The new kit from UK and Ireland distributor Friedheim International is due for delivery at the finisher's site in Leicester next month.

Managing director Jamie Court said: “We already have a couple of Blumer machines that we have used for many years, but the time has come to increase our capabilities.

“Our existing Blumer machines proved very reliable but we checked what else may be available and realised Blumer are market leaders for good reason.”

Operations director Alan Pickles said the 30-staff business with a £1.8m turnover looked at other machines including Heidelberg models. The Blumer Atlas was an addition to its kit line-up.

“The gear is robust and can interchange with machines we already have,” he said. “We know the Blumer and have a good relationship with the supplier.

“It will give us more capacity and increase output by 20%-30%,” said Pickles, whose company supplies the pharmaceutical industry and commercial printers.

Clinical Print Finishers provides specialist finishing and miniature work and is midway through a five-year kit refurbishment programme worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The company has also ordered 268 rollers to refurbish 23 of their Herzog & Heymann folding machines. The company has 47 Herzog & Heymann folders in total.

Clinical has tried using re-conditioned rollers in the past but have found new rollers offer production increase of between 20%-30%.