The device, which was supplied by Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS), arrived at the Gloucester-based environmental printer in June.

It will enable the company to enhance its responsive print-on-demand capabilities, handling work from its Canon VarioPrint iX-2100 B3 sheetfed inkjet press – which was installed last year – and VarioPrint i300 cut-sheet units. The business also operates a web-fed ColorStream 3900 inkjet press from Canon.

Severn director Mark Allington said: “We wanted to increase productivity in our book bindery and needed a highly automated solution to maximise production flexibility. We chose the Horizon HT-1000V because we liked its speed, automation and ability to use barcodes to configure set up.

“We did look at alternatives, but the Horizon stood out in part because it was something I had previous experience with. I knew it could help us with what we were looking to achieve.”

He added the IFS team “includes some excellent people with a great knowledge of the products they maintain and sell”.

The HT-1000V is suitable for high quality variable short-run and book of one production at speeds up to 1,000 books per hour.

The machine can produce books with a maximum trimmed size of 340x300mm down to a minimum trimmed size of 145x101.6mm. Single or multiple stack books can be trimmed up to 65mm in thickness.

The current list price for the machine with options supplied is £220,000.

50 staff work at Severn, which has a turnover of just under £6m. Late last year the business was acquired in a secondary management buyout that saw Allington, who joined the firm last summer, purchase the company from former directors Ian Smith and Martin Clegg.