In 1995, Autobond's President, John Gilmore, sold a laminator to Joe Tardie at US-based Presentation Folder. Eighteen years later, John's son Oran Gilmore has sold another machine, a Mini 76 TPHS, to Joe's son.

Founded in California in 1977 as letterpress/trade finishing shop offering a range of services from imprinting and die-cutting to foil stamping and embossing, family-run Presentation Folder added laminating in 1995.

Joe Tardie Junior, President of Presentation Folder, comments, "As the company grew, we began converting pocket folders and eventually selling the whole product, hence the name 'Presentation Folder'. Part of this expansion involved adding a lamination service. My father, Joe Tardie Senior, went to a local laminating house and was informed that Autobond was the best around, so my father promptly called John Gilmore and invested in an Autobond AFD 76 AT laminator."

Presentation Folder is still using the AFD today for single sided water-based lamination and single-sided thin film thermal lamination to protect and enhance its range of folders, as well as providing trade finishing services to printers.

While the Autobond machine enables the company to produce a variety of applications and serve a number of markets, Presentation Folder has recently had to adjust its business in response to customer demand for shorter runs and added-value applications. Only this time, it was Joe Tardie Junior's time to make the call to Autobond.

He comments, "Whilst the AFD is an incredibly reliable machine and still running, we were looking to increase our capacity and productivity, and get more into the short-run digital market. At drupa 2012, we visited the Autobond stand and were impressed with what they were doing. Afterwards I put a call into John's son, Oran, and bought the Mini 76 TPHS. It was an easy decision to make, especially considering our existing relationship."

The Mini 76 laminator is Autobond's most popular worldwide. Fed by a Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 feed head, it can run from 8.5" x 11" up to 30 x 41" portrait, and can operate up to a top speed of 200 ft/min. Presentation Folder's Mini 76 features a perfector to laminate two sides in one pass and an automatic stacker to return the laminated sheets into pile form.

Tardie Jnr continues, "The new laminator is not only a real workhorse, but it is also capable of much more than we expected. We knew it would be great to have a double-side laminator that could run at high speeds, but we have also managed to use it for thicker films that it wasn't specifically designed for. We added a separate cutting unit and are now able to use the Mini for 5 mil two-sided flush cut laminating, which has even surprised Autobond! Since investing in the machine we have diversified our service offering and really harnessed the power of the machine to open up new markets for ourselves."

Oran Gilmore, VP of Autobond USA, comments, "This sale is a testament to the reliability of Autobond machinery. Like Autobond, Presentation Folder is a family-run company looking to innovate and diversify. I was thrilled to receive the call from Joe Jnr, and who knows - maybe one day his son will be putting a call into mine for another machine."

Autobond recently demonstrated its best-selling Mini 76 laminator, with a highly accurate flying knife cross-cutter and an inkjet spot UV varnishing machine, at Print 13 (8-12 September 2013, Stand 112). For further details, please see the following press release entitled 'Autobond to debut spot UV technology to North American market at Print 13'.