The machine was installed in January and cost around £900,000. It will be used to secure more work in the retail market, for general POS and FSDU print production.

The new 11000 will replace a Scitex 7600 that had been running at the Walsall-based firm for around seven years, and had been at full capacity for the past year.

Offering 16 levels of greyscale and capable of multi-load printing, the machine enables NEC to accommodate growing requests for fast turnarounds by boosting its production capacity.

“We are currently working on a lot of new projects,” said managing director Tim James – who has overseen the confirmation of a partnership deal with Manchester-based Stackawraps this month to fulfil orders using Stackawraps’ patented methods of 3D cutting and dye-sublimation to create promotional 3D models.

“For the last 10 years we had largely been known as an outdoor media printer, but we have been strongly moving into the retail sector in the last two to three years. We want to further expand from where we are now and have already started taking on new retail accounts.”

HP’s Scitex 11000 runs at a speed of 655sqm/hour and can print on rigid and flexible sheets up to 1.6x3.2m in size and 25mm thick.

James said more deals and announcements would be coming from NEC in the near future following official confirmation, and also that the firm was looking at its digital hardware and 3D printing as possible avenues for further investment.

He said: “We are always looking out for new technology, we are an innovation-led business.”

On its 2,000sqm premises, NEC uses an MTEX dye-sub printer and is also about to take on a new, fully-automated cutting machine from Esko. Currently turning over just less than £3m, James plans to see the firm reach £5m “within the next couple of years”.