 An Autobond
MINI 105 THS laminator is the company’s
‘best buy for years’ according to Alan McKee at
Ulster printer W &
G Baird in Antrim, about 15 miles from Belfast. As print finishing
manager he could be forgiven for being biased, but with around 75 per
cent of covers from the firm’s two eight-colour B1
Speedmasters and
ten-colour B1 Speedmaster requiring lamination, the new MINI 105 has
had a huge impact on turnaround times.
The thermal MINI 105 THS is fitted with a Heidelberg feed head and an
Autobond stacker, which provide a feeder and delivery capacity that
matches those on the Heidelberg presses. The machine was delivered at
the beginning of May and its ease of operation means that two staff
have already been trained to use it.
“We had in-house water-based laminating facilities until
about eight
years ago but these couldn’t meet our demands and so we ended
up
outsourcing all of it,” says Mr McKee. “Over the
years we’ve kept an
eye on developments in this area and would have bought an Autobond
thermal model long before now if we had been able to fit it into the
factory. The introduction of the MINI series, which offers a very small
footprint, overcame this hurdle and when Autobond launched the MINI
105, which can handle B1 sheets landscape, we jumped at the opportunity
to bring the process back in-house.
“Although we’ve only had the Autobond machine for a
few weeks, we’ve
been pushing the workflow to see how quickly we can take sheets from
the press and put them through the laminator. We’ve found
that sheets
are generally dry enough within a few hours after printing and with the
MINI able to laminate at 60 metres per minute, jobs are soon on their
way to the next stage of finishing. This has been helped greatly by the
stacker, which allows a pallet of laminated sheets to be wheeled away
without effort or delay.
“Average print runs are around 8,000 so the ability to change
jobs
easily on the MINI 105 is vital,” says Mr McKee.
“So far we’ve been
able to standardise on three film widths and the quick-change air shaft
means that it is a simple matter to swap film rolls. With jobs ranging
from leaflets laminated both sides to magazine covers laminated one
side, the MINI 105’s versatility has been important to
achieving the
level of productivity needed.
“We’ve known John Gilmore and the Autobond team for
many years and they
have given us a superb service. The installation of the MINI went so
smoothly that it was producing live jobs two days after it arrived and
we’ve had some excellent support since then.”
W & G Baird operates its pressroom 24 hours a day and the
laminator
is currently used on one shift. However, the company plans to have at
least one trained operator on every shift so that work can be laminated
when it is dry regardless of the time of day. The company, which has
been printing for 145 years since its formation in 1862, specialises in
producing magazines, periodicals and high-quality four-colour
commercial work. It serves customers spread throughout the UK and
Ireland.
 Visit AUTOBOND
Website
|
|
