The Merseyside business has invested in a new Horizon StitchLiner from GAE, and production director Peter Mottram has said that he is happier now that he can control his own deadlines.

He said: "We nearly lost a regular monthly contract because of someone else running late. We don't have to worry about that since we brought in the new Horizon - it gives us complete control.

"We like to do everything in-house and the StitchLiner has made that more possible. We can work later if we need to and save money on outsourcing costs."

Mottram added that work that previously took two days to finish is now taking the company five or six hours.

He said: "We can take on more work and a wider variety of jobs. The changeovers are quick and easy and as well as the regular A4 and A5 work we were doing, we can now offer an A6 option. Before, any smaller sizes had to be sent out."

The StitchLiner features fully-automated makereadies and works from flat four-page sections, eliminating the need to fold into signatures. It runs at speeds of 5,500 bph, has an icon-based LCD touch screen and job memory storage.