Styleprint customers gathered at an event at the company’s Kilsyth factory to launch the 1,600×2,600mm inkjet machine, which the print company’s owners first saw at Fespa 2009.

Tom Cloots, Agfa Graphics’ business line manager and designer of the M-Press technology, used the event to brand Styleprint an “innovator and a frontrunner”.

“They have the vision and we’re really happy that we met at Fespa,” said Cloots.

Terry Woodhouse, founder of 60-staff Styleprint, thanked the Agfa team who had built the press over the last few months and waxed lyrical about the capabilities of the new press.

“If our suppliers can provide the water – and our customers can tell us their preference of Merlot or Shiraz – the M-Press Tiger can turn it into wine,” said Woodhouse (pictured right, with son Andrew).

Cloots said Agfa was getting behind a predicted surge toward direct-to-paper printing in 2010 with this second-generation M-Press, which can jet “2bn droplets per second”.

The new machine can hit 133 sheets per hour on stocks from 100gsm to 6mm – and offers a “staggering” 300% speed increase over its predecessor.

The launch event was hosted by The AFL Footy Show‘s Trevor Marmalade.

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