The investment in the new printer, which was aided by a US$250,000 New York state grant, is expected to create 40 new jobs at Mercury as the printer expands its digital operations in the face of a changing market for school and university text books.

"Publishers are getting away from larger runs," Christian Schamberger, vp of operations for Mercury's book division, told PrintWeek. "They used to forecast high to try to get a lower unit price - now their big concern is inventory obsolescence and making sure they don't have products stored in-house. So they're waiting to order until they need them, which equates to smaller runs with a faster turnaround time."

Schamberger also noted that digital print-on-demand is now part of the value proposition for many educational publishers. "Customization is a key target area for these publishers," he said. "It's a way for them to sell their products to state boards of education by offering to customize and update them."

Mercury's new Prosper 5000XL offers output approaching 175lpi, with roll-fed speeds of up to 200m per minute, enabling the cost-effective production of as many as 12m books annually. The monthly duty cycle is up to 120m A4 impressions, with print widths up to 24.5in.

Schamberger said that, for now, the Prosper 5000XL has yet to replace any of the older equipment at Mercury but added, "We do anticipate it's going to replace toner-based equipment in the future, but that may be anywhere from six to 12 months out."

Mercury initially readied its facility for the new equipment, ensuring the right electrical power and space as well as a supply of chilled water that could be piped into the press itself. "After that it was a six-week install and then they were producing their first salable books for higher education," said Bill Schweinfurth, director of market development for Kodak Digital Printing Solutions.

Schweinfurth told PrintWeek that sales of the mono version of the Prosper have been going well, but added Kodak is limiting the installation of color versions for now. "On the color side, we decided to make sure that for the first couple of installs we're doing this year, the robustness of the product is there. But now we're getting into the big season for printers and the color installs that we do have are getting good feedback."