The County Kerry-based trade printer, which employs 90 staff, opted for the six-colour digital machine to complement its range of web-offset and sheetfed presses.

According to managing director Tony Walsh, the investment comes at a time where run lengths are going down and marketing budgets are becoming tighter.

"We recognised that the time was right for us to invest in a digital press to help our customers stay competitive," he said.

The business, which was established in 1993, serves clients including Irish printers and design agencies. It produces a range of work, including books, brochures and business cards.

Walsh said while customers would traditionally ask for book runs of about 1,000, they were now moving to a print-on-demand model in order to cut costs.
 
"We have put a wide variety of jobs through it, but are experiencing particular demand for colour books, including manuals and local authority documents of roughly 200 pages," he added.

The company's HP Indigo 5500 can print at resolutions up to 800x1,200dpi and at speeds of 68ppm in full-colour mode and 136ppm in two-colour operation.