Komori UK head of marketing Philip Dunn said the UK market had been moving at a slightly different speed to Europe, where long perfectors has been sold prior to Drupa.

Friary Press managing director Jon Parvin said the firm had planned to install a Heidelberg SM102 to replace a five colour Heidelberg CD102.

Traditionally a Heidelberg house, despite claims the SM102 series could handle materials up to 400gsm, Parvin said he was not confident that six months down the line in a working environment this would be the case. "To move away from Heidelberg was a big decision for us to take," he said.

Dunn said the sale was part of a trend that Komori was seeing with B1 and B2 printers, who were moving more to the high unit presses, and said other orders had also been received.

The press was purchased at its European launch at Drupa earlier this year. The new press will be used to handle magazine cover stock of up to 400gsm and text material from 70gsm, at the Dorchester-based short-run magazine and journal specialist.

Friary Press employs 105 staff and has a turnover in the region of 8.5m.

Story by Andy Scott