The 14,000sph Ryobi press was supplied by Apex Digital Graphics. Both machines have been installed over the past few months at the Canterbury-based printer’s 372sqm premises.

The firm has a turnover of around £600,000 and five staff, three of which are directors that bought the business via an MBO five years ago.

“When we took over we were still on film so we’ve put CTP in since,” said director Duncan Palmer, who joined the company 30 years ago.

“Over the past five years we’ve put a lot of money back into the business and we’re trying to keep doing that and keep investing back into it.”

The Ryobi machine has replaced an ageing four-colour Roland Favorit as the company’s main production unit, though this device has been retained to produce single and two-colour work for the time being. A two-colour Favorit has been sold on.

“The Ryobi was something we stumbled across, the Apex salesman came in on the off-chance and recommended this press to us. We went and had a look at it and think we had bought it within about 10 days of him coming in,” said Palmer.

“We weren’t particularly looking for a press but knew we had a couple of very old presses that we needed to replace at some point soon.

“Because the new five-colour press is compact, we managed to sit it in not much more space than the two-colour was taking up. That enabled us to hang onto the four-colour as well for backup.”

He added: “The Ryobi has massively boosted our capacity and speed, our makereadies have been reduced significantly and there are less overs. The automated dampening and ink duct controls make a huge difference to running the machine.

“The addition of the new press has enabled us to quote for work that we just wouldn’t have been able to produce before. And we have also been able to reduce the 12-hour days that we had been putting in just to get the work produced.”

The new Duplo System 5000 bookletmaker has enabled the firm to bring bookletmaking in-house.

“Doing it in-house has increased our speeds and, especially as run quantities are coming down, it was a no-brainer to have the Duplo. It’s a very good machine,” said Palmer.

Broad Oak Colour Printers, which also operates a Stahl folder and a Polar guillotine, produces a wide range of general commercial print, including work for graphic designers and charities.