According to director Lee Dawson, the machine, which was installed last month, will help it attract new business and meet decreasing lead times.

He said: "We have found over the past couple of years that during the busy periods we were changing between jobs to achieve all our customers' schedules. This will allow us to complete jobs and cut down on time consuming makereadies."

3C Finishing specialises in thermal laminating, die cutting, window patching and gluing.

Dawson, alongside fellow director Craig Collins became the company's only shareholders in December, buying out their two partners.

He told PrintWeek that although their former partners were mainly investors in the company, with little day-to-day involvement, the fact that one of them was a former printer had scared off potential work.

He said: "One of the directors had a previous interest in a print company and we felt this was holding us back. We were finding local commercial printers were reluctant to send us work, mainly laminating and die cutting, in the belief that the work could be poached. We felt it important that this stigma was removed."