The firm installed the 6,000sph B2 liquid toner press last August as part of the machine’s beta programme. Unveiled in March, the high-volume press had been set to get its global debut at Drupa this week.

Jürgen Winkler, Onlineprinters operations director, said that being a beta site gave the business the opportunity to put the press through its paces.

"We were inspired by its high speed, consistent quality of print, excellent usability and ease of maintenance," he said.

After the successful trial, the firm, which predicts that by 2021 half of all its orders will be printed digitally, decided to commit to buying the machine at the end of last year. As a result, it became the world's first commercial installation.

According to Christina Haeusser, head of press & PR, from when the moment the machine was first installed at Onlineprinters Neustadt an der Aisch production site in Germany the firm started testing a wide range of substrates and products “to see what may be possible”.

It went into full production at the end of May producing magazines, brochures, and also marcomms materials including leaflets and flyers, and has been fully upgraded to the final, full commercial spec of the machine.

The new press is additional to the firm’s battery of Indigo engines, which includes series 3 7000s and series 4 10000 and 12000s.
And in terms of whether the business was looking to add more 100Ks to its portfolio, Haeusser said it was part of the business’s plan, but they had been put on hold as a result of the Coronavirus crisis.

“It is not about quality, but about the market volume,” she said.

Onlineprinters, which acquired Solopress in 2017 and also owns Lasertryk in Denmark and Copysell in Spain, employs more than 1,800 staff and operates across 30 countries via its 20 regional online storefronts.