The B3 press, which was installed last month, came from Heidelberg UK’s showroom where it was used to demonstrate the Anicolor technology.
The litho upgrade followed the installation of a new Horizon Stitchliner in January 2014 and a reconditioned Kodak NexPress in July 2014.
The £800,000 investment will be rounded off in March when Herts & Essex installs two Polar 92 guillotines as replacements for two older Polar 92s.
Herts & Essex Printers joint managing director Chris Ollard said: “We don't like keeping machines more than 10 years but we'd been holding off because of the recession.
“Conditions improved last year and we were able to get some Regional Growth Fund money towards the Anicolor, plus we had been able to make some cuts here to improve our profitability.”
The SX 52-5+L replaces an old five-colour SM 52 and will run alongside an existing SM 52-6, two SM 52-2s and an SM 52-4+L, which is also equipped with Heidelberg’s Anicolor technology.
"We knew the Anicolor and we love the technology and the fact [the SX 52] had a coater plus the fifth colour meant it was the perfect machine for us – I would never buy a machine without a coater now,” said Ollard.
“The newer Anicolors are more capable when it comes to Pantone colours because of the bigger anilox rollers, which allow you to take more ink where you need to run the colour a bit stronger."
Commenting on the new digital kit, Ollard said: “The NexPress has replaced an HP Indigo 5500 because it's a better machine for our business. The quality isn't quite as good as the HP but we've got the long sheet feeder, which gives us the larger sheet size."
Meanwhile, Heidelberg UK product manager for B2 & B3 presses Paul Chamberlain said that the manufacturer would decide on a replacement for the SX 52 in the Brentford showroom following its financial year end in March.
“We will look at what’s happening in the UK market and what is installed in the showroom in Germany, because it doesn’t make sense to replicate what they already have,” he added. “We will definitely have some new Linoprint digital devices coming in but not until March.”
