The machine has been installed at Blockfoil's Nottingham plant, although site general manager Kevin Bloomfield told PrintWeek that if the £250,000 machine is a success, the company may invest in two more – one each for its Manchester and Ipswich sites.

Blockfoil's new press has been bought to replace an ageing machine, and has in the process increased production from 1,500sph to around 4,500sph.

Bloomfield said: "The main thing about this machine is its speed – it has cut the time we spend on a lot of jobs in half.

"We can offer an improved service and I think that is the key to the market at the moment. Price is important, but before companies were asking for five-day turnarounds and now we can offer them three."

Blockfoil works with the packaging industry as well as producing greetings cards and brochures.

The Nottingham site currently employs 14 staff and has a turnover of around £1m, while the foiling division as a whole has a turnover of more than £3m and employs around 40 staff.

Bloomfield added that the company was looking at several other areas in 2009, including laminating, spot UV varnishing and die-cutting.

He said: "I have been here 21 years and this is the biggest investment we have made on machinery in that time. I hope I won't be waiting 21 years for us to spend that again."