Testing at the 15-staff company in Edinburgh ended three weeks ago and the technology is now available for around £15,000, said CSL Digital marketing director Hugh Davies.

First Display managing Director Jamie Bowes took delivery of the kit in January and said his was one of the first companies in the UK to work with the new DuraUV ink technology.

The new system has joined existing kit including an HP Scitex FB 750, installed in 2015, and a fleet of other Roland DG printers. Bowes is looking to buy a £100,000 router later this year.

First Display prints on a wide range of materials including self-adhesive vinyl, banner, wallpaper and soft signage textiles.

“The UV LED ink offers instant curing and excellent durability,” he said. “It's not so good for car wraps but for walls or other flat surfaces it's great. It won't scratch and doesn't need laminating.”

This version was presented in the standard dual-CMYK configuration with mirrored printheads and a VersaWorks Dual RIP.

Bowes added: “The DuraUV is great for several medias we use regularly including monomeric and polymeric vinyls, banner and weather mesh, both coated and laminated.

“It works well printing blinds, which is a significant part of our business. As we supply mainly to the trade and retail clients, we face demanding deadlines on a daily basis.”

He added: “The technology has removed the delays in production caused by the need to ‘gas off’ the print because the DuraUV ink is cured instantly.

“Secondly, many of our jobs that required lamination no longer do so thanks to the durability of the DuraUV print.

“This has resulted in savings in labour costs, laminates and resulted in increased service speeds for our clients.”

CSL Digital managing director Nick Wintle said: “Analysing the figures we’ve received to date, the average ink usage costs associated with DuraUV are almost half that of conventional ink technologies at just seven to eight pence per ml. That works out at around 80 pence per square metre.”