Taylor joined Screen eleven years ago. Prior to that he spent a decade as marketing director at book printer Butler & Tanner.

He also worked in international marketing at Linotype and Linotype-Hell in the 1990s.

Screen Europe president Brian Filler confirmed Taylor’s departure. He said: “It’s disappointing but these things happen. It’s not a normal set of circumstances because Ricoh is both a partner and a competitor.”

Taylor has been heavily involved in direct and dealer sales at Screen’s high-speed inkjet operation and is understood to be joining Ricoh’s continuous feed business.

He was uncontactable at the time of writing.

Ricoh had not commented at the time of writing, either.

Screen and Ricoh have partnered on the development of high-speed continuous feed colour inkjet presses since 2007. At the time Ricoh jointly owned InfoPrint Solutions with IBM. It took over sole ownership of the business in 2010.

Filler said Screen planned to recruit a replacement for Taylor.