The stitch/fold/trim machine with twin towers was installed at the Norwich, Norfolk-based company’s premises around two weeks ago. It has replaced a System 5000 bookletmaker from Duplo that has been part-exchanged.

Colour Print owner and managing director Rick Martin told Printweek the company decided to stick with Duplo for the new investment as the manufacturer’s kit was a good fit for the business.

“This was an upgrade to our previous machine which we bought back in 2013 but had done it’s time,” he said.

“We’d been very happy with its performance and it suited our requirements; we’ve got a relatively small factory here and a larger stitching line wasn’t really appropriate to us so the Duplo was the obvious choice.”

He added: “We’d seen a bit of a move towards more digital production and the Duplo is perfect for that.

“This particular machine is also capable of stitching an A4 landscape, which we have found is desirable within certain markets, specifically the property agents.”

Martin said training went smoothly, with the company’s operators aided by the fact that they already understood the Duplo technology.

“The new machine is far more electronic in terms of its setup, though getting to grips with that was relatively straightforward; it seems quite intuitive. Most of the setup is done from a screen and there’s very little involvement in the mechanics of it.”

While the new machine has an almost identical footprint to Colour Print’s previous Duplo device, the company has used the lockdown period to move some existing equipment around to improve workflow within the factory. It also operates SRA2 Komori litho machinery and Xerox digital kit.

The business serves a broad spread of clients in sectors including leisure and tourism, and education and training. Martin said that while some customers had been shut or quieter during the coronavirus pandemic, the business is “pretty positive about things coming back, it’s just a matter of time”.

Colour Print employs nine staff and prior to the first lockdown it had a turnover of around £1m.

The list price for a new DBM-600 System with twin towers is around £78,000.