The Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based business, which will retain a second Kodak Nexpress, also runs a Speedmaster SM 74-5-P with Axis Control and uses a Suprasetter 75 computer-to-plate device.

IVC managing director Colin Burke said that the company had chosen the badged Ricoh press - a result of its OEM agreement with Heidelberg - for its "print quality and reliability".

Image Visual, which was founded 32 years ago as a photographic studio and was an early adopter of digital technology, finishes both digital and litho print offline using common cut, fold and stitch equipment. It also offers lamination, encapsulation, Wire-O binding, perfect binding, die cutting, padding and shrink-wrapping services.

Burke added: "We see digital and litho as complementary. Often we will be asked for a short run of, say, 250 for a sales conference which we will digitally print but then the client may change the order and ask for a brochure with a run of 5,000 to 10,000."