The Winsford-based company has also installed two Herzog and Heymann (H&H) miniature folding lines as part of the move.

Technoprint Cheshire managing director Alan Ryan took sole ownership of the company 18 months ago, at which point he invested in the company's first H&H machine.

Miniature folding only really picked up this year, the company said, after it was awarded the pharmaceutical standard for manufacturing procedure.

This required the firm to introduce a number of elements, including clean rooms, but means that it is now able to work with any pharmaceutical business.

Ryan said: "Only a handful of companies have the accreditation and most of those are much larger. It opens the door to a lot more businesses that we can work with now and already a couple of well-known clients have been brought on board.

"A lot of these companies are difficult to get into, but once you have a foot in the door, as long as you do a good job you can guarantee good, regular work. Pharmaceutical companies in particular are safe bets; it’s a no-brainer."

He added that the 14-staff company had already reached a point where 35% of its work was coming from miniature folding, but he said he expected this to increase in the coming years.

Technoprint Cheshire, which is not affiliated with Leeds-based Technoprint, also recently installed an Epson 9900S large-format machine, giving it another niche product.

Ryan added: "We did not expect too much large-format work, but we have been quite surprised with the amount of work that has come in so far. It has been interesting, far better than anticipated."