The investment coincides with the Department for Transport’s (DfT) initiative to launch new full colour tourist destination signs to help boost tourism throughout the UK.

The DfT and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have worked with signange industry partners to develop guidelines for the new boundary signs that can incorporate full colour digitally printed photographic images.

Heritage sites and tourism destinations will be able to update their existing brown signs for colourful new ones showing an iconic image associated with their area.

The first sign to be formally authorised was for Plymouth. The sign, which shows a picture of Smeaton’s Tower, was produced by Plymouth City Council and Nordis Signs and printed onto Rennicks Nikkalite Ultralite retroreflective sheeting.

Spotting an opportunity, the RBLI has invested in a new MUTOH Zephyr Digital Printer and a Zund flatbed plotter, making it one of only four organisations in the country that has the technology to produce the new Tourist Gateway Signs, it claims.

The organisation has spent £205,000 on the machines, as well as a new laminator, and an additional £45,000 on building modifications for the machines, such as air conditioning.

RBLI commercial manager Robert James said investing in the new technology was a quantum leap forward for RBLI’s social enterprise business.

"Not only does this investment mean we can produce the new Tourist Gateway signs, it also enables us to further improve quality and shorten the length of time it takes to make our existing range of signs - reducing the cost to the organisation overall," he added.

RBLI, which has a £13m turnover, around £1.9m of which is from is signage social enterprise, provides training, jobs, housing and welfare support for the Armed Forces community and disabled and vulnerable people.

It already produces signs for the road and rail industries, and it ploughs all profits from the social enterprise back into its charitable work.