Previously, Unibind binding customers would stock a large variety of spine sizes and fit pages within the external spine to be thermally bound together. The new Unibinder has a central tool which crimps the external spine to fit the size of the booklet to be bound.

This system uses three different sizes of spine: 5, 10 and 15mm rather than forcing users to find storage space for up to 15 different spine sizes according to the size of the book they wish to bind.

Tsol Keoshgerian, managing director at Unibind UK, who became the sole shareholder of the company in October, said: "We started using it for photobooks and found that it gives customers that subconscious confidence that it is crimping the page and holding it in place."

In fact, it is the heat plate that holds the pages to the cover, but Keoshgerian said that this perception was "key" to customers "loving" the machine.

He added that it was ideal for copyshops and small print outfits which don’t necessarily have the space for mass storage, as well as B2B customers such as government bodies.

He was confident that a number of customers would continue to use their old machines to keep Unibind’s consumables sales up while some customers move to the Unibinder 8.2, perhaps negating the potential sales decline of the wider cover size varieties.

Unibinder 8.2 can bind up to eight documents at one time with up to 340 sheets, and can crimp book sizes between 1 and 120 pages. Keosgerian said that research had found that around 98% of the market required binding for no more than 120 sheets, but users of the Unibinder 8.2 can buy larger spine sizes to make use of just the heating and cooling stages for documents with higher paginations.

Keoshgerian said that the binding cycle – heating, crimping and cooling to set – takes around 90 seconds from cold, and speeds up to 60 seconds when the heat plate is fully heated.

The Unibinder 8.2 has had a gradual launch since the beginning of 2013, and around 45 have been sold already.

RRP for Unibinder 8.2 is £1,195 excluding VAT and Unibind is offering a part exchange scheme to trade in old or faulty machines when upgrading to the new system.

Keoshgerian said: "Quite simply this is our best desktop office based binding machine yet. I think what is appealing to our customers with this product is the impressive mix of great looks and incredible flexibility, all at an affordable price.

"The Unibinder 8.2 continues an exciting period for Unibind as our new digital section pushes on with a series of new and innovative products, ensuring we remain the market leader in our field."