The five-staff, family-owned business bought the three-year-old two-colour B3 machine to cope with increased demand for short-run colour work such as booklets.

The Sanxin YK522, a brand now owned by Hans Gronhi, is already running flat out, according to partner Matthew Willmer, putting in 12-hour plus shifts and booked out weeks in advance, with the company taking on an additional member of staff to run it.

"We've always been a Heidelberg house, but to replace the Quickmaster with an SM52 or a GTO at an equivalent price to the Sanxin we'd be looking at machines from the 1980s," he said. "For the same cost as an old used two-colour GTO, we got a modern nearly new press with auto plate, stream feed and integrated dampening."

Willmer said the press was originally used by a council and had clocked up only 3m impressions. "So far we've been blown away by the solids we get," he said, adding that the quality had attracted spot and two-colour trade work from four-colour printers that the machine "just eats up".

He said the cost of the machine meant it could be bought outright, although with financing reasonably cheap, he decided to take advantage and keep cash in the company, financing a part of the deal.

He was also impressed by Printers Superstore, which supplied the machine. "The customer service has been fantastic," he added.

The business is now looking at further investment into either its pre-press department with a polyester CTP machine or post-press department.