The family-owned business, based in Cornwall in the Tamar Valley, has installed an Intec XP2020 digital colour printer with inline envelope feeder and conveyor system.

The combined system, installed in January, has a list price of around £8,000 and makes up the Intec EPP 520 line.

The XP2020, which prints more than 2,000sph on stock up to 600gsm stock and 328x1,200mm, replaces a 10-year-old Risograph printer.

Tamar owner Neil Richards said it was the first time in 20 years since setting up the business that packets for its 500-600 varieties of seed had been printed in full-colour on both sides.

“It was proving very difficult to meet our specifications. I saw a lot of printers but none had all the features we wanted until I came across the Intec digital printer from Encore Machinery,” Richards said.

“It was the only printer that could automatically feed and print the size and the weight of the packets. These are only four inches wide and the paper weighs about 250g when folded.

“We didn’t want to hand feed the machine because we run the packets through the machine twice to print front and back, so the on-line envelope feeder was essential,” he added.

Richards said that because the company prints both for online orders and also for stock, speed was not a primary issue when choosing a machine.

“It is the improvement in the print quality, which is noticeable and better complements the quality of the seeds we sell,” he said. “It is important not only for our customers but because we also supply organisations with bespoke seed packets.”

The XP2020 will also be used without the envelope feeder to print Tamar’s in-house documents such as invoices, Richards added.