The firm has taken possession of the first two bases and installation of the first two 3.88m wide Cerutti presses will begin in December. The third press is scheduled for installation in May 2005.

"We continue to meet our targets and deadlines on this project and are on course for completion next month," said project managing director Mike Young.

Polestar moved into the pre-press area of the plant last month and began the installation of cranes and racking for the cylinder engraving equipment.

The group is also poised to make another significant decision regarding the equipping of the plant, and is expected to finalise its choice of specialist polywrapping kit within the next two weeks.

Its existing Newspac plant at Pershore runs six high-speed Sitma lines, but it is not a foregone conclusion that Sheffield will go the same way. At Drupa Polestar's senior management team looked closely at the CMC and Sitma offerings.

If the Sheffield team selects CMC, which uses glue rather than heat to seal the wrappers, it will be the first major installation of its type in the industry.