"A lot of work that normally would have to be done by hand can now be done by this machine," said Bridge joint managing director Peter Ruck. The mailing specialist's Mailer Magic has been in development with an undisclosed US finishing manufacturer for the past three years.

The mailer removes the need for folding plates by ploughing folds. It can take sheets up to 1,120mm wide and uses a drop-on feeder. This means no rollers and eradicates sheet-curl.

It also uses pre-registration, with fixed pitch. "The idea of this is that we can use continuous mode for placing," said the 4m turnover firm's owner and "technical guru" John Ruck.

In theory for a standard product with one fold and a tip-on sachet the machine could run at 20,000 per hour, which would effectively be doubled if operated in dual feed mode.

Magic Mailer can place up to six items on one product with an accuracy of 0.2-0.3mm.

"There's no-one else that can do that," said Ruck. For  personalisation work it uses six 63mm print heads, which can print onto gloss as well as matt and silk stocks. It also has a 60cm pattern gluer for constant repeats and Bridge is currently working with a glue manufacturer to put down patterns of remoist.

"There are lot more things it can do but some of those have got be tried and tested," explained Ruck.

One of the areas that the firm is looking at is personalised cartons. "I want to take it a step further and create some really interesting products," said Ruck.

The 500,000 line is already up and running at the firm, based in Maldon, Essex. The first jobs have already been completed and it is expected to be up to full production in the next six weeks.

"We've created a lot of interest from buyers. People come up to us all the time and ask if we would be interested in tendering for their contracts," Ruck added.

Story by Darryl Danielli