The council has added an SPF/FC200A bookletmaker with two Horizon VAC-Turbo 100 Powercollators to replace a nine-year old system that was past its prime.

Print manager Steve Lilley said the machine had already had an effect on the council’s finishing department.

He said: "We can see it is going to be more efficient and increase throughput. Customers have noticed the booklets have a much squarer back too. We have been able to increase the size of books we can complete with the ability to run sets of up to 72 and even 80 pages.

"This is much more than we could do before. We can also split the towers so the operator can run two jobs at the same time. For example, they could be completing a book on one tower and running NCR pads on the other. Also one operator can run everything, which makes us much more efficient."

The machine is JDF-ready and has a running speed of 4,500bph. It has a 200-program job memory, icon-based touchscreen and external waste removal.

The two 10-station, deep bin Powercollators have a remote handset and a suction rotor drum feeding system.