The Didcot-based firm previously used a hand scorer, which was capable of handling around 500 books per hour.

According to digital operations manager Ron Harris, the company had seen an increase in work, rendering the hand scorer well short of cost-effective expectations.

Marston took in the new machine on 10 April.

Harris said: "The Ducreaser has already made a big difference. In the first week, we saved ourselves around eight hours of man power.

"You can set it up in a few minutes and then leave it to run by itself. It means my staff can get on with other things while it goes to work. What used to take us an hour is now taking around 10 minutes."