Business News
Autobond Hits the Right Note at Optimal Media Production
Thursday 16. September 2010 - One of Europe's largest producers of CDs, DVDs and vinyl LPs, Optimal Media Production GmbH in Röbel, north-east Germany, has been able to improve significantly the productivity of its printed products division following the installation of an Autobond Mini 76 TH laminator. The company's comprehensive pre-press, printing and finishing facility handles work ranging from business cards and 12 inch labels to complex disc packaging and premium book projects, outputting around 120 million printed items a year.
“We produce in-house all of the print required to package or accompany our media products and with the output of CDs and DVDs alone averaging 600,000 per day, this represents a huge volume of printed material,” says head of production Dr Peter Runge. “A percentage of work is laminated and this previously had to be sent out to the trade, which obviously entailed additional time, transport costs and charges.
“We carried out an in-depth study of the sheet-fed laminators on the market but many of them are really office machines, which are certainly not suitable for a production environment. The Autobond laminators are at the other end of the scale – very sturdily built. We heard good reports in the industry about the reliability and productivity of Autobond’s models, and the company sent us a video so that we could see one in operation.
“There was no time in our schedule to visit Autobond’s UK factory, and so based on what we had heard and watching the video, we ordered a Mini 76 TH laminator. The laminator was delivered on time, the commissioning and training of three operators went smoothly, and within a week of arriving in May the Mini 76 TH was in production. We’ve only since had a few small queries and an Autobond engineer provided the answers in less than an hour, using the remote diagnostics facility that is built into the laminator.”
Autobond laminators are in use in more than 160 countries and can be supplied in a wide variety of sizes and configurations to suit a customer’s individual requirements. The model at Optimal Media Production is a B2 landscape/B1 portrait thermal laminator, with the ability to handle stock ranging from 90 gsm to 650 gsm. The rising pile, back separation Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 feed head enables speeds up to 60 metres per minute.
Film is mounted on a quick-change airshaft, which allows different sheet and film widths to be run quickly and easily, making short runs cost effective. The pneumatic clutch ensures precise film tension. The small footprint of only 2.9 x 1.5 metres makes the laminator suitable where space is limited, while the solid construction enables a laminating nip pressure of up to six metric tonnes.
“Our pressroom operates six Heidelberg presses, a Manroland press, plus an HP Indigo 7000, and the Mini 76 TH has successfully laminated work produced on all of these machines,” says Dr Peter Runge. “This has included a wide range of formats. We normally produce more than 20,000 vinyl LPs every day and many of the covers for these are laminated, so the Mini 76 TH is in constant use across many of our media products.”
Optimal Media Production was formed in 1990 and has grown to become a major producer in its field, employing some 600 staff and supplying CDs, DVDs, vinyl LPs and MCs throughout the world. The company can handle all aspects of production, warehousing and distribution and currently despatches up to 5,000 distribution orders a day from the Röbel factory.