The Bristol-based company said it was shocked in January by the administration of lamination specialist Celloglas, which ran a facility in the city.

Although the site did not close and was sold to rival business Best Cover UV, the threat of losing its local laminator was enough for Philtone to buy a Tauler 75 CTI laminator a few months later, from Friedheim.

Phil Mercer, managing director at Philtone, said: "We talked about a laminator for a long time, but when Celloglas went down we thought if we are not careful we could get caught. If we had to send it to Reading, turnaround time and cost would go up.

"It has saved us time and it is definitely better having it in than not, although we still send out the longer-run stuff. But for short-run work its perfect, it’s a good little earner."

The company, which employs 36 staff, has used the new machine for a range of jobs, including point-of-sale and book covers.