John Bowers Sr, owner of the Texas-based company, opted for the 5m-wide Vutek printer in order to address "every possible application need".

He said: "We were looking for a reliable, very fast work-horse machine and wanted to work with an industry leader, a company with the latest technologies and one capable of addressing every possible application need.

"With the new Vutek printer, we can serve our existing customers better and faster, acquire new customers and develop new applications such as printing onto rolled styrene."

According to EFI inkjet solutions senior vice president and general manager Scott Schinlever, the Dallas business was "the ideal location for the GS5000r".

"We believe that Gigantic Color's highly creative team will be able to do amazing things with this printer to serve its broad customer base in Texas and across the nation," he said.

Schinlever added: "We are very proud to have them as our 500th installation of the highly successful GS product line, which has only been in the market for a relatively short period of time."

In July, EFI revealed it had more than doubled its second quarter pre-tax profit following strong double digit growth in both its Industrial Inkjet and Productivity Software business units.

The Foster City, California-based business posted a pre-tax profit of $9.1m (£5.9m) for the quarter to 30 June, up 117% year-on-year, on group sales that were up 16% at $163.9m.