Business News
Paperland Brings Laminating In-house with Autobond Mini 76T
Friday 24. September 2010 - Brussels sheet-fed commercial printer Paperland has improved the turnaround of laminated work following the installation of a Mini 76 T from UK manufacturer Autobond. The company previously sent all work requiring laminating to local trade finishers.
“There is quite a demand for laminating in Belgium and so a significant percentage of the work we produce requires lamination,” says order manager Philippe Arras. “Sending these jobs outside the factory obviously entailed transport costs and time, but in addition short run jobs were often penalised by incurring a minimum charge by the trade house. So if the minimum tariff was one hundred Euros, then this cost would be added to even a small print run of perhaps only thirty cards. It wasnt cost effective but we had little other option.
“The new Autobond Mini 76 T has answered all our laminating needs, allowing us to provide high-quality lamination in-house of any of the jobs printed on our range of multi-colour Heidelberg sheet-fed presses. The support from Autobond throughout the project has been excellent. We did not have any staff with experience of operating laminators and Autobonds professional and friendly approach, along with very good on-site training when the Mini 76 T arrived, allowed us to gain confidence quickly.”
The Mini 76 T went into production at Paperland in June. This B2 landscape/B1 portrait thermal laminator is one of Autobonds most popular models, offering speeds up to 45 metres per minute with stock ranging from 90 gsm to 650 gsm. The small footprint of only 2.9 x 1.5 metres makes it suitable where space is limited, while the solid construction enables a laminating nip pressure of up to six metric tonnes. This makes the Mini 76 T suitable for work printed litho or digitally.
Film is mounted on a quick-change airshaft, which allows different formats and film types to be altered easily, while the pneumatic clutch ensures precise film tension. The Mini 76 T is equipped with a Heidelberg-Stahl bottom separation, continuous suction drum feeder, which can be replenished during the run from the top.
“Autobond has trained two of our employees and they have found the laminator straightforward to use,” says Philippe Arras. “The flexibility of the design is very appealing. This means we can add features on-site at a later date, such as the ability to laminate both sides of a sheet in one pass.
“We produce a huge variety of work, from cards and brochures to catalogues and books and weve already laminated a variety of jobs, all with first class results. Many print runs are short, so being able to make-ready so quickly and easily between orders helps to make the Mini 76 T extremely efficient.”
About 80 per cent of Paperlands customers are businesses, which are spread throughout Belgium, as well as France and the Netherlands. The company also has offices in Madrid and Warsaw, which act as sales outlets for the printing plant in Brussels.