The company, which is based in Peterlee in the North East, marked a recent relocation to a new factory and warehouse by installing the new Visionfold 110 A2 multifunction folder-gluer.

The machine, with extended delivery unit and blank aligner, went in earlier this year and will help the firm fold and glue a wider range of carton styles and substrates quicker and more efficiently.

Before purchasing the machine, which has production speeds of up to 25,000 cartons per hour, the company was folding and gluing some items by hand.

Encore produces more than 3 billion packaging items per year including corrugated and solid board boxes; plain and printed up to five colours litho; as well as direct mail packaging and gift bags.

Managing director Russell Croisdale said the Bobst is an addition to the firm's existing equipment.

“Its reliability and speed stood out, the new machinery will allow us to fold and glue a wide range of carton styles and substrates quicker and more efficiently than before.

“After moving to our new base in Peterlee, we set ourselves the aim of increasing the number of employees from 12 to 37 over the next two years, tripling the size of our workforce.”

He added: “We are now able to fully automate our manufacturing process, which has dramatically increased efficiency as well as our production capacity.

“And after relocating our packaging division we have set the ambitious goal of moving from a simple day shift, five days per week, to a double day shift.”

Encore Packaging Solutions offers a bespoke production service from its 7,300sqm factory. The company was supported in its move by economic development company Business Durham.