The Leicester-based, 10-staff company purchased the £24,000 machine, which is traditionally used in digital output, to help with its short-run work.

Andrew Robinson, joint owner of the £600,000-turnover business, said: "The machine has proved the time-saving value of being able to crease and fold in one pass.

"The fact that it easily copes with stocks of 350-400gsm is vital, and it is also very useful for handling the 4pp and 6pp work that makes up a significant part of our business."

Novaprint also bought a £5,000 Morgana CardXtra business cardcutter because the company's conventional methods had been tying up the guillotine, which is normally used for longer-run jobs.

Robinson added: "Now, we avoid bottlenecks by using the template of the CardXtra to produce cards in a fraction of the time."