreement will allow Screen to distribute the Roland VersaUV LEJ-640 combination flatbed and roll-to-roll printer.

Incorporating both white ink and clear varnish in addition to a CMYK colour set and featuring a print width of 1.625m, the machine prints onto coated and uncoated substrates up to 13mm thick.

According to Roland DG, the inclusion of white ink and clear varnish makes the printer ideal for the production of short-run packaging and prototypes.

The ability to produce prototypes gives Screen UK the opportunity to expand further into the display and flexible packaging prototyping market sectors.

Bui Burke, vice president of sales at Screen, said: "We have been increasing our presence significantly in the wide-format arena and needed a solution with a lower price point but which didn’t compromise on production standards.

"Logically it made perfect sense to form a partnership with Roland DG at the quality end of inkjet printers. As we both have head offices and manufacturing in Japan, this gives us a natural synergy."

Screen debuted the VersaUV LEJ-640 at its recent Widescreen 2011 event held at its Milton Keynes UK headquarters, complementing its own wide-format setup that includes the Truepress Jet2500 printer.

Mat Drake, business manager of commercial print at Roland DG said the partnership enables the company to combine both experience and resources.

"We’re seeing increasing opportunities within the offset litho and flexo sectors for users wanting to reap the benefits of a quality wide-format device," he added.