Corsham’s nine-year-old B3 Ryobi 524HE is due to be replaced by a RMGT 524GX machine in October. The four-colour press is costing the 15-year-old Wiltshire-based print and design business around £450,000.

Managing director Chris Perry said the latest spend was part of a circa £650,000 investment in the business over the past 12 months that has included finishing and digital printing kit.

“The latest investment should take us past the £1m-turnover mark in a couple of years and by 2020, we are looking at a turnover of £1.5m,” he added.

“We do short runs and want to cut makereadies to the shortest time possible. The way the market is going we didn't think we would ever buy another litho machine, but go more into digital.

“But new LED-UV technology marks a fightback for litho. We can turn around jobs just as fast as digital and lots of the work that had migrated to digital is coming back.”

He also highlighted that the LED press was particularly suited to producing work on uncoated stocks, something that is being asked for more and more.

The new machine has automatic plate loading and a direct CTP to press link for fast and accurate transfer of ink profile data.

Corsham Print also runs a two-colour B2 Ryobi for stationery and a wide-format Roland DG VersaCamm for signange and exhibition work. It also runs two Ricoh digital devices, a 751 and a 7100. The 11-staff business has annual sales of around £750,000.

Complementing the press will be a £50,000 Cron platesetter, also supplied by Apex. This will replace a polyester-based plate DPX platesetter and is also due in October.

“The DPX has served us very well over the years,” said Perry. “But with the price of metal plates from Cron now coming in below the cost of polyester, and the added sharpness and stability offered by the plates, this is the ideal solution to work with our new press.”