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| p2p Magaz i ne | Wi nter 2013
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LAMINATING
How fast can you go?
Laminators is one product category that is bucking the trend in terms
of growth. According to research conducted by Fellowes, 59 per cent of
respondents polled across the UK, France and Germany, said laminators are an
essential business tool and 73 per cent laminate on a daily or weekly basis.
Laminators are predominantly used
as a signage or display medium with
the most popular uses cited as: for
displaying noticeboard materials,
producing certificates or protecting
instruction manuals.
Fellowes, the market leader with
a 42 per cent share (GfK), is a fan
of conducting consumer research to
understand the real needs of the people
using laminating products; it then centres
its new product development with the
user in mind.
“In the past, manufacturers
were focussed mainly on speed and
functionality and laminators offered very
little in the way of innovation,” says Hugh
Darcy, Vice President of Binding
and Laminating. “Around eight years ago
we did some research and launched
what was then a revolutionary high-tech
range that greatly improved reliability
over previous models and which also
looked good.”
On the back of this study, Fellowes
introduced a number of features based
on user feedback including HeatGuard,
which reduces the surface temperature
by up to 50 per cent ensuring the
laminator is always safe to touch; a
patented CleanMe glue sensor that warns
the user to clean the laminator internally
if glue or dirt has built up and Autolam
pouch detection and speed adjustment,
which automatically finds the optimum
speed/heat combination.
The latest study conducted last
summer revealed that users’ needs
Respondents
cited quality
of results as
number one,
followed by ease
of use and jam-
free operation.
have shifted.When asked to rank the
most important features for laminating;
respondents cited quality of results as
number one, followed by ease of use
and jam-free operation. In the first
survey, machines that didn’t jam was the
number one requirement.
Darcy attributes this shift to the
fact that the development of its 100
per cent Jam Free system, (when used
in combination with Fellowes brand
pouches), gave consumers the confidence
to use laminating creatively without the
worry of jamming. Consumers were now
focussed on ease of use and how good
the results were.
The survey findings were fed back into
Fellowes’ new product development team
and they designed a new concept that
was quicker, extremely easy to use and
one which produced outstanding results.
And on the back of this, Fellowes is to
launch a brand new range of laminators
later this year.
www.fellowes.com
Faster to the finish
A new line of Fusion Laminators from
GBC promises amazingly fast warm-up
times and throughput speeds. Plus a
new easy-to-use design, according to
the firm, makes finishing any project
simpler than ever.
The Fusion range consists of nine
machines suitable for low (1000 & 1100
series), medium (3000 & 3100 series) to
high volume usage (5000 & 5100 series).
All machines in the range support varying
pouch thickness capabilities from 2x75
micron to 2x250 micron.
The flagship Fusion 5100L A3
laminator warms up in just one minute
and laminates an A4 document with a
75 micron pouch in just 15 seconds. Key
features include an auto pouch thickness
detector and auto misfeed recovery,
premium LCD screen that displays
manual settings, help menu, job counter
and a ‘countdown to ready’ timer.
www.gbceurope.com
State-of-the-art laminators
Leitz’s fully automatic iLAM range includes heavy-
duty iLAM touch laminators for professional use and
iLAM easy, a home office version in on-trend colours.
iLAM machines are highly intuitive and easy to
use, use little energy and thanks to sensor technology,
recognise the strength of the lamination pouches and
adjust the speed in relation to the required temperature.
iLAM pouches, designed to be used with the
laminators, deliver perfect results due to Unique
Direction Technology - arrows on the pouches clearly
indicate which way to insert documents, eliminating
user error and reducing waste.
www.leitz.com/lamination