With a focus on operational efficiency, the manufacturer said the 1,500sqm factory has been created from the shell of an existing building.

Canon said the new plant has been fitted with “the most up-to-date ink manufacturing equipment and levels of automation optimised to consistently deliver high-quality water-based, polymer CMYK inks and to minimise waste”.

The facility has also created new jobs, with its 30 employees being a mix of redeployed staff and new hires.

Rob Puts, vice president of manufacturing and logistics at Canon Production Printing, said: “Our water-based, polymer inks were fully developed in-house and, as with all our in-house developed technologies, we piloted them here within our R&D facility.

“Once the inks had proved themselves in the market, as they clearly have, we invested in this new facility to meet the growing demand from existing customers as well as expected strong future demands.

“Dedicated to the production of water-based, polymer inks that can be used across our multiple inkjet production engines, the new, highly automated plant has been built to satisfy whatever level of growth our customers achieve.

“The factory enables us to offer our customers the best high-volume inkjet production machines on the market. And with the new plant, we’re confident supporting the growth of our customers’ business and of enabling them to produce the highest quality output.”