Finishing & Screen Printing
Autobond – The Company
Monday 24. May 2010 - Autobond is one of the world's leading manufacturers of sheet-fed film laminators, with customers in more than 145 countries and an unrivalled product range - the result of 28 years of designing, building, installing and servicing laminators. The company manufactures the laminators at its factory in Derbyshire and this is also the headquarters for a global business in the export of laminate films and adhesives.
The family run firm has had a busy start to 2006, with several major product launches, the appointment of two new distributors and the purchase of the assets of UK laminator manufacturer Lamtex, which went into receivership last year. Along with the assets, spares and manufacturing equipment, Autobond has acquired the exclusive rights to make Lamtex models.
The recent appointment of Queensland based Graph-Pak to represent its portfolio of machinery and consumables in Australia and New Zealand resulted in immediate success for the new distributor, with orders for several MINI 76TPH within the first few weeks. In January Autobond appointed Lyon-based Ollagnier to handle its range of sheet-fed laminators in France. Ollagnier, which has sold Autobond products in Algeria since 1993, sold a Mini T76 into France within the first few weeks of being appointed.
‘The intense pressure faced by sheet-fed printers to add value to the print they produce has resulted in a huge surge in the popularity of laminating,’ says managing director John Gilmore. ‘Advances in laminating technology, combined with the use of thermal film, have opened the doors to this process and a growing number of printers are installing laminators as a means of increasing the selling price of the final printed product.
‘New markets have appeared, both geographically and by sector – a good example being the increase in the demand to laminate digitally printed work. Laminating is in vogue, and the list of items regularly laminated today is extensive: maps, book jackets, covers, brochures, presentation folders, cartons, labels, leaflets, catalogues, packaging etc.’
Proof of the popularity of laminating was demonstrated by Autobond sales during 2005, the highest in the company’s history, with orders during the year including the first from Japan, Germany and India. The company expects the turnover in 2006 to be around £8.5 m. Constant development of new models keeps Autobond at the forefront of laminating technology and during the last 18 months the company has introduced nine additional machines.
‘Modern technology and the use of thermal film have made the laminating process simple, so the need for highly skilled operators has disappeared,’ says John Gilmore. ‘This has led to laminating being brought in-house as a means of creating another profit centre. We’ve built up a huge knowledge of the subject and our team of designers, engineers and service technicians are extremely skilled. If we have an idea for a new model we have the facilities to build a prototype for testing quite easily.’
Not all of the parts are made at the Derbyshire factory. Over the years Autobond has sourced the best component parts it can from around the world. For example, the pistons used in the laminators come from SMC in Japan, Swiss firm Tool Temp makes the water heater that heats the chrome rollers, and the air clutches are made by Horton in the USA.
Autobond equips many of its models with Speedmaster feed heads from Heidelberg, Germany, while the motor gearbox combination is produced by UK manufacturer David Brown. One of the benefits of the German electronics from Siemens, which are fitted to all of the laminators, is that they enable remote diagnostics facilities so Autobond’s technicians can provide help instantly to customers anywhere in the world.
Autobond’s range includes B3, B2 and B1 models, which are available as single-sided or perfecting machines in both landscape and portrait formats. Water-based and thermal film versions are available.
There is a wide selection of different feeders, joggers, sheeters and ancillary items, and Autobond will often produce bespoke equipment to suit particular requirements.
In addition to manufacturing laminators Autobond is a global exporter of thermal and water-based films and adhesives, which can be used with most makes of laminator. Autobond has its own adhesive plant that
operates two 12-tonne mixers on a two shift basis. The company also refurbishes secondhand laminators, a useful facility when customers want to upgrade existing models.