AMID the razzmatazz in a marquee where hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the opening of the new £40 million RR Donnelly plant at Flaxby Moor, one guest looked on enviously at the world-class facilities.

His name was Jacek Kasz, the company's director of sales and development for Central and Eastern Europe. He had flown in from Krakow in Poland to share in this triumph of technology which will publish millions of four-colour Yell and KPN directories

There is no doubt that his own 1,000 plus workers in Poland have their tasks cut out for them serving the printing demands of his part of Europe, but any suggestion that Eastern Europe's cheaper labour might in future jeopardise this 390-yard breathtakingly automated plant, meets with a smiling shake of his head.

"For us such a plant would be overkill," he said adding that while his portfolio was building all the time, it could never threaten production or compete with automation in North Yorkshire.

That should make the 320 staff, most of whom transferred from the firm's old Boroughbridge Road plant in York feel even more secure.

The formal opening at Flaxby Moor was a particularly triumphant moment for Roy Houston, vice-president and divisional director for facilities. The puckish Irish executive had overseen every task of the logistics for the complicated move, without losing rhythm in production of the directories as they spill off the production line of the four printers at the astonishing rate of 250 books a minute.

It was also a triumph for Bill Davis, chief executive officer of the RR Donnelly empire who flew in from base in Chicago with a coterie of snappy-suited company presidents.

He told the gathering that the new plant was leading the way for his company's facilities across the world and will be the model for a new plant it is building in Shanghai, China, both in equipment and safety training.

What's more the investment demonstrates his commitment to Yorkshire. "At this facility we're well-positioned to serve customers from the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa," he told guests.