The company installed a Fastbind Casematic H46 Pro large-format hard case binder, a BooXter Duo and a GMP Lamiart 470.

The investment has enabled Alphaset to produce softback and hardback books and add personalisation and specialist finishing such as leatherette embossing.

Its first job was to produce photobooks for Dreamflight, which takes around 200 seriously ill and disabled children to Orlando, Florida each year.

The children and their families will be presented with a personalised hard-back photo album of the trip.

Production manager Tim Sheppard said: "Dreamflight is one of our customers and the charity is also supported by another customer, a major UK airline. We wanted to help them too and came up with the idea of a professionally produced, personalised album.

"We knew that a number of professional photographers accompany the children on the trip, so we suggested that they sent us pictures of each child, which we could digitally print on our Xerox printers and bind into an attractive album."

He added that all Alphaset's own brochures are personalised and finished with hard-backed black embossed leatherette covers, which "give them an upmarket appearance".

"Without doing any special marketing we are picking up work from existing customers now that they know we can offer this service. The opportunity is there if at some stage we want to set up a website and market our photo album service," he said.