The deal, worth 1.7m, will be for the most cutting-edge machines Buhrs has yet produced, with cameras on the feeders, input and output.

"Each machine has the capability to check match and verify," said RDI chairman Peter Rivett.

"Camera verification is key," said RDI managing director Andy Ruddle. "We don't think that if you're buying direct mail, you should accept 93% or 96% delivery. We believe that if you pay for 100%, you should get 100%."

The order includes two Buhrs BB600 B5-sized machines and a further six envelope inserters that are being developed specially for RDI by the Dutch firm.

"We work at the forefront of the technology and we can only do that with customers, such as RDI, that also work at the forefront," said Buhrs president Adrian van der Klooster (pictured left with Rivett right).

"We didn't come to the market saying: what have you got?" said Ruddle. "We wanted to find out what people could do."

"What attracted us to Buhrs was that it was able to adapt an existing product very quickly," added Rivett.

*Buhrs has also reached an agreement to create a UK arm with Computermail, the Basingstoke-based firm that distributes it in the UK. From 1 June, Buhrs UK will take on the employees of Computermail. Oc UK Production Systems sales director John Ricketts will be managing director of the new division.