Dutch printer Opmeer BV has celebrated its 40th anniversary with the installation of an Autobond Mini 76 T and even though the new laminator is in use only three times a week, the company is delighted with the significant benefits it has achieved.  The all Heidelberg sheet-fed printer provides customers throughout Holland with a wide range of services, from pre-press to finishing.  Work requiring laminating was previously sent out to specialist trade houses, but this invariably resulted in additional time and costs.

“We wanted greater control throughout all production processes and even though we do not have a lot of laminating, it has proved to be very cost effective to bring this in-house,” says owner Boy Opmeer, whose parents started the company.  “The new Autobond machine comes at the end of a two-year period of investment in new finishing equipment, which has included facilities such as cutting and creasing.  We first saw Autobond laminators in operation at drupa and were extremely impressed by what we saw.

“The one area we were concerned about was that Autobond has no local agent in Holland but the quality of the construction ensures great reliability and the after sales support from Autobond is first class.  The sophisticated remote diagnostics feature that is built into each laminator means that if we have a query, no matter how small, it is easy for an experienced Autobond engineer to log on to our Mini 76 T.  We’ve had tremendous reliability from the new laminator and the only time we did have a question, it was answered immediately.

“We’ve used the Mini 76 T with a variety of work, laminating jobs from 500 covers to 40,000 folders,” says Mr Opmeer.  “The Mini 76 T is straightforward to use and Autobond provided some very comprehensive training upon installation. We were reassured by the way the engineer remained at the company until we were completely comfortable with running the laminator ourselves.  It’s a good example of the commitment Autobond has shown.”

Opmeer, which is a family-run business, employs 60 people at its factory in The Hague.  About half of its customers consist of government bodies and work ranges from annual reports and accounts, to brochures and programmes.

The Mini 76 T has the ability to handle stock from A4 up to 76 x 102 cm in weights between 90 gsm to 650 gsm.  All Mini laminators are designed so that they can fit into a factory where space is limited.  The heavy duty build helps to ensure reliability and accuracy, as well as enabling a nip pressure of up to six metric tonnes.

This means that Autobond laminators can be used for work printed on litho or digital presses, as the force in the nip rollers allows good adhesion between film and stock even if toner based inks have been used.  The high degree of automation incorporated within Autobond’s laminators, along with features such as the quick-change airshafts for mounting films, makes them extremely efficient and easy to use.

Standard features include an adjustable anti-curl bar, pneumatically adjustable in-feed nip rollers and a pneumatic clutch to ensure constant tension of the film.  Autobond laminators are available in sizes from B3 to B1 and can be made as perfectors, allowing both sides of the sheet to be laminated in one pass.