The 1.1m (44in)-wide machine, installed in mid-October at Cre8iv’s Wolverhampton premises, was first shown at Fespa Digital. It cost the firm a little over £3,000.

It replaces an outgoing Canon iPF8400 and joins Cre8iv's two large-format Roland eco-solvent printers, a VS-640i and RS-640.

Managing director Tehmoor Khan said: “We went over to the Sign Expo trade show in March and were looking for a replacement for our previous machine, which was coming to the end of its life. Canon had just launched the Pro-4000 series so we decided to have a look at that and thought it would suit our purpose.

“It’s a lot faster than the previous model, colours are a lot more vivid, there is only one printhead and it has a Wi-Fi function.

“Our previous machine was a lot slower and some of the jobs coming in we would get last-minute so we did need something to be quicker and more efficient. The good thing about this is you put a job on, each poster is cut and put into a tray and all you have to do is trim off the edges.”

Khan said the machine is mainly used for posters of print runs between 50 and 100.

The eight-colour Canon prints at a maximum resolution of 2,400x1,200dpi at speeds of up to one coated A0 page in less than two minutes and one glossy A0 page in less than three minutes.  

“With the posters, there are a few jobs that we have been doing in the past for clients and because of the quality and service we’ve been providing we’ve had other jobs come in as word-of-mouth, so it’s good in that sense,” added Khan. 

Six-staff Cre8iv also offers vehicle wrapping and signage services, along with website design and development.

Last year, it turned over £350,000.