CMP based in Poole, Dorset bought the kit as part of a £250,000 investment that included a Horizon BQ-270 perfect binder and a Morgana Digifold Pro.

The new Ricoh replaced a Ricoh 901 and will run alongside a second 901 and three Océ VarioPrint machines installed a year ago.

According to Ricoh, the Pro C9110 can run at up to 130ppm (A4) and can print on stocks of up to 400gsm in both simplex and duplex modes. The 901 runs at 90ppm.

The press has a maximum standard sheet size of SRA3 and a maximum monthly volume of 1 million A4 sheets.

CMP managing director Paul Dawe said: “The Ricoh will help us deliver our most immediate needs, which will at the same time demonstrate continuous improvement.”

His 19-staff business makes a turnover of £1.5m but Dawe said he expected the new purchases to help his company “comfortably hit the £2m mark this year”.

He said: “We are seeing a lot of growth on the commercial side. We do lots of PPC dust jackets and are expecting a 30-40% growth in colour books and marketing literature. 

We can now bring six-page A4 work to the table. All of which are possible as we have the added benefit of Ricoh’s banner sheet option so we can print up to 700mm.”

Dawe also credited the jump in book work to the recent recruitment of two former Berforts staff, Dale Burgess and Bob Cleverly, to head up a new sales office in Luton, which opened last October.

Book printer Berforts Information Press in Stevenage fell into administration in September and the two men joined CMP in senior sales and marketing and customer services roles.

Dawe said: “We've been in business 20 years and in the last four made headway on short-run, on-demand work.”