"It was the next step for us really," said managing director Neil Armitage. "We've been producing some very nice books, and we've had some excellent feedback from our customers."

The Enfield-based finishing firm moved into the hard-back book cover market as a response to what it saw as a gap in the market and customer demand.

"Obviously being involved in a lot of book binding we felt that there was a need for a trade service on case-binding," said Armitage.

"We can now add book binding to our range of services, which includes stitching, perfect binding, sewing, die-cutting and laminating."

The Diamant line also includes an EP 680 book press and BLSD 650 automatic stacker.

The firm appointed Nick Dingwall to head up the new line in the summer (PrintWeek, 21 July). Previously he was Muller Martini's adhesive binding expert.

Story by Darryl Danielli