Istanbul-based MAS Matbaacilik visited Ipex to sign for its machine, which it plans to use for short-run magazines. It currently operates three sheetfed presses.

The DICOweb shown at PrintCity is destined for Swiss printer Stmpfli, and German group MhnMedia is also due to receive a 16pp heatset model this year.

MAN Roland chief executive Gerd Finkbeiner said the firm "had proved the critics [of DICOweb] wrong" at Ipex.

"Its been the attraction of the exhibition. Each of the demos has drawn the biggest crowds," he said.

The firm will increase production of the DICOweb next year when it expects to sell "seven to 10" machines. "In time, when production has really swung in, we expect to sell 30-40 presses a year," he said.

Finkbeiner dismissed claims from competitors that the machines wipe-clean imaging technology was not an industrial solution. "Thats just nonsense," he said.

"With its mechanical platform it is as much an industrial solution as our [conventional] web and sheetfed presses," he added.

The DICOweb images at 3,200dpi and can run at 3.5m per second. It is available in 8pp and 16pp versions and can be configured as either heatset or coldset. Flexo or gravure cylinders can also be incorporated.

"In terms of its modularity there is no other printing press solution like it on the market," Finkbeiner said. "Customers could buy a press today and in three years time it is obsolete. With DICOweb we can upgrade it," he said.

Story by Lauretta Roberts