He replaces Christophe Bourreau, who remains at the company as managing director for Europe. Lock was formerly international marketing director and has been at Duplo for one year. Prior to joining Duplo, he had roles at Xerox, Toshiba and Oki.

"My challenge is to double the size of the UK business in the next five to six years," he said. "I am lucky to takeover a great team and we have more and more relevant products for printers."

Lock added that Duplo is weathering the recession relatively well and has remained in profit. The company has also expanded into new markets through its UV coater, the Ultra 205A, and the hot-melt perfect binder, the DuBinder DPB-500.

"We are in a great position," he said. "We touch the markets that Horizon and Morgana operate in and we're expanding in the middle."

Lock was speaking at Duplo's London event, showcasing its range of products alongside partners Renz, Vivid and Kern. From Duplo, there was a UK debut for its DC-445, a digital sheetfed booklet maker.

Also exhibited was the mid-range cutter/creaser, the DC-615 Pro, and the DC 645 – a slitter, cutter and creaser for niche applications.

According to Duplo marketing manager Peter Jolly, the two-day show brought significant interest from small- to medium-sized digital printers keen to bring more finishing in-house.

The company has also had interest from trade finishers looking to muscle in on the short-run sector.

"There has been a real mix of customers," said Jolly. "We really do feel that the market has been jumpstarted since 1 September with people now ready to invest."

Renz UK managing director Iain Bullock added: "The show has met all our expectations and more with a great turnout of customers it has been a real delight showing customers the real value in adding value with finishing systems working in harmony."