Haak, who has spent more than 16 years working for Barco Graphics, Dotrix and Agfa, said that the size of Agfa had put a strain on his business ambitions.

"I came from Barco and Dotrix medium-sized companies but in a firm of 15,000 people, it's quite hard to move quickly," he said.

Haak has founded Spikix, a consultancy based in the south of Holland specialising in single-pass ink-jet, which aims to bridge "a serious gap in the market" between manufacturers and high-volume users.

The firm, which launched last month, has secured several clients but Haak declined to reveal names.

Haak has been replaced at Agfa by Tim Van den Bossche, an executive in its process office.