The 18,000sph press matches the specification of the Merthyr Tydfil-based litho printer's first XL 106-8-P (installed in February), including Inpress Control and Autoplate XL. Both machines were ordered in November 2013 as part of a £6.5m spend.

The second press will replace the older of S&G's two 15,000sph Heidelberg XL 105 10-colour perfectors (installed in 2009) at which point all of the firm's presses will feature Heidelberg's Autoplate XL simultaneous plate changing technology.

S&G managing director Andrew Jones said: "I would not specify a press without Inpress Control and Autoplate XL. They are vital tools in achieving ISO 12647-2 colour quality consistently and at the highest productivity levels.

"The original 10-colour that we are replacing doesn't have Autoplate XL and we've found the makeready is about 100% quicker with the simultaneous plate changing, from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes, plus the new press will run at 18,000sph not 15,000sph."

On the basis of its higher speed and quicker makeready, S&G expects the new XL 106 to provide a 30% capacity boost over the XL 105 it will be replacing.

It will primarily be used to handle perfected four-colour work. Jobs requiring special colours, which only comprise around 1.5m of the 14m sheets a month S&G prints, will go on a five-colour XL 106 or be perfected on the XL 105-10-P.

The upcoming install follows a record month for S&G in September, which on an annualised basis would have taken its turnover from £23m to £30m, while October is also looking like a strong month for the Welsh printer.

"It seems the recession is behind us and market conditions are improving," said Jones. "Litho makereadies are so slick these days that we can often compete at runs as short as 500."

He added that firm had plenty of pre-press and bindery capacity but that it will reappraise its bindery in the early part of next year as part of its ongoing review of the business.

S&G recently output its one millionth printing plate since installing two Agfa Avalon N8-70XT platesetters in June 2010, after four years of averaging 500 to 1,500 plates in every 24-hour period through its pre-press department.

"The reason we are able to output the sheer volume of plates so quickly is due to reliability of our platesetter lines and the thorough maintenance programme we have in place here at S&G," said pre-press manager Jamie Awford.

The firm switched to Agfa's Azura TU chemistry-free plate at the start of 2014 and the subsequent elimination of developer, replenisher and rinse water has cut waste and disposal costs while also slashing the amount of time spent cleaning the machines.

"Our new Azura clean-out units take probably 30 minutes per week and a general daily wipe down," said Awford. "Previously it would have taken four hours per machine per week."