Heidelberg's system, which complements its existing programs Pre-Press Manager and Pressroom Manager, was shown at a finishing open-house at the company's national headquarters in Tamworth, near Birmingham, this week.

Marketing manager Mark Hogan said: "We are talking more and more about Postpress Manager. Printers want to know exactly where they are throughout the production process.

"They want to be able to see where they are making money, where the value-added is and how close they are to their estimations.

"Companies aren't just putting 100,000-run jobs through a line any more – they are doing runs in the thousands and the hundreds – they can be doing 40 different jobs a day on one machine so they need to know where everything is at any one time."

Hogan added that post-press management software has been difficult to develop because there are so many different machines doing different jobs.

The system, which is currently being beta tested in the UK, will be available for Heidelberg's folders first, with saddlestitchers to follow. Other machines will be added at a later stage, the company said.

At the Tamworth open house, Heidelberg also gave a UK debut to its PT 220-600 Inline Die Cutter.

"Finishing investments seem to be coming back. They have been quiet for a while, but I think people are about ready to invest in finishing," Hogan added.