Getting it covered
Standing out from the competition is absolutely everything in the modern market, not just for print-service-providers (PSPs), but also their clients, who are desperate for the products to attract attention among consumers.
Adding special effects to printed work is an effective way of offering added value for your clients and helping them achieve their own goals. Lamination technology allows you to add these effects while helping protect the application at the same time.
Here, Print Monthly takes a look at some of the latest lamination technologies available and analyses how these machines can open up new streams of revenue for your business.
Taking control
First up, Duplo has a range of finishing equipment available, including lamination kit. Martyn Train, managing director of Duplo UK, says one of the key reasons printers should be looking to invest in new and high-quality lamination is the time lost in transporting work off site to a trade laminator or finisher.
“Especially with short-run work, our customers can impose, print, laminate and finish in the time it takes for the delivery truck to arrive,” Train says, adding: “In this day and age of fast turnaround times and high-quality short-run work, bringing lamination in-house has become a no brainer. Bringing lamination in-house gives control back to the printer, both in delivery times, but also with costs.
In this day and age of fast turnaround times and high-quality short run work, bringing lamination in-house has become a no brainer”
“With the rise in prices of many raw materials, farming the work away has become prohibitively expensive. The mark up of lamination makes costing most jobs extremely difficult – but the end user still wants their products laminated and refuse to pay the increased price for it.
“With many printers spending upwards of £20,000 - £30,000 on sending lamination off site, the purchase of a good quality new laminator and a steady supply of film with a one-year ROI makes a lot of sense.
“A highly lucrative side effect of bringing lamination in-house is by selling the new service to smaller local printers in the area so they can reduce their own costs, in turn adding a new revenue stream to the business.”
As to what to look for when investing in new lamination kit, Train says regardless of the manufacturer, printers should always demo their current jobs with any laminator. He points out that Bagel Systems, available through Duplo, are compatible with 95% of the digital print equipment such as Xerox, HP, Konica Minolta, Canon, and Ricoh.
Train goes on to say that PSPs should also look into the way the paper stock is handled. He explains that marking/scoring print is easily done during the lamination stage and that a high-quality laminator will have mechanisms in place to avoid this, such as Bagel’s pneumatic feeder with suction cups.
“Bagel laminators also work on lower temperature levels, and the machines switch off their pressure roller automatically during the stops keeping temperature fluctuation very low just to protect print jobs,” he says, adding: “Giving end users maximum choice is always a good idea, making Bagel one of the leading manufacturers of laminators, as their machines are able to handle offset or digital BIOPP films in gloss, matt, embossed, scuff free, varnish and/or box gumming.”
Bagel Systems, which Duplo began working with earlier this year, specialises in developing and manufacturing added value laminating equipment for the graphic arts and packaging industry. Bagel manufactures fully automatic laminators, foilers and combination machines from SRA3 up to B1, but in the UK, Duplo is concentrating on launching the SRA3 products to look after its current customer base.
Of the Bagel range, Duplo has launched the MiniLAM B3 and the iLAM PRO series. The MiniLAM B3 has an operating speed of 15m/min, can laminate stock between 130 and 350gsm, and has a deep pile height of 400mm.
The iLAM PRO laminators have an operating speed of 10m/min, can laminate stock between 130 and 350gsm, and has a pile height of 200mm. Both can have Bagel’s new 3DF module fitted, which adds a foiling unit on a secondary roller capable of 3D foiling, metallic foiling, varnishing and spot varnishing – something Train says gives the added benefit of foiling on top of the Duplo DuSense DDC-810 sensory cater.
Available in the UK from Duplo, iLAM PRO laminators have an operating speed of 10m/min
“Applications for the Bagel Systems are endless; these include business cards, catalogues, menus, leaflets and flyers, greetings cards, children’s books, promotional materials, luxury bags, sales documents and posters, as well as cosmetic packaging, luxury products and packaging, anti-bacterial hospital material packaging,” Train says.
Meeting demand
Next up is Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS), whose technical sales director Jason Seaber says there are many benefits of offering lamination in-house such as retaining control of quality and a reduction in the pressure on time, elimination of minimum charges for short runs and ensuring work is turned around on the same day.
“Increasingly, we are seeing repeat orders from operations who introduced lamination a number of years ago and now offer it as a staple part of their services, or who are increasing their capacity to meet greater demand,” Seaber says.
“Ease of use is key particularly when team members are required to operate a number of different systems. The ability for operators to be quickly trained to produce outstanding results, immediately, allows work to be completed straight away. This fosters confidence in using the system and ensures profitable production from day one.
