Moving from 100% flexo-based operation five years ago to an “80/20” split in favour of digital printing, the Sittingbourne-based company was initially reluctant to reveal it was using the new SurePress. However, the machine’s success motivated the announcement that Superfast had doubled its turnover to £1.8m since 2012.

The introduction of the latest SurePress was part of an initiative to find “a balance between traditional and new technologies”, according to managing director Andrew Miller. The L-6034VW is the third Epson to be installed, following a SurePress L-4033A and L-4033AW, which are being used alongside one remaining flexo press.

Miller said: “We installed the Epson machines to aid work management. We needed the L-6034VW because it is a bigger, faster machine. It will do embellishments, which have been very popular with our customers in the food, drink and pharmaceutical sectors.

“The quality of output, reliability and the physical fit of the machine were our top priorities when we first chose to go the Epson route. The CMYK with orange and green allows us to reproduce virtually every Pantone colour and Hexachrome. We also replicate silver and gold foil colours – a great selling point for all POS markets.”

Miller now manages an 18-strong team at the company, which has been in business for 25 years and claims to be “one of the fastest label printers in the UK”, offering turnaround times as short as 24 hours. Customers are largely UK-based although Miller said it does export some work.

The UV inkjet SurePress L-6034VW is able to handle a wide range of label applications, flexibly and productively, working at a consistently quick speed which has allowed Superfast to handle longer runs. Together the three Epson presses have output more than 27,000 jobs.