Installing a Canon ImagePress V1350 and ImagePress V700 at its 650sqm Bracknell headquarters, the firm replaced two older Canon toner machines, a pair of ImagePress 10000VPs.

The new ImagePress’ improved automation has proved of particular benefit to Berkshire-headquartered The Printroom Group. 

The machines largely turn out the same work as the company's previous models, but with print speeds of up to 135ppm on the larger V1350 – a 30% uplift – they have transformed the group's production.

Installed alongside a Plockmatic in-line finisher for the V1350, and a separate Duplo 510 slitter-creaser, the machines have helped the firm to connect up its workflow and cut some jobs down from 2.5 hours to just 30 minutes.

“They’ve been fantastic. Superb,” managing director Keith Cooper told Printweek.

While the firm has a strong relationship with Canon, with which it has been working since the 1990s, it was no sure thing that the company would decide to buy Canon again, according to Cooper.

“We do the best that we can as normal guys to do our due diligence, and find the best machine for the company,” Cooper said.

Cooper, an industry veteran of 50 years, began his career using “little bits of lead and a compositing stick”.

“If you know the industry at all, you know things move on, and if you stay still you get run over.

“You need to keep moving as a company, make the right amount of profit, so you can put the right amount of investment back in.”

The company will soon be in the market for new wide-format machinery, Cooper said, with the team currently considering Canon and HP for the purchase.

The Printroom Group employs 25, turning over around £2m.