James Greene, managing director of the London-based company, said: "We do a lot of quality printing and with the added screen capability it will allow clients to give us 300DPI or below and still maintain quality. It's really to the client's benefits as well as our own."

Greene declined to put an exact figure on the cost of the upgrade, but described it as a "significant investment". He added that the company had not looked at competing products before committing to the purchase.

"We've always been a Screen customer so it was a natural progression," he said. "We think they're a market leader and we've always had good service from them. They're very innovative, so we're happy to stay with them."

Most of Witherbys' work is composed of general printing including POS, catalogues, brochures and reports for a number of high-profile clients, including fine art auctioneers Bonhams, The Natural History Museum, London Zoo and commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield.

Green said the company, which was founded in 1740 and has 40 staff, is still predominantly family-owned and has a turnover of around £3.5m.

The company invested approximately £1.5m last year, which included new premises and the installation of a six-colour Heidelberg SM74 over the Christmas period. No further major investments are planned for this year.

Witherbys has just been approved by the FSC and expects to receive the ISO 14001 award for environmental management in August.