The company has commissioned a Speedmaster XL 75-5-P+L five-colour perfector with dedicated coater and has taken delivery of a Linoprint C901 digital press.

Statex's new Speedmaster XL 75 replaces two older presses, a CD 74-5 and an SM52-5, and will lead to a net increase in productivity, according to the company.

The press allows a shorter makeready time, features Heidelberg's Autoplate technology and enables closed-loop colour control through Impress Control, which will help the company in its goal of becoming ISO 12647-2 accredited.

Meanwhile, the firm's new Linoprint press will add digital capacity to its existing Xerox press.

Joint managing director Graham Minnett, said: "We have visited exhibitions and open houses and we have been really impressed by the Linoprint, its quality and productivity.

"We have chosen to buy the beefier C901 just as we have gone for the top of the range XL press technology. It just offers that bit more."

Statex, which runs a 24-hour operation, and raised the funding for the new equipment with the help of Lombard and a small regional grant.

Heidelberg UK digital equipment business manager said that while Heidelberg did not finance digital equipment itself, there was "the opportunity to work with Heidelbeg consumables customers [on financing digital installs] and then back that all off to a finance company".

He added that digital equipment remained difficult to finance and said that Heidelberg used either one of its preferred brokers or Ricoh Capital when advising potential Linoprint customers.

The new litho press will run in parallel to, and complement, the company’s existing Speedmaster XL75-10P long perfector. This press can handle perfected work and four-colour and seal as well as four-or-five colour and dedicating coating.

Statex has also employed two experienced digital press minders to work on personalised orders and a range of short-run jobs. Minnett added: "Digital quality today is really comparable in litho. I never thought I’d say that but I have found it difficult to tell the two apart after a lifetime in print.

"We want people placing work with us in short runs to see the quality and service they get and return to us for their longer run litho jobs."