The group ordered two presses at the beginning of the year, and took an option on a third. "We originally wanted to consider that after the second press was fully utilised," said chief executive Barry Hibbert. "However market conditions have gone in our favour we've got some new business that it's too early to talk about, along with organic growth. That's why we are able to bring in and confirm the third press."
There is speculation that Polestar is set to benefit from Associated Newspapers' ongoing review of the supplement printing contract currently held by Quebecor.
Hibbert said he believed the new plant "would be the most advanced gravure operation in Europe".
"We've also spent a lot of time on the environmental controls this will be a very clean facility and the toluene is not an issue," he added.
A final decision on the UK versus the continent wrangle over the site for the operation is expected imminently, with Sheffield the most likely option.
Polestar is set to order around Euro41m of kit at Drupa, and this spend is in addition to the 100m spend originally announced last year to radically reshape the group's manufacturing sites. It is looking to buy four further Ferag UniDrums, in addition to the Ferag kit already on order.
The group is also looking at three or four high-speed polybagging lines.
The first Cerutti will be installed in December, to be operational by March, the second installation begins in January (running by May) and the third installation will start in May and be running by the end of July.
The width of the factory has also been increased by 45 metres, creating a 50,000m2 facility.
Cerutti president Giancarlo Cerutti said the accelerated timeline would help the installation. "We will be more productive on the construction of the press and it means for them [Polestar] and us we will save money because they will be installed practically one after the other."
He said British printers had lost work to the continent "because of a lack of investment. With this investment I believe many of these jobs will come back to the UK."
The 3.88metre wide presses are Cerutti's widest yet, and the Polestar installation will be the first of this format in the world for the Italian manufacturer.
Polestar claimed the installation would up its production capacity to more than 1.5bn A4 pages per week.
Picture shows Barry Hibbert and Giancarlo Cerutti in front of a display of the massive 3.8m cylinders at Cerutti's Drupa stand.
Story by Jo Francis at Drupa
