The JetStream continuous colour machine is part of a greater investment in Océ equipment that includes press upgrades to its mono Océ VarioStream 9210s, originally installed early last year.

Each upgrade is expected to improve both output and performance with one of the machines being converted to a VarioStream 9240 in order to produce full-colour documents.

The VarioStream will help strengthen the company's variable colour and cross-media offering with the upgrades boosting output speed by a third.

Tim Smith, managing director at Polestar Applied Solutions, said: "This investment really adds value to our digital offering and means we are now even better positioned than before."

He said: "There is a greater pressure on clients to get a return on investment than ever before. Implementing variable data and cross-media services in your marketing spend is a way to do that and is an area I expect to see an increased drive in throughout 2009."

The multi-million pound investment was completed with a new Océ VarioPrint 5160 sheetfed printer, which will be installed with the other digital machinery at Polestar Direct in Nottingham.

Barry Hibbert, chief executive at Polestar, said: "We have had sufficient interest from the marketplace to justify this investment, which will ensure we are well-equipped going forward."