This latest show deal matches Anton’s total spend at the past three major shows, Ipex 2010, Drupa 2008 and Ipex 2006, where the Essex-based direct mail specialist spent £12.6m, £17m and £10m.

"If you stand still you will be left behind. You have to keep investing in the latest technology," said Anton manufacturing director Gary Knight.

The company will install the first press – a 10-colour perfector with Inpress control – in June, when it will replace two SM 102 long perfectors. This will be joined in December by a 12-colour XL 106, with a second 10-colour set to be installed in June 2013, both will be configured with Inpress and Autoplate XL.

All three presses will be run with the £43m-turnover, 360-staff firm’s existing CutStar sheeters. A five-year service contract is included.

The company is currently running one of its XL 105s with high-speed mono inkjet personalisation, consisting of Kodak S10 Prosper heads on the CutStar. Knight said that as a result of the success of adding personalisation to the 105, he planned to add inkjet heads to one of the 106s within the next 12 months.

"We need to combine the best of both worlds," he said.

The company already boasts a battery of nine Kodak Nexpresses and, according to Knight, 25 of the firm’s staff will attend Drupa to review the latest digital technologies as well as post-press kit, including enclosing lines, to support the productivity boost afforded by the new XL 106s.

The 750x1,060mm-format XL106 is targeted at commercial and packaging applications. Heidelberg already has orders for more than 30 of the new presses.

The 106 features a number of enhancements over the 105 it replaces, including the ability to perfect at 18,000sph and handle substrates up to 1mm straight or 0.8mm in perfecting mode.

The new press can also be configured with up to 12 high-speed continuous or drop-on-demand inkjet heads in the coating units. Customers will have the option of specifying heads from Domino, Atlantic-Zeiser or Inkdustry, which will be installed and fully tested prior to delivery.

"The XL106 is the most high-tech press in our industry," said Stephan Plenz, management board member for Heidelberg equipment. "It is intended for print shops with a wide range of materials, large print volumes or frequent job changes. We are also catering to packaging printers, who will be able to benefit from the machine’s output."

According to Heidelberg, the press, which can be specified with up to 19 units, is 20–30% more productive than its predecessor. However, based on pre-installation testing, Knight believes the press, which he said was around 15% more expensive than the XL 105, will prove to be 35–40% more productive.

"On average we’re getting 50m impressions a year out of our XL105s, but I think we will end up getting 70–75m out of the 106. It’s frightening really," said Knight.

Two of the new XL106s will be running live in Hall 1 at Drupa.

This article originally appeared at printweek.com