The Drupa-launched Renz was purchased at the Hunkeler Innovation Days trade show, Lucerne, on 23 February, while the MBO was installed at Ace's Birmingham facility last month. The Renz made up around £120,000 of the investment.

Ace director Rob Hart said that the Renz machine will double the 38-staff outfit’s capacity for taking on A3 calendar work.

“Renz told us that they had a new machine on the market, launched at Drupa last year, so asked us to go out and have a look and see if we were interested. Once we had seen it we knew it was something we wanted,” said Hart.

“We currently print offline so this is basically the opportunity to punch and wire in one swoop. So we’re cutting out a process and doing it in one go.

“We were offered a lot of calendar work, which we had to turn away. They’re getting popular again, calendars; the last two years have been buoyant."

The Inline 500 replaces a Renz AP machine. Binding a maximum of 1,000 products per hour, it can punch up to 4.5mm thick and bind up to 20mm thick, taking media at maximum widths of 500mm. 

The MBO was brought in with the purpose of upgrading Ace’s folding capabilities. 

“For trade finishing, the 'B' machines are just the best, they’re quick to change round. You’ve got to have the versatility on the machine to do what we do to get it folded – that’s what the B machines give us,” added Hart. 

Other than the folder and the Compact, Ace also runs two 2014-purchased Horizon Vac 1000 collating towers, wire-binding and stitching lines, and a Muller Martini Alegro PUR binder, installed four years ago.

The £1.8m-turnover company is aiming for more sales growth, having boosted turnover by around £1m over the last four years.