The unit, which integrates with Finco's two STS polywrapping machines, arrived at the back end of 2012, enabling Finco to boost its niche market offering in magazine wrapping.

Finco operations director Andy Fox said the unit had enabled the company to compete in the newstrade sector.

Clients such as IPC Media, which publishes high-end titles such as Shooting Times, have been particularly interested in the new application which gives a "more glorified" finish to wrapped magazines and supplements.

Finco also produces the wraps for German company Hipp’s baby food products. Fox said the company wanted a "tidy" bag to distribute their products.

The units work by fusing the edges of the polywrap bags together using heat, rather than the traditional overlapping method used with front and back sealed magazines.

Fox said that this could make the side-sealed product more expensive than conventional wrapping as the polywrap used has to be no less than 40 microns to ensure its strength under high temperatures.

Finco, which recently rebranded from The Finishing Company, was spun out of Wyndeham Heron 25 years ago, when Richard Heron’s production director Ray Lesnik was given the task to create a separate finishing house for Heron’s customers. The companies are completely independent however.

Fox said: "Because we are across the road from Wyndeham Heron, we have been fortunate and always had the work automatically coming through the door. Now it is becoming more competitive, but we know that we are good at what we do.

"When customers ask us to do jobs, nine times out of ten it is something that we always do. Now it’s a case of standing up and promoting ourselves and what we can do and offering our customers new finishing options."

Finco has six high-speed mailing lines and employs around 65 staff at its Witham, Essex plant. Fox said it is on target to record a £2.2m turnover for the current financial year.

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