The Manchester-based company, which produces 80 million wet-glue labels a month, installed an HP Indigo WS6600 and an AB Graphic Digicon Series 2 digital finishing line last November.

Company founder Martin Bramwell said: “The possibilities are endless with the digital printer. We have a lot of new customers. We started to produce labels for ice cream and have also been producing labels for microbreweries. The beer labels are in smaller volumes but offers a bit more of a margin.”

Bramwell said the company was already seeing a benefit from its digital investment. The spend was driven by the company's desire to broaden its product mix and reduce exposure to its traditional wet-food label market, which had declined in recent years.

Peter Bramwell, sales manager, said: “We wanted to have a look at different ways of getting back business. There is now increasing demand for self-adhesive labels. We wanted a printer that can meet the demands of short-run, reel-fed bottling and also heavier self-adhesive papers for things like wine and spirits.”

Three of the firm's 28 staff were sent to Barcelona for 10 days of training on the new Indigo and according to Peter Bramwell: “The transition to digital printing has been seamless.”

The seven-colour HP Indigo WS6600 can produce up to 40m/min, while the fully modular Digicon line can be used for hot and cold foil, screen-printing and raft of other finishing options.