The Padstow, Cornwall-based firm, which has 120 staff and a turnover of around £11m, produces books for academic publishers. It bought the guillotine, which will be installed on 8 August, to handle the cutting of cloth, paper and plate sections.

It already has a mixed portfolio of guillotines and the Polar N 137 plus is additional to its plant list.

Manufacturing director Jon Sole said: “We made the investment to become more efficient. We like the robust build of the Polar and the service and support Heidelberg offers.”

The improved logistics will mean a large reduction in the amount of components moving around the business, which will cut the firm's turnaround times and make work easier to manage.

“We were literally moving stacks of paper and other components around the business from one area to another and taking them back again. Installing a guillotine in another area will enable us to streamline our processes and make things run more smoothly,” said Sole.

TJ International has encouraged staff flexibility across the whole business and the guillotine will be operated by employees that work across a range of machines.

“We’ve seen a real change in the products that we produce and when we have busy periods we do move staff around the business,” said Sole.

“In manufacturing that can mean moving skilled guys from one piece of equipment to another, but we’ve had a job recently that’s involved quite a lot of handwork and for that we utilised staff from lots of other areas of the business.”