The machine was installed at the 10,000sqm site, one of the European group’s flagship Centres of Excellence, two weeks ago and will be in full production from early January.

The Rho P10 250 delivers print quality of up to 1,000dpi at speeds of up to 240sqm/hr. The machine is said to offer increased accuracy due to the Quadro Array printheads and Varidrop technology, producing ink droplets as small as 10pl in size.

“The new Durst is for the dye-sublimation side of the business and has been put in to replace an EFI Vutek QS hybrid machine that we have been using,” said Ultima Displays managing director Osvaldo Gallio.

“It has a high level of quality due to the higher resolution, and speed is high – you can print two or three passes with industrial productivity, which is very important to us. There are also some additional features like white ink printing, which will enable us to continue to improve on product ranges like lightboxes.”

The new Durst takes the company’s Corby fleet up to five presses – three UV printers, two hybrids and one roll-to-roll, and two dye-sub machines. The EFI Vutek QS has been retained for now as backup but the company has plans to sell it on in the near future.

The investment is the second phase in a three-year €2m (£1.77m) investment plan for Ultima, which kicked off earlier this year when it bought two Durst Rhotex 325s, including one for the Corby premises and one for its Nantes, France site.

Trade-only supplier Ultima, which has sales of around £37m, employs around 285 staff across its European operations. 150 are employed in Corby, which makes up around £17m of the group’s overall sales.

The group, which is owned by German-headquartered P3 Group, manufactures a range of products, including roller banners, POS signage, backwall displays and lighting. It has a network of more than 6,000 dealers across Europe.