The appointment follows a nine-month international search process sparked by outgoing chief executive Ian Dinwoodie's announcement in March 2014 that he would retire during 2015.

Dinwoodie, who joined Xaar in 2001 and was appointed chief executive in 2003, will gradually hand over the reins to Edwards between now and his departure sometime in late Q1 or early Q2.

Dinwoodie said: "I am delighted that Doug is joining Xaar - he brings the right combination of industry expertise and management skills to head the company and I look forward to handing over the reins to him in the coming months."

The appointment sees Edwards, who started his career in a variety of technical roles with Ilford, ICI, Zeneca and International Paper, return to the UK after 14 years in the US - initially with the Kodak/Sun Chemical joint venture Kodak Polychrome Graphics.

Edwards said: "It is a privilege to be asked to lead Xaar through this next phase of the company's development. Excellent progress has been made by the company over the last decade but the future opportunities ahead of the company in the world of digital printing are substantial and I am pleased to return to the UK to take up this challenge."

Kodak announced Edwards' departure as part of a divisional restructure last month, saying that he had elected to leave the company. Edwards confirmed that he had been approached by Xaar and that he had been "very much looking for a change and the opportunity to lead a company".

Edwards added that in his last three years at Kodak his focus had been "very much on growing the business" in growth areas such as packaging, which went "from nothing to a couple of 100m turnover".

"Ian has done a fantastic job growing [Xaar] and the intent here is to continue growing the business," said Edwards, adding that a key focus would be on broadening the company's revenue streams to reduce its dependence on the ceramics market.

Edwards cited packaging, functional printing and wide-format printing as three target markets and the US as a market where Xaar could look to develop a more significant business.

Dinwoodie said: "Diversification is at the top of the company agenda - by product, by marketplace and by geography."

Xaar's share price had risen more than 4.5% to 405p at the time of writing.