The commercial and digital printer installed the new Muller earlier this year. It has six feeders and a cover feeder, and replaced an old Heidelberg Stitchmaster ST350 device that had four feeders.

“We outgrew the Stitchmaster, and needed more stations and a quicker machine,” explained Hickling & Squires production director Jamie Gilbert.

He praised the Presto’s setup speed, flexibility and ease-of-use, and described it as “very user-friendly”.

The new finishing line represents a circa £190,000 investment at the £4.5m turnover printing firm, which employs 39 staff.

It can also gather signatures for perfect binding, if required, and Gilbert said the firm had already used this facility.

Muller Martini sales manager David McGinlay said: “We’re obviously delighted to secure this order. It’s interesting that the Presto’s quick makeready and flexibility mean Hickling & Squires is achieving higher net output than on the ST350, even though that had a faster cycle speed.”

Hickling & Squires is based in Newthorpe, Nottinghamshire, and has both litho and digital printing facilities. It runs ten-, eight-, and six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster CD74 litho presses, along with in-house finishing.

Its self-contained digital printing unit includes Xerox, Duplo, Eurofold and Vivid equipment.

The Presto II could also, if required, be used for digital production in the future.

The firm prints for a range of local and national clients, producing works such as brochures, prospectuses, folders and booklets including small-format work down to 100x100mm, which the Presto II can handle.

It runs double-day shifts or 24/5, depending on demand. “We are running 24/5 at the moment and are consistently busy. There is a lot of demand for fast turnaround work, from 24-hour to same-day on some jobs,” Gilbert added.