The press arrived at the company’s Rotherham base on Monday (27 January) and is undergoing install and setup at present. It will replace an older digital varnishing press to fulfil the creation of spot UV effects for trade customers.

With customer demand outpacing the older machine’s capacity, Route 1 selected the Jetvarnish due to its high-level of automation, including an artificial intelligence smart scanner for real time registration without the use of crop marks.

Adam Carnell, managing director of Route 1’s parent company Bluetree Group, said: “We were incredibly impressed with the capabilities of this machine and the opportunities it offers. With the MGI Jetvarnish 3D Evo, we can introduce spot UV on a wider range of products, the option for low and high-build spot UV and, in due course, foiling.

“It’s also highly automated, meaning we can set up multiple jobs one after the other, moving from long-run booklets to short-run business cards with ease. This was especially important to us because the demand for spot UV has increased in the past year.

“We needed equipment that would speed up production times without sacrificing quality. In fact, the MGI will improve our spot UV quality due to the registration and inline corona treatment.”

The Jetvarnish 3D Evo 75, made by Konica Minolta-owned MGI, is a B1-format digital spot UV and foiling press, capable of processing up to 2,291sph B1, on stock from 135-800gsm. It can lay down coatings from in thicknesses of 6-232 microns for raised 3D tactile effects, using a single clear varnish, while the integrated iFoil L module adds hot foil effects.

Route 1, the trade print wing of Bluetree, has taken on the machine after installing the UK’s first Landa S10P Nanographic press in August last year.

Bluetree is a £41.5m-turnover group with more than 400 members of staff based on its 13,660sqm production facility, which takes in subsidiaries Route 1 and Instantprint.​