The Nottingham-based commercial printer, which was founded 50 years ago and has traditionally been a Heidelberg house, installed an iGen4 110 MDI with XXl 660 Feeder Module, a Nuvera 120 EA cut-sheet mono with multi-feeders and stacker and XMPie U-Direct Suite Cross Media personalisation software.

The £5.3m-turnover company, which has 45 staff, also plans to install new digital finishing equipment within the next three months and another litho printer within the next year.

Sales director Simon Lowe said the company had been experiencing a shift in demand from litho to digital print, alongside smaller runs, over the past few years.

"Although we have offered a digital option for many years, it has been viewed as more of a value-added service," he said.

"Our strategy now is to expand the range of digital solutions that we offer and to have a big drive on the digital side.

"We tested a number of different offerings from a range of digital press manufacturers before opting for the iGen 4 and the Nuvera from Xerox."

Hickling & Squires also invested £15,000 in adding a dedicated digital suite to its plant and has hired a digital specialist, who focuses on solutions and software, to help drive sales.

Lowe added that the company had already seen growth in digital print sales since installing the new machines last month.

Last year Hickling & Squires became the first UK printer to achieve UGRA Process Standard Offset (PSO) certification.