Komatsu General Print Co, based in Tokyo, Japan, has signed for the 10,000sph machine. It consists of four standard litho units, while unit five features two of the Kodak S5s, unit six houses a third S5, seven an NIR dryer, unit eight is dedicated to spot colours and unit nine is a UV coater.

Komatsu, which specialises in direct mail production, can use the two Prosper print heads in unit five to cover an A4 area of the full sheet, imaging a large amount of personalised data. A full B2 format marketing piece can be folded and glued to create the final mailer.

Signed at Drupa, the deal between Kodak and Ryobi, was sealed to offer the "first fully integrated hybrid sheetfed press".

The technology partnership will allow sheetfed jobs with variable information to be printed in a single pass, eliminating the costly and time-consuming need to use laser printers, according to Kodak.

Hybrid printing produces "faster job turnaround times, lower costs and higher productivity for imprinting applications when compared to sheetfed laser printing", the company added.

According to Neil Handforth, sales and marketing director of UK Ryobi distributor Apex Digital Graphics, the move was a "very exciting development for Ryobi press users".

"The ability to create work with variable data at offset speeds and offset quality provides printers with a unique product. Print entrepreneurs with vision will be able to see the huge potential of such a marriage," he added.