The Peterborough-based poetry and creative writing publisher produces long-run titles for more than 30,000 UK schools as well as shorter-run work for individual clients.

The £5m-turnover firm, which prints on a battery of three Kodak NexPress 2100s and two Oce VarioPrint 6250s, installed the new binder to cater for on-demand work that ranges from one or two copies up to several hundred.

Forward Press managing director Ian Walton told printweek.com: "We needed a machine that would be easy to operate efficiently with minimal fuss."

He added that "in a real print-on-demand situation, with work ordered, printed and delivered in a two-day cycle, we couldn't do this with machines that needed high levels of operator skill".

The 17-year-old firm, which employs 90 staff, runs short-run work on the KB 2000, which can produce up to 320 books an hour at sizes up to 310x320mm, and a Horizon BQ460 book binding line for its regular longer runs.

The publishing house also operates a Morgana DocuFold, an EBA 551 guillotine and an AutoCreaser 33.