According to managing director Neil Sanderson, the new kit has trebled the Manchester-based company's capacity.

He said: "We are doing 6,000 books a day; when we were doing things by hand we would have struggled to make 2,000. We had to go down that route eventually and it is going fantastically."

Northern Collating chose the binder because it can handle both books and calendars – the company's staple products – while other machines were better equipped to take on one or the other, Sanderson said.

He added: "The machine is doing 1,000 books an hour, which is above the amount that Renz claim it can do. It’s a great machine and I think that if I can use it, anybody can."

Northern Collating, a £150,000-turnover company with three staff, is running the machine alongside an AP360 Autopunch.