Solopress ordered the Moll Pile PT paper folder directly from Moll in December 2021, for around £80,000, to ramp up production of printed presentation folders.

Since it was installed in late August, the machine has allowed Solopress to free up staff who were previously making up the folders by hand, and up productivity from 150 folders per hour to 3,500 per hour.

Jack Clifford, Solopress’ head of operations, told Printweek that the installation had been a massive improvement for production.

He added: “Obviously, most of the industry has suffered with not being able to recruit staff. So that team that was previously making up folders, we’ve trained up and put in other areas of the business.”

For the Pile PT itself, just two days’ training was enough to allow one of the company’s previous Muller Martini operators to get the machine up and running.

Clifford said that while Solopress had looked at competitor models, the Pile PT delivered exactly what the company was after, at a lower price point.

"To be honest, for what we were doing, which is simple - just presentation folders - this machine was perfect. We didn't need to pay that higher price."

He added: “I’ve got no complaints on the machine at all. It’s really good.”

Solopress employs 225 staff at its site in Southend-on-Sea, and reported an expected revenue of £32m for 2022.