The 110m superplant hit its self-imposed deadline of midnight last Thursday (31 March) to begin printing with just under 15 minutes to spare.

The team at the 110m superplant worked into the early hours last Friday morning testing the first 3.88m Cerutti gravure press, after the impression rollers were set and testing began at 11.45pm on Thursday.

The first job to roll off the press was a 14-ribbon-wide job with a 3.65m web, the widest ever used in the UK.

A delighted Mike Young, Polestar Sheffield project director, said: "We didn't make it easy for ourselves. I could have put a narrow web in and made it much easier."

He added that the team is now aiming to ramp up the production speed and quality on the press and prepare for the second Cerutti to go live in a month's time. Production of supplements for Associated Newspapers will begin later in the month.

Tests began at the end of a hectic day at the plant. Fire safety checks on the press were completed at around 7pm, and the kit was finally webbed up by 7.30pm.

Ink, solvent and extender was pumped into the mixing tanks by 10pm before white paper trials, scheduled to begin last week, were completed by 11pm.

Ink ducts were filled and doctor blades installed at 11:15 pm. Impression rollers were set by 11:45pm, and trials went on until 4:30am.

The milestone comes at the end of a busy nine months at the Sheffield site. Ground was broken for the 43,000m plant last July, with the pre-press area completed by October.

Press bases were finished in November, while the first gravure cylinder was rolled out in January. The plant's Ferag finishing lines came on stream earlier this month.

Story by Josh Brooks