Kennedy began working at the company’s northern sign and display office in Warrington two weeks ago and brings with him a decade of experience in digital media sales.

He reports to regional sales manager Ian Quinn and joins an expanding sign and display team, including account manager Ian Farrand, who joined from Amari Plastics in February, and sign and display product manager Michael Crook.

He spent the last eight years working for Papergraphics, specialising in roll fed inkjet media and said that the new role at Antalis was "appetising" for someone with his expertise.

He said: "Antalis seems to be driving forward in the digital sector and it is really exciting for me being interested in large format digital to see what a company this size can do with it."

Kennedy added that it was an exciting time to move into large format digital sales as he felt the industry was maturing towards UV curable flatbed technology and expecting bigger production sizes.

He added: "The industry has changed as trade printers can afford the 5m wide machines as the price has come right down. This takes up the slack from those printers who would have wanted to offer wide format and buy those machines but can now get wide format products and offer it at a competitive price."

Kennedy said that he would "marry up" his reel fed product and customer knowledge with large format digital expertise that he will gain at Antalis McNaughton, which recently brought out its own reel-fed paper range, Coala.

He concluded: "I am up for the challenge at this mega corporation and am looking forward to really getting stuck in."