The Blandford, Dorset-based company has traded in one of its existing HP WS4050 presses to upscale to the latest WS6000 configuration, in a bid to migrate more jobs from conventional to digital production.

Graham Backhouse, sales and marketing director at Amberley Labels, said the new investment was "vital" in allowing the printer to meet demand from a client base that includes companies from the the cosmetics, toiletries and healthcare sectors.

According to Backhouse, the company currently produces 30% of its work digitally, a figure he expects to jump 20% in the next 12 months and to account for 70% in the next three to five years.

He said: "Purchasing the HP Indigo WS6000 digital press and our new Digicon finishing equipment has doubled digital capacity, ensuring that we can respond faster to our customers’ requests, with maximum flexibility.

"It's a bold move but it really shows our confidence in digital production. We wanted to attract new customers while maintaining service levels to our existing ones. Investing was one way to do that."

The label printer, which was established in 1979, can print at speeds up to 30 linear metres per minute in four-colour operation on its latest Indigo and up to double that rate in two-colour mode.

According to the HP, the WS6000 has been designed to be more cost-effective on jobs up to 4,000 linear metres – work that is normally carried out on flexographic machines.

It can print on a variety of substrates ranging from thin flexible packaging material, to folding carton, label and shrink sleeve media.