The deal covers the Prosper S20 and S30 imprinting systems and will create “a true advantage for customers” said Eric Owen, vice president of worldwide sales and business development at Kodak’s digital printing and enterprise unit.

He praised Manroland’s technology and engineering expertise in successfully integrating complex systems.

Manroland Web Systems already has two high-profile customers with major hybrid installations where Kodak inkjet heads have been added to existing press lines.

Axel Springer in Germany has 30 Prosper S30 heads installed across multiple print sites, and the UK’s Newsprinters has 22, also across multiple sites.

Newsprinters is currently using the system to produce codes for its Sun+ subscriber benefits package, while Axel Springer is using its setup for codes and gaming applications.

Other potential uses include micro-zoning, personalised advertising, and regional offers.

The S30 head has a print width of 10.6cm and a printing speed of up to 900 metres per minute.

Manroland Web Systems vice president for technology and project execution Dieter Betzmeier said: “This deal enables us to create new opportunities for our newspaper applications as well as other markets that we participate in.”

Peter Schulmeister, product management for digital printing at Manroland Web Systems, added: “This is a worldwide partnership so we can now offer this system anywhere in the world, from a single source.

“We are experts in web leading. The integration can be very simple or much more complex depending on the web lead. We can also take into account aspects such as backup, for example the ability to quickly switch to another tower if necessary.”

Manroland Web Systems is understood to have a number of additional projects for hybrid newspaper installs in the pipeline.