The group, which includes greeting cards publishers Noel Tatt and Impress Publishing, has installed the Fujifilm-supplied machine at its Canterbury site for an undisclosed sum.

The 700 will allow the company to move into the personalisation arena and complements its existing Xerox DocuColor 250 digital machine.

Group studio manager John Cox said the existing DocuColor had been used for smaller-scale jobs but could not handle the company's increased level of demand of digitally-printed cards.

"We were looking for a quicker, more consistent machine to improve our productivity and quality, as well as the ability to offer personalised print," he said.

Cox added that many of its charity card customers had looked for creative economical printing. He said the Xerox 700 allowed the group to offer "extremely creative, personalised print jobs as and when required".

Noel Tatt Group has already produced runs from 50 cards up to 3,000 using the new machine.

The Xerox 700 is aimed at the production of photo books, brochures, direct mail pieces, catalogues, calendars and postcards.

It can output at speeds of up to 70ppm in both colour and mono production, and on stock weights ranging from 64-300gsm.

Graham Leeson, marketing manager at Fujifilm, said: "Again, it goes to show the huge opportunities that are out there for printers who are willing to diversify their offering in order to meet and anticipate customer demand for various print solutions."