The spend is the latest in a string of investments this year from the Preston-based promotional item printer, which has also bought a Renz AP360 automatic punch, a Bush ram punch, a Foliant Gemini 400 laminator and a Duplo 445 scoring and slitting line. Added to a Xerox 700, its total spend in the back end of the year has been almost £500,000.

Managing director Steve Johnston said: "We have invested over time, but we decided that we wanted to move up to the next level. We should double our £1.4m turnover with these investments and I think we can do £3m in three years."

The casemaker will be installed at the 14-staff company in January 2011 and, according to Johnston, it will allow Paper Innovation to run 10,000 books a day compared to the 1,000 that it currently offers.

As well as ramping up its book production, the installation of the punching equipment has moved the firm into the wiro-bound pads arena.