Machinery.

Our single sided plant is the most advanced and modern in New Zealand. We boast the Diamond 102 as the biggest, fastest, and in our opinion the best machine in New Zealand. With a maximum mechanical line speed of 95 Metres / minute and a feeder rated to 16,000 SPH nothing else comes close. We can take a pallet direct from a printing press at 105cm width and load directly into our feeder, and run using the printers grip. When complete we remove the finished pallet from the delivery unit, ready to strap and wrap for delivery to the customer. This machine is a true hands free operation where handling is limited to checking on setup and then at regular intervals throughout the run. Ideally suited for big sheet and large volume runs, but also where tight margins and accuracy are paramount.

Often the Diamond is busy with a large run, meaning we had to wait to run another job. With the recent installation of our TM720 we now have a solution aimed at shorter run and lower volume jobs. The TM features the same laminating station as the Diamond, but at 720mm wide. It can still run a 1020 x 720mm sheet, but we turn the sheet 90 degrees and run using the lay edge as our grip. The TM has the same quality finish thanks to the same technology, but is less automated and offers maximum line speed of over 40 Metres / minute.

The biggest area of increase is in low volume runs and digital print work. We are now seeing runs with less than 20 sheets required. The economics of setting up and running an automatic machine don’t stack up, so we have installed a hand feed machine perfect for this work. Using the same laminating technology with a heated chrome laminating roller and high pressure the results are indistinguishable from the other machines.

There are a lot of budget machines being developed – aimed at the printer primarily where a trade laminator is not a convienent solution. We compare these to a colour copier trying to take on an offset printing press. Simply when quality and speed of production is paramount – they don’t provide the solution.

Materials.

The film of choice for high quality graphic laminating is Polypropylene. Available in Matt or gloss finishes. We have been using this film type since 1990 and have seen the development of this product into what we use today. Like paper there are different thicknesses and quality levels. There are many large plants manufacturing these films, primarily now in Asia – including India, Thailand, Korea, Japan and China. Our experience shows that cheap is exactly that, and quality costs. We are now importing our film by the container load directly from J-Film corporation of Japan, whom we consider to produce the highest quality film available. Compared to all other films we have tried the consistency from roll to roll is excellent, the clarity and gloss is exceptional, and the adhesion qualities are the best we have seen. Initially we tried purchasing film locally, but the importers of these materials buy in low volume, so their choices have always been lower quality cheap film that allows a margin to be added. The results from cheap films sooner or later will come back to haunt you. We also import materials from Thailand and occasionally Korea, but these materials are for specific use areas such as metalised printable lamination.

There are 2 main thickness of film we import: our standard is 28micron (most others use 24) and we also offer a 40 micron for extra gloss or where difficult paper stocks have been used. We also import special films for use with digital print work that requires aggressive adhesive to achieve satisfactory bond strengths.
We pride ourselves on finding solutions that others can’t. We work with all finishing houses in Canterbury on a regular basis, understanding the next process is important to ensure the next step in the process is trouble free.

Our Philosophy.

We have developed and grown our company to cater for our chosen markets and the ever changing requirements. We have always held firm in the belief that quality will always win over cheap, and to this end we have pursued our major goal of becoming number 1 in our market and then continuing to push the boundaries. We will continue to reinvest and grow our services and push our quality, working with our customers to give them an advantage in our market place. We believe 20 years in our industry gives us a considerable edge and advantage with knowledge, experience, and contacts worldwide. We are happy to advise customers on how best to setup a job, and what will work best considering the final requirement.