Sam Cherry, managing director at the Kent-based signage specialist, told Printweek the upgrade meant a serious upgrade in speed for the firm.

He said: “It was four times as quick as the [printer] we had at the time, and we thought: ‘well, time is money’.

“We can churn out a lot more work in the day now, without losing any quality.”

The Acuity Prime, part of Fujifilm's 'blueprint' for wide-format, has allowed Ebbsfleet to feed print directly into its Summa cutting table.

It is this increase in speed, said Cherry, that will make the difference for the company.

He said: “It gives us the opportunity to go and get more work. A lot of things are last-minute these days - people always forget to order stuff. 

“Now we’ve got the machine to cater for that last-minute sign that someone’s forgotten about without it causing too much drama.”

With the purchase, Cherry has now been able to send out one of his seven-person team to go out on the road to find business.

“We never had time for [that] in the past. Hopefully it’s going to grow and add a few more customers into the pot.”

The investment would have cost Ebbsfleet, which turns over around half a million pounds annually, £80,000 - but by trading in its old Mimaki JFX flatbed, the firm saved around £15,000.

The new printer’s footprint was only slightly larger than the JFX’s - so with a reshuffle of machinery, and the installation of a ceeform electricity cable for “a bit more of a kick”, the printer was ready to go.

Training staff on the new machine, Cherry added, had been positive - though understandably not cut-and-dry.

He said: “Obviously you can’t take everything in one go.

“But if you need anything, they’re always there to put us right or help us along. There’s a lot to learn on these things, especially the software if you’ve not used it before.”

The investment has been significant for Ebbsfleet, and may be its last for a little while.

Cherry said: “We’ve invested a lot of money in the last few years, to be honest. We’ve only got a small unit so we can’t really fit any more in at the moment.

“Who knows, if required, we might need another unit, or a bigger unit - but don’t run before you can walk.”