The VarioPrint 6250 is currently operating from the council's print unit, the Resolution Centre, and has already printed and fulfilled 220,000 council tax bills and 180,000 other documents for the 2007/08 year-end.

Tony McNulty, document production manager of the Resolution Centre at Liverpool City Council, said in the first quarter of 2008 alone, the council had printed approximately 5m documents.

He added: "For the first time, we are now printing all the council's daily transactional and year-end billing in house, enveloping it and making considerable savings on print and post."

The Océ VarioPrint 6250 is running alongside two mono systems – an Océ VarioPrint 2090 and an Océ VarioPrint 3090 – as well as two Océ CPS900 Platinum colour machines.

The range of kit means the centre can produce up to 96m documents per year, allowing the council to carry out print jobs for other UK authorities and private companies.

"We have won some new business as a result of the new Océ system, a lot of which has come externally from the private sector," said McNulty.

The new machine has given the centre a "considerable" amount of extra capacity for outside work.

"Within that new business, 90% of that is variable data printing such as forms, letters and bills," McNulty said.