"We're a world-class business and the investment will support that," said Washington and Encore Direct chief executive Tony Gill.

Washington, which shares common ownership with Encore, has spent 4.5m on a further two W&D 627 envelope web converters and two 500,000 six-colour inline Lithoflex printing stations. The bespoke machines were manufactured by EW Machinery.

"They're the most advanced inline systems available in Europe. They allow us to take a plain reel of paper, print it and out the end comes a finished envelope," said Gill.

Washington has also installed the first reel- and blank-fed W&D 341 jumbo envelope converting line in the UK.

The firm is spending 1m on an extension to its factory, creating an 11,000sqm facility. The 3,300sqm, nine-meter-high extension will be financed by the sale of the firm's 1,900sqm warehouse.

"At the moment, everything is being double-handled. By bringing [production and storage] onto one site, the benefits are enormous," said Gill.

The extension will give the firm five times the pallet storage of its existing facilities, and create a "significant increase" in production space.

On the back of the investment, the group is planning to boost its 35m turnover to 40m in the next 12 months.

Encore/Washington
- Capacity 70m envelopes per week

- Turnover 35m

- Staff 300