Finishing & Screen Printing

Autobond’s Mini 105 TH Has Successful First Week at Phoenix Print Finishing

Graham Masters, MD of Phoenix Print Finishing in Nottingham (left), with Autobond MD John Gilmore and the new Mini 105 TH laminator.

Wednesday 26. August 2009 - The new Autobond Mini 105 TH laminator at Nottingham’s Phoenix Print Finishing has just completed a very successful first week in production, handling a variety of work efficiently and quickly, as managing director Graham Masters explains.

“We already provided comprehensive saddle stitching and folding facilities but we felt that investing in a top quality sheet-fed laminator would enable us to offer a more complete, one-stop-shop service to customers,” says Mr Masters, who co-founded the company in 1991.

“A lot of the covers for the jobs that we handle are laminated, and customers previously had to send these elsewhere, which often resulted in delays and double handling. It increasingly became clear that to increase efficiency for our customers and ourselves we should consider bringing this technology in-house.

“We knew of Autobond’s excellent reputation within the industry and when we visited the company’s factory in Derbyshire we immediately felt that the whole team, from the managing director down, really cared about our needs. So often today, you come away from a manufacturer thinking that all they want to do is sell you something, whether it is right or not.

“In the case of Autobond, we didn’t know which model would be best for us, but managing director John Gilmore was very patient in understanding the type of work we did and what we wanted to achieve. In the end we decided on the top of the range B1 model, which arrived during the first week of August, and with Autobond providing extensive on-site training we were up and running quickly.”

Autobond laminators are equipped with Heidelberg feeders and are available in sizes from B3 – B1, and in a wide range of configurations eg water-based or thermal film, single-sided or perfecting. Other finishing processes such as embossing, UV coating, the application of magnetic material, can be incorporated into the laminators and carried out in-line. Autobond also manufactures encapsulators and is a major producer of water-based adhesives, which can be used with any make of water-based laminator, and is a key supplier of thermal laminating films.

“We like everything about the Mini 105 TH, from its sturdy construction and inbuilt online diagnostics to the very quick make-ready and fast throughput speed,” says Graham Masters. “It’s important that we can provide our customers with an unrivalled service so speed, quality and a competitive price are vital, especially during the current difficult times. The Mini 105 TH meets all of those aspects.”