The Stockport firm previously "dipped its toes in the water" with digital but following on-going customer demand, the company decided on installing a dedicated short-run machine.

The 17-year-old Stochastic printer has already begun migrating some of the print jobs from its five-colour B3 Komori Lithrone and the digital capabilities have garnered interest from both new and existing clients.

NB Colour Print managing director Robert Anderson said: "The output of the Indigo is comparable to our litho presses. I looked at many machines and this was the definitely the closest in terms of quality."

Anderson added: "It's still early days but we've already had a lot of interest and are currently using the Indigo to print out brochures to promote the machine."

The 35-staff firm produces a range of commercial print including brochures, reports, business cards and leaflets.

He said: "We can now offer our customers a cost-effective, short-run service and can even print jobs while the customer waits."

The HP Indigo 5500 can print at resolutions up to 800x1200dpi and at speeds of 68ppm in full colour mode and 136ppm in two-colour operation.

"It's definitely proving to be a valuable addition to our armoury," Anderson added.

NB Colour Print also runs Canon and Oki digital kit as well four Komori Lithrones, including two five-colour machines.