The Komori B2+ Lithrone SX-529 acquisition comes as Print Farm looks set to shift from being a boutique operation into a major player in the south Florida commercial printing market.

"We’re a local printer but we want to be able to service clients nationwide," Print Farm President Albert Alvarez explained to PrintWeek. "With this press I can now compete against the bigger shops. It’s a six-up press, so I can get a lot of the work that people put on a 40-inch."

Print Farm already had one Komori press and while he looked at other press manufacturers, Alvarez said he was impressed by both the press and the service Komori provided.

The company’s new five colour LS-29 can produce up with 16,000 impressions per hour, enabling Print Farm to focus more on longer run work. It also features an inline coater, eliminating the need for a separate coating or varnish step.

One of Print Farm’s niches is academic printing, specifically colleges and universities, and its clients include the University of Miami. "The higher education business has been steady, these colleges aren’t going anywhere," Alvarez noted.

Print Farm has been growing steadily since its founding in 2000 and Alvarez suggested a key to the company’s success has been its focus on diverse mix of clients.

As part of that strategy, Alvarez said he as been looking to become a turn-key solution for both print and electronic communication. "I have web-to-print storefronts for several of my customers, where people can set up and design their own online catalogs, letterhead and business cards and have ready to print PDF files. I also do a lot of variable data work as well."

In a release announcing the sale, Komori America senior sales and marketing VP Jacki Hudmon said: "To stay competitive, every printer today needs to find ways to slice away at production costs.

"We are pleased that Print Farm is taking advantage of the streamlined automation capabilities of the LSX-529 press to meet its goals for increased time to market and a higher level of productivity."