According to TCS sales manager Dean Stayne, the machines will complement the company's flagship CP Bourg range of bookbinders.

He said: "This widens our range of bookbinding knowledge, and also our supply base. When we talk to printers about the Bourg binders, we can talk to them about casing as well. We are finding that a lot of digital book producers want casing as well now.

"These machines are perfect for smaller printers; they are well-built but simple to use. Zechini kit is strong across Europe and the company has been around for 60-years, but hasn't had a lot of coverage in the UK. We aim to change that."

Zechini machines are targeted at both digital and litho print businesses. The X-Book range features the all-in-one casemaker Roby Junior 2, which has an automatic board feeder and an output of up to 250 cases per hour.

Other machines include the X-Case casing-in machine, which is capable of 180 hard cover books per hour and is also available in semi-automatic version X-Case Plus, which can handle up to 300 cases per hour.

TCS will also sell the Special 85 mechanical book press and Cimatic joint forming machine.