The 25sqm/hr machine, which was installed at the Cumbria-based firm’s Milnthorpe site around a week ago, was supplied by Production Print Direct, an agent for Mimaki's exclusive UK and Ireland distributor Hybrid Services.

The device is additional to the company’s plant list and has joined Mimaki and HP roll-to-roll printers at Milnthorpe.

“We’ve wanted to venture into flatbed printing for two to three years now and we decided to make the commitment to go for it,” said H&H Reeds Printers managing director Andy Jackson.

“We do a lot of signage work and in that sector it makes a massive difference. We’re more efficient because it allows us to print directly onto the substrate whereas previously we used to print and then laminate a vinyl and then mount it onto a board.

“By reducing three processes to one we’ve cut down the time taken, reduced the cost and we’ve got a product that is better quality for the customer. It does away with a lot of the risk and errors in production.”

The JFX200-2513 can print directly onto media up to 50mm thick and sizes as large as 2,500x1,300mm. It can also print onto irregular-shaped material such as glass, plastic, wood and stone.

The Mimaki investment takes the company’s total kit spend to more than £300,000 in the past 18 months, following its purchases of a used Heidelberg ST350 stitching line and a new Heidelberg Linoprint CP.

Those two machines run alongside two Heidelberg Speedmasters – an XL 75 and an SM 74 – at the firm’s main Penrith site.

“We’re predominantly a litho printer but we’ve gone into signage and wide-format by buying two companies over the last five years,” said Jackson.

“We merged our signage and wide-format divisions into the one site at Milnthorpe last year and that helped us to do this investment because it benefits both parts of the business.

“When they were on two different sites they both had a need for a flatbed but we couldn’t justify it on either site. The commercial element and the opportunities are so much greater now by bringing them together.”

H&H Reeds Printers employs 45 staff over its two sites and has a turnover of more than £3m. The majority of its clients are involved ether in the tourism industry or agriculture but it also serves a large number of corporate clients.