Manor Digital, the East Sussex-based design and print company's new division, will offer an on-demand printing service for its clients and service contracts that were previously outsourced.

Graham Brownett, who became chief executive of Manor Creative following an MBO in 2007, said it was "vital for the business to adapt to the ever changing marketplace".

"This new high-speed, digital colour press is the right technology to launch our entry into the print-on-demand market," he said.

Manor Creative recruited eight new staff following the collapse of a local business in March, many of whom had experience in selling digital print. The company has now begun selling personalised printing to the local market.

"I made it crystal clear that digital should be an addition to our litho services. It was not to be a case of migrating small format off the litho presses; we had to sell digital print to a different kind of market," he said.

"We are learning as we go along. The biggest challenge is to convince customers they want digital print – there is a big market out there that doesn't know it is a market."

The iGen4, which was launched at Drupa last year, can print at sizes of up to 364x571mm and runs at speeds of up to 110ppm. It is fitted with an inline spectrophotometer to ensure colour consistency.

Manor Creative currently has 49 staff and has a turnover of £3.8m.