The £38,500 digital black-and-white printer was installed two months ago at the Harlow-based firm’s premises and has gone in alongside its existing Canon imageRUNNER 8085 Pro.

“The real difference we are seeing so far is speed and efficiency of production, and reliability,” said director Jamie Markham.

“It prints 135ppm, which is almost double the speed of our older machine, so it helps us to get jobs turned around more quickly and it has allowed us to increase our capacity. We feel that the new install gives us room to grow as a company.”

The imagePRESS 1135+ is capable of 1,200dpi resolution with 256 grayscale gradations. It is said to produce crisp text and detailed halftones on a wide range of media types and sizes.

“It also has large capacity trays and a stacker, which our older Canon did not have. This really helps production times as it means less intervention,” said Markham.

The company bought the press after considering other options from Xerox and Canon's Océ portfolio.

“We decided to go with the imagePRESS 1135+ because we have an existing relationship with Canon. The software is all compatible so it was easy to get it up and running,” said Markham.

The firm, which was established two and a half years ago, has two staff, both company directors, and a turnover of £750,000.

It specialises in direct mail with charities making up around 95% of its client base.