WCP made the purchase following a two-day visit to drupa. Muller Martini said it launched the machine in response to growing demand for digital print production systems for the paperback book market.

The Alegro will be installed in WCP’s plant based in Tralee, Ireland in autumn and will boost the company’s production speed to 7,000 books per hour, or 14,000 per hour with the machine’s ‘splitting saw’ technology.

WCP managing director Tony Walsh said that he had decided to invest in the Alegro after being impressed with the machine’s production speed and quality.

No agreements were made prior to drupa, the deal was arranged and signed with Muller Martini, on its stand (Hall 14, stand C21), on Sunday 6 May.

WCP, which employs around 100 staff, invested in the machine to help it cope with an increase of work in the publishing services market, which it moved into two years ago.

In its first year of publishing, WCP produced 250,000 exam paper books; an increase in production which Walsh said was the reason for investment.

"We are updating our old technology with the Alegro so we can produce books on a print-on-demand basis as well as in long runs. The Alegro prints a high number of books efficiently and has a swifter turnover and is better quality than other machines we have looked at," he said.

He said the PUR spine gluing station was a particular draw as the flexible rubber glue "never breaks".

Muller Martini’s Alegro was launched at drupa.