The North Shields-based company, which has 24 staff, purchased the crease-cutter to automate work that was previously being produced manually.

Business development manager Mike Brydon said: "We were doing everything by hand. If we had a greetings-card job, we’d have to guillotine it down and then crease it manually – accuracy was a big problem and the quality was way off. It just wasn’t good enough. We were even turning away certain jobs such as business cards because it was too expensive and labour intensive to get it right."

Local dealer Glendale Presentation and Graphics identified the DC-615 as the solution to Colorworld's finishing problems.

Mark Wilson of Glendale said: "The major problem they faced was how to make short-tun, fiddly jobs profitable - they were spending too much time finishing and often getting it wrong. They needed a product that could automate their most common finishing tasks - cutting and creasing - without compromising on the standard of finish."

Brydon added that the Duplo had improved both the productivity and quality of the company's work.

"We use the registration mark function so when we are creasing cards or tri-fold leaflets we know that even if the image has moved slightly the crease is always in the right place," he said.

The DC-615 uses a vacuum and conveyor system to feed sheets from the top. There are individual controls on the fan and the separator.

Colorworld Imaging, a £1m-turnover company specialising in image enhancement and print services for professional photographers, started to diversify its services five years ago, when it began offering fully bound wedding albums to its professional clients. It moved into the photobook market 18 months ago after investing in a Konica Minolta press, which also gave the company a route into a wider range of products such as brochures and greeting cards.

Brydon added: "The market is tough for photographers at the moment and our new products have made up for a slight drop in demand for some of our other services."