The group is set to install the press in May, its second 64pp press in the space of six months, when it takes delivery of a Heidelberg Sunday 4000 (as revealed in this weeks PrintWeek).

The Heidelberg press will be equipped with fully automatic plate change, an Ecocool dryer and Closed Loop Colour control.

Polestar ordered a 64pp MAN Roland Lithoman as part of a 16m three-year investment plan for Petty last summer (PrintWeek 10 July).

The new presses, coupled with equipment moved as a result of the closure of Polestars Watford plant, means that two of Pettys G16s will be decommissioned later this year. By the end of September the plant will house six 64pp presses.

Polestar Petty managing director Lindsay Atkinson said: With six 64-page presses and a 16-page cover press, we are able to offer unrivalled technology, quality and productivity for our customers, while containing capacity at a sensible level.

Polestar has also revealed that it is likely to exercise its option to buy a third Cerutti gravure press, which it will install early next year at its greenfield project, the location of which has yet to be confirmed.

Polestar Group chief executive Barry Hibbert said that the group had always had the option to buy a third press since negotiations started with Cerutti. The order could be placed in April.

[We] feel that now is the right time to confirm this, to ensure that we have new gravure technology coming through without delay over the next 12-18 months, said Hibbert.

The first two 3.88m-wide Cerutti presses were ordered earlier this year (PrintWeek 15 January).

by John Davies