Morris, who said the appointment represented one of the pinnacles of his 49-year career in print, said one of the key goals in his two-year tenure would be to ensure the industry "spoke with one voice".

"The print industry is one of the biggest in the UK and yet it still doesn’t speak with one voice, lobby with one voice – as an industry we’re just too fragmented," said Morris.

"So one of the key goals of my tenure is to get together with some of the other associations and try to create that single industry voice that will be better able to be heard by government, the treasury, and banks and really make them listen."

Picon represents 120-plus manufacturers and suppliers, ranging from the biggest names in litho, digital and pre-media kit to small UK-based manufacturers with a handful of staff. Morris, who was voted in as chairman last week and takes over from Screen UK managing director Brian Filler, said that ensuring the body continued to support its smaller members was another of his key goals.

The body proactively lobbies the British Banking Association at quarterly meetings and, through its membership of EAMA (Engineering & Machinery Alliance) has influence with a variety of government select committees.

Morris admitted that Picon had, in the past, consciously kept a low profile outside of its membership but said that now was the time to "stand up and be counted" and that collectively, the industry’s trade associations would be much better placed to change the government’s and, critically, lenders' perception of print.

"We all know that this is a wonderful industry, with plenty of good stories in both the world of equipment manufacturing and print and we need to start spreading the word so that it gets the critical support we deserve."