Tewkesbury-based Orchard Press is celebrating the company's best annual financial performance in its 16-year history with a £2million investment.

It will provide the biggest printing press between Bristol and Birmingham.

The family-owned firm run by father and son Bob and Adrian Williams says it has defied the economic downturn and continued to grow.

Now the company has invested £2million in a state-of-the-art B1 Heidelberg Speedmaster SM102 10 colour-perfecting press which works twice as fast as the old B2 machines by printing both sides of the paper simultaneously.

Orchard Press says it is as environmentally friendly as possible by becoming the first printing company outside Germany to have the Wash Cloth System fitted to the machine, reducing chemical usage by up to 90 per cent.

It also features a system called Prinect Inpress Control which scans every sheet of paper and results in continual colour management and virtually zero paper waste.

"We've wanted one of these presses for a while," said Adrian Williams. "It provides us with the quality we want to give our customers as well as the speed so we can deliver our print more quickly. But we've been waiting for it to become more environmentally friendly. Now that's possible, we're happy to invest and we're delighted with its performance."

Bob and Adrian attribute the company's success and repeat business from clients, predominantly London publishing houses, to the quality of the print.

The company has achieved quality standards ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 as well as recognition from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the PEFC for ensuring the paper they use comes from responsibly managed sources.

Orchard Press started trading in 1995 when Bob and Adrian were made redundant from their jobs in printing at the same time. After deciding to join forces and start up on their own, they bought a 20-year old Heidelberg press and based themselves at Cheltenham Trading Park in Arle Road.

Having outgrown its first premises by 2005, the company moved to the Northway Trading Estate, Tewkesbury and continued to grow steadily.

Now Orchard Press employs 15 people and has a turnover in excess of £2million after growth in 2011 of 12 per cent.

"We've taken it steady over the years," explained Bob. "We've been careful not to over extend ourselves but at the same time keep investing in better machinery and the latest technology.

"We started with a very small amount of capital and our first press was hugely labour intensive. It's very different now. This new machine is massive and virtually works by itself. It's big compared to what we've had before so we've even had to reinforce the floor!"

Adrian added: "The new press is a bit special. It's the only one of its kind within a 50-mile radius of Tewkesbury and the only one in Gloucestershire."