According to Prinovis Liverpool managing director Richard Gray, the Polystream Line, which was installed at the site at the beginning of the month, could be the fastest polybagging line "in the world".

Both companies are working together as part of a test partnership on the Polystream line, which produces 40m polybags a month, with tests culminating in November 2010.

The line allows up to 13 different products (print, CDs and other advertising add-ons) to be collected prior to sealing them in foil. It has been added to the six Sitma lines at the facility and will handle products ranging from the Sun's TV magazine to the Sunday Times, which Gray believes is one of the most complex polybagging jobs around.

Gray said: "This is the right time to be testing very fast equipment. There is a value to both of us in what we are doing. We do very long runs and have a lot of experience in polybagging so Ferag will use these tests to refine the machine.

"These machines offer a higher speed capacity and output and, when times are difficult, productivity is important to us. Right now, this is probably the fastest line in the world."

Ferag, whose products are distributed in the UK by WRH Marketing, has already tested the machine on a smaller UK press, producing 70,000 newspapers a week.

Gray added that one of the reasons Prinovis was so interested in the machine was the fact that Ferag has redesigned it "from the bottom up", rather than basing it on any existing polybagging machinery.

He said: "This is probably a giant leap forward for this type of technology."