The Guilford-based company made the investment in order to boost its digital print capacity, which it estimates has grown by 50% with the new installation.

The iGen3, which replaces two Xerox DocuColor 5252s and operates alongside a DocuColor 8000, has been producing documents including textbooks and training manuals.

Ian Savage, sales director at iQ Laserpress, anticipates the investment will "open up new short-run markets" for the three-year-old digital printer.

He added: "The stellar growth of our business over the last three years is a direct result of our ability to deliver high-quality, on-demand printing in a timely fashion."

Turnover at iQ Laserpress has grown steadily since the company's inception in 2005 and Savage plans to increase on last year's £1.8m and hit £2.5m at the end of this year.

He said the right technology and partnership with Xerox "has equipped us with the necessary market knowledge and tools to grow our digital print profit still further".

The company employs 32 staff and serves clients including those in the publishing and training markets. It currently processes more than 1m A4 pages per month.

Peter Taylor, director and general manager of production and graphic arts for Xerox UK, said: "For iQ Laserpress, the Xerox iGen3 was the right technology to help future-proof their digital print business."