The Lincolnshire-based company is using the press, which was part of a £10m investment that also in-cluded Kodak platemaking equipment and Muller Martini perfect binders, to print short-run magazines and periodicals.

Warners signed for the Lithoman late 2005 in a deal that was hailed a coup for MAN Roland, as the firm’s previous installations were Goss M600 webs.

Warners Midlands man-aging director Philip Warner said that speed of makeready was the critical factor, rather than out-and-out running speed, as run lengths could be as low as 4,000. The four-unit press is configured to run a 965mm web width with a 630mm cut-off.

“The Lithoman was definitely competitive on pages per hour, but the ability to switch from job to job in short time was certainly very impressive.”

MAN Roland director of web sales John Ellis said: “Warners specified a press to achieve the maximum throughput of jobs, very fast turnaround and the shortest of run lengths. Warners are experts at this relatively unique use of web presses.”