The Surrey-based business has installed the five-colour press, which features fully automated plate changing, to replace an outgoing Lithrone 426 model.

Manjor Patel, managing director of Oxted, said: "The faster speed of 16,000sph an hour, along with the coating unit and fully automatic change job changeover, is giving us upwards of 100% more output than the two other presses combined."

The new machine, complete with Komori’s KHS fast makeready system, will handle poster printing and paperback cover production, as well as a range of general commercial work.

Patel said the addition of the Lithrone's 29in sheet size gave the business 15% more paper to print on.

This means Oxted can now print book covers in three-up operation, something Patel described as "a breath of fresh air" for the company.

"Paperback publication has moved significantly into an on-demand industry, where fast turnaround, low-cost and short-run reprinting are critical," he explained.

In addition to cover production, Oxted also prints brochures and catalogues, as well as point-of-sale, direct mail and letterheads.

"We can even deliver short-run jobs with a 24-hour turnaround. For example, we can have new plates on and off, and print 1,000 sheets on the new Lithrone S29 in under 10 minutes," Patel added.