The investment announcement comes a few months after it purchased an HP Scitex 17000 corrugated press, to sit alongside its existing HP 7660, purchased in 2012.
At Drupa, HP announced that Cepac would be one of the forthcoming UK test sites for its PageWide C500, due for commercial shipping in 2018.
The investment will mainly involve doubling the size of its current 2000sqm Doncaster premises to accommodate the extra digital work, but Cepac sales director Steve Moss said it will also be looking to purchase die-cutting and glueing equipment.
All of the funding for the investment has been made available internally.
Work on the site should begin in spring 2017, although it could potentially start earlier if a suitable building company can be found quickly.
Moss said: “These plans have been taking shape over the last year to 18 months. This is a board decision to move the business into using digital to transform the supply chain. We have been looking at complementary items to go around the 17000 and also site expansion.
“This investment in state-of-the-art printing and manufacturing will enable us to exceed our customers’ requirements and transform the supply chain for POS, display and short-run packaging with fast response.
“By doubling the size of our premises and more than halving customer lead times, we will be able to offer unrivalled innovation, quality, service and response.”
Moss said four digital sales staff had already been “upskilled’ in preparation for the investment.
The investment will also look to expand Cepac Doncaster’s design department, which focuses on improving the customer experience on site.
Cepac has four other northern sites, one in Rotherham, one in Darlington, one in Rawcliffe Bridge, Yorkshire, and one in Alfreton, Derbyshire.
It designs and produces a number of corrugated and shelf-ready packaging items and stocks a variety of products.
In September, it launched CorSoft, a new cushioned corrugated product designed to offer protection to items in transit. CorSoft was developed at its Rawcliffe site.
Last year, 500-staff Cepac turned over just over £90m.
