"This is an intelligent, customer-driven addition to our portfolio of high-volume inserter platforms," said Pitney Bowes marketing director David Jefferies. "Direct mail continues to achieve healthy response rates and campaigns are becoming more sophisticated."

The machine includes gripper arms to handle materials of sizes including business cards, z-fold, high gloss, open-end and CDs. It can operate at 12,000 pieces per hour.

Comet also uses Direct Connect, which allows for confirmation of accurately inserted material as well as detecting and outsorting duplicate mail pieces.

Last month, Pitney Bowes, based in Feltham, bolstered its UK and European operations with two high-profile management appointments.