Conservatree managing director Chris Goslar said that the purchase of the 1.6m-wide Roland has allowed the Reading-based company to bring the majority of its previously-outsourced work in-house.

Direct print-to-textile work will continue to be outsourced.

Goslar said: “The machine has been very busy since we installed it. Not only have we brought in some of the work we were putting out but our clients now know that we’ve got it and can get in touch for bigger projects.”

Goslar said he had considered other machines but in the end settled on the Roland, the company’s first, in part due its in-built cutter.

“We can now profile-cut to a specific shape, and with vinyl graphics we can print and cut in one pass rather than having to move to a different machine. It makes it more efficient,” he added.

The Roland SolJet, installed at the end of April, prints at speeds of up to 49sqm/h. It can print in up to seven colours, with white ink capability, and has a maximum resolution of 1,400dpi. 

The device was supplied by Service Offset Supplies.

"SOS has been amazing and has been providing great post-installation support. They have been down quite often and when we were doing our first jobs they made sure we were using the correct techniques and materials,” Goslar said.

Conservatree’s longer-term growth strategy involves the launch of a new website for its calendar printing work, and the recruitment of two new staff: recently appointed new business development manager Craig Dougan and another to be a hired towards the end of this year.

With the Roland spend, Goslar said Conservastree is looking to up its turnover from its current level of £1.7m to about £2.3m by the end of the financial year. Last year, it increased by around 25%. It employs 19 staff.