"We're talking to key customers at the moment. We've won a lot of work at Heron this year and there comes a point when you hit capacity. We're not far off that point at Heron at the moment," he said. 

Sources close to the company said that two of Heron's existing presses had been earmarked for decommissioning to make way for a new 64pp, but Utting said no decision had been made and the group could take "one, two or three presses out. We'd need to see." 

The 64pp Roland Lithoman IV was installed at the Essex firm in spring 2001, as part of a move to win more consumer magazine work. It runs alongside five 32pp webs: three Rotomans, an M850 and a Baker Perkins G16. The plant also has a 16pp Baker Perkins machine. 

Heron, which prints PrintWeek, runs six-day continental shifts, so is "in a good position" to accommodate the weekend production slots that are required by some publishers but that are also in short supply.

Story by Jo Francis