The first of a pair of Inca Onset S20 high-speed flatbed presses, supplied by Fujifilm Sericol, has been installed in a brand new 2,500sqm factory in Gateshead. By the end of the year that will be joined by a second S20, a 3.2m-wide guillotine and a digital cutting table.

It will also become the first company in Europe to install Inca's new Print Run Controller software for handling variable data and versioned jobs.

It currently operates from across a number of sites with a digital print factory, a screen print factory, a collating and packing site and a warehouse to store customer's stock.

In time the business plans to consolidate its four sites into the new location.

The S20s will be the fifth and sixth Incas joining two Eagles and two Spyders at the company, which was a pioneer of digital flatbed technology, taking the third Eagle back in 2001.

With the S20s' productivity and quality, the firm expects to be able to offer customers improved turnaround time by moving longer runs from its screen presses onto the Incas. This is despite its acquisition of screenprinter PSP in 2007 to provide longer run work than its digital kit could handle at the time.

"The way people are buying, they want it yesterday. The S20s enable us to do that and to take work off screen and back onto digital," said chief executive Jim Newton. "It also allows us to nibble at the large format litho market."

A pair of Onset S20s was chosen over going for a single Onset S70 for extra flexibility and robustness.

"We invested the same or a bit more in two S20s so that we could get six-colour - CMYK plus orange and violet - machines to enable us to hit more special colours and offer a range of different print finishes - matt, satin and gloss. It helps to compete, especially against screen and litho. It also opens up wider applications and means there's no need for an additional coating process."

See the 30 October issue of PrintWeek magazine for a profile on Imprint.