The press marks a departure for the business, which was recently bought out of administration by Park Communications. Chief executive Heath Mason said that the Mitsubishi contract "no longer made sense financially" and, although traditionally a Heidelberg house, that the firm was "really delighted" with the KBA.

"It's a second-hand factory refurbished machine, but it behaves and looks like new. It's all beautiful. It's lovely," he said.

The press is also specified with KBA's DensiTronic S spectrophotometer scanner to measure density and spectral values, as well as automatic plate changing and blanket washing to boost productivity of the typically 3,000-run high-quality work undertaken by Granite.

The machine is also hooked in to KBA's remote diagnostic network. Granite Communications manager Marvin Paul said: "We need to be sure we can operate 24/7. It's no good if we have a problem in the middle of the night and there is no advice available.

"We have been very pleased with KBA's back-up and support throughout."

The installation process included UK and German engineers to ensure things went smoothly.

The press was put in after Park bought assets of the then Granite Colour out of administration in January. Since then it has maintained around 20 staff and has been integrated into Park's Tharstern MIS system.

"We can access all the management information, estimating, job ticketing and so on", said Mason. "The two businesses have integrated well."

Granite Communications has pre-press but currently lacks the capability to carry out finishing work, which is either sent to Park, or out to the trade, while incoming work is distributed to the sites where it is most efficiently produced.

"There was lots of settling down," said Mason. "But the suppliers and customers have been great. The staff have been as well. Granite continues to produce that top-end high quality work it is known for."