The 3m x 1.8m Diecut Goldline manually fed platen works on paper, card, foam board, vinyl and corrugated and folding boxboard. The firm in Edmonton, north London produces point-of-sale material for film companies and supermarkets.

"The beauty of the machine is that digital print houses are printing bigger and using larger sheet sizes than traditional litho or screen work," said production assistant Joanne Hobbs, adding PPFS was keen to home in on the digital market.

She said other big plusses of the new kit, which cost around £200,000, were faster makeready times and safety. Additionally jobs need only one make-ready, which means repeat jobs do not need to be made ready. This has offered big savings in time.

Configuration of the machine meanwhile made it safer, she added, with some conventional machines operators having to "get into the machine" to make them ready whereas the task on the Goldline can be done at the rear of the machine away from working parts.

Installer Diecut UK said 40-staff PPFS was one of the first companies to embrace this new technology. It not only increased its capacity as a trade finisher but protected their workforce using the machinery, the company said.