Print and mail specialist FDM has configured its Versafire with the optional fifth unit – adding the ability to print high-opacity white, varnish, neon yellow or neon pink – and the long-sheet option.

FDM is currently installing the machine at its east London premises and training staff on the new software. It will replace a Xerox DocuColor press. Operations manager Bobby Rogers said he hoped to have the machine ready by the end of this week.

“It’s difficult to put into numbers but the demand for our bespoke jobs has risen massively over the past 18 months,” said Rogers. “We were running jobs on a colour digital machine and as more people heard we could do that, more people began to ask for those short-run, high-quality jobs. We needed a more robust machine to keep up with demand.

“We serve a big client base in London and across the country and we advertise ourselves as a one-stop shop for all the needs a customer might have.

“We investigated the market and looked at Xerox, Canon and others. We could have gone to Ricoh but we opted to buy the Versafire CV from Heidelberg because the front-end software marries in with equipment we run in the litho department.”

The machine runs an extended sheet size of up to 323x792mm and will be used to produce high-quality brochures, pamphlets and other promotional materials.

FDM caters to clients in the public sector but has seen a rise in demand from private sector clients over the past decade. The company was incorporated in 1993 and operates a range of litho and digital, colour and mono machines.