“The ability to add further value is offered by Foliant laminators, which uses ‘Foil for Toner’ to create a foiling and spot UV effect – even for variable data. As no foil blocking tools are needed the solution is quick and affordable.”
With this, Seaber draws attention to some of the Foliant machines available from IFS, such as the Foliant Vega 400A. This B3+ compact industrial laminating machine is designed for heavy duty digital outputs and high volumes of offset printed sheets, featuring an integrated deep pile vacuum feeder and a high-speed bump separator, with non-sticky pressure roller and in-run adjustable twin de-curl bar and overlap system.
Available from IFS, the Foliant Vega 400A is a B3+ compact industrial laminating machine
Also on offer is the Foliant Mercury 530NG, a 27mpm heavy-duty industrial system with a Heidelberg suction feeder and a high-speed bump separator as standard. Seaber also picks out the Foliant Taurus 530 NG 4X4, a 35mpm double-sided laminating system suited to higher volume double-sided lamination, with two laminating units for 100% equal quality on both sides at all speeds.
O Factoid: Available from IFS, the Foliant Mercury 530NG is a 27mpm heavy-duty industrial system with a Heidelberg suction feeder and a high-speed bump separator as standard O
Swinging back to the Foliant Multi-functional Inprinting Unit, this retrofittable machine, Seaber says, offers a cost-effective way to transform output from the Vega, Mercury and Taurus B3 and B2 laminators.
“It makes foiling and spot varnish fast and affordable for short run and personalised print by applying foil or spot UV varnish effect to a pre-printed area of toner,” he says, adding: “The sheet can then be reprinted mono or colour. It runs a wide range of coloured foils including gold, silver, holographic, red, green and a clear gloss for spot varnish.
“Foil can be added to unlaminated paper, or, for a more luxury feel and look, it can be added to laminate film such as ‘Soft Touch’ or ‘Anti Scuff Matt’. The process transforms business cards, luxury packaging, letterheads, stationery, wedding stationery, high-end print, book covers, greeting cards and security printing.”
Saving on costs
Also well placed to offer advice on this market is Friedheim International, which has a wide range of finishing solutions available to the industry. Seth Morgan, marketing executive at Friedheim, says bringing lamination in house is one of the easiest decisions a PSP can make because the technology has made the process, so simple the learning curve is very short.
“If you are outsourcing any sort of finishing work, then every aspect of the production will be costing more: wages increasing reflecting inflation, energy costs, and material costs are all still increasing,” Morgan says, adding: “A printer simply has to imagine the variables they would consider when costing a job.
“If the trade finisher is using a ten-year-old laminator it’s going to be using more energy for longer periods of time, which you’ll also be paying for. Also, a new factor to consider is the plastic packaging tax; if your preferred trade finisher is now liable to pay that it could be another addition to costs.
“It’s not just down to costs, with time also an important consideration. When it comes to producing samples, if customers aren’t sure about the type of lamination they need, you don’t have to waste their time or lose out on sales by deferring.”
With this, Morgan goes on to recommend some of the factors and qualities PSPs should be looking for when they go to invest in a new laminator for the first time or to replace an existing machine.
First, Morgan says PSPs should keep an eye out for whether the device has a good feeder, as you cannot laminate faster than you can feed. Secondly, he says PSPs should pay attention to the build quality of a machine as jobs need to be completed in a saleable condition without any reprints or breakdown hold ups.
“Also important is the ease of set up and use; this means you can power on, complete different jobs in the shortest amount of time, and then power down using the least amount of energy,” Morgan adds.
Friedheim recently announced the availability of the new Komfi Amiga 52 tandem double model, representing the evolution of the existing single-side model device. Key features on the new solution include a top production speed of 25m/minute on sheet thicknesses of between 115 to 600gsm, while the machine has a maximum operating area of 56 x 80cm.
“Komfi developed a new module (second laminating unit) that was simply implemented into the standard Amiga 52,” Morgan says, adding: “This module is placed between the laminating unit and separator. Due to this concept, use of the machine, its settings, maintenance and most of the spare parts for this new machine are identical with standard Amiga 52.”
Distributed by Friedheim International, the Komfi Amiga 52 tandem double model is the evolution of the existing single-side model
There seems to be little argument as to whether bringing lamination in-house is a good idea for PSPs. While the initial equipment investment may prove a minor stumbling block, the long-term financial and business benefits appear to be plentiful.
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