Prior to the installation, the Frome-based book printer had been finishing the small number of short-run orders it prints on its Nexpress on a larger binding line. However, according to managing director Kevin Sarney, the company needed the Kolbus BF 512 casing line and a DA 260 casemaker to support growth in the on-demand sector.

Sarney said: "It is about makeready time. You have to be able to do short makereadies with short-run work, so we had to have a specialist machine on site.

"Quality has to be equal across the board, so the digital printing facility and the finishing that goes with it has to stand up to our traditional printing technology," he added. "We took three books up to our chairman after installing the Kolbus, one digitally printed, one traditionally printed and one from our Chinese partner and he couldn’t tell the difference."

At present less than 10% of the company’s turnover is derived from the digital market, but Sarney believes that demand will increase over the next few years.

He said: "We already have large customers asking for fast-turnaround books and that will only grow. We can offer them a combination of different services; if they want a short run done quickly, we can do that; if they want a longer run that can be stored, we can offer that and, if they want an economical option and speed isn’t an issue, we can have them imported from China."