Minimizing Lamination Waste

“Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste. “

—Benjamin Franklin

We have two competing maxims to guide our work habits. “Haste makes waste” competes with “time is money” to determine how we structure our business ethics. And both have valid reasons to be taken seriously. There are limited hours in the day. The more work that can be crammed into the prescribed time periods, the larger the perceived profit. However, the faster we try to work, the more potential there is for mistakes and waste. Nowhere is this more true than in the laminating room. Here are some practical tips to help you minimize waste during the lamination process.

Lamination is an art of precision. Trying to rush the process is a recipe for disaster. The first corner usually cut in the need for speed is cleanliness. Surgically clean rooms are time consuming to maintain, but one speck of dust can ruin a 20' wall mural. Where is the saving in that?

Most RIP software features handy nesting options. Using nesting options to gang several jobs together that use the same media will allow you to laminate in the most efficient way possible.

Maintenance of the equipment also cannot be overlooked. Manufacturers provide maintenance instructions and intervals, including regular cleaning of all parts. Shortcuts here can cost a lot more time and money in the future. This includes major problems like potential equipment failures in the middle of a long run or seemingly minor issues such as dirt in the lamination. Either one could cost more than the savings in time that it would cost to keep the equipment well maintained.

Careful setup of the laminating machine on each run cannot be overlooked. Spending a few extra minutes to ensure that all settings are perfect, the webbing is flawless and the materials are correct can save a lot of grief and waste in the end.

Gang your lamination jobs. When a project enters the print department, it is often quickly RIPped and printed. But spending a little extra time to print it together with other projects can save a lot of wasted material. Most of the RIP software packages have excellent nesting capabilities. This allows for multiple files that are being printed on the same media to be grouped together and printed in a tightly fitting pattern.

First the laminate is taped to the print, leaving a 3” leader. Then it is hand-fed through the main laminator rollers. Webbing up a laminator requires quite a bit of material—both laminate and print media.

This diagram shows the large amount of leader required to both laminate (red) and print media (green) when using conventional techniques. When a lamination job can’t be nested with other jobs, it’s much less wasteful to hand-feed the job rather than webbing up the laminator. The technique takes a bit of practice, but can save a fortune in wasted lamination film.

The savings in print media are obvious. What is equally obvious is that this only works if all of the files to be printed together are getting the same laminate as well. In large shops this should not be a problem. It just means a little extra co-ordination between the pre-press and print departments. Pre-press should let the printers know what is going to be coming to them that day so that they can organize their print files accordingly.

Plan smart. The printers could also look at upcoming schedules and due dates to formulate longer range plans. The lamination department will also have to be part of the planning. They know what sizes of film they have for each laminate type. Coordinating optimal media and film sizes is a vital part of the exercise. Then large groups of files can be organized to make the best use of space on both the print and lamination media.

Print onto everything. If you still have empty spaces in the print media, fill these up with company advertising or charity work. It not only eliminates waste, it’s tax deductible!

Hand-feed when needed. Sometimes a project cannot be nested with other jobs. Perhaps it is a rush job or maybe the media/laminate combination is unique. Again, the fastest way is to web up the laminator. But it is also the most wasteful way. A more penurious way is to do away with webbing altogether and hand-feed the print through the laminator. The print will only need a 3" leader area. A piece of laminate is cut slightly larger than the print and placed over the print face up. The leading edge of the laminate is taped onto the print leader using masking tape. This has to be perfectly aligned. Hold the back end of the laminate off the print at a 45 degree angle, carefully peel the backing from the laminate and feed the sandwich through the laminator. It will take a little practice but can save a fortune in wasted laminate.

Too many laminate and print media choices is another problem. The more possible permutations and combinations that exist, the less chance that any of these solutions will work. By taking a careful look at the most commonly used laminates it should be possible to trim down the inventory and make the lamination process more bottom-line friendly.

Roll size plays a big factor in eliminating waste as well. Using a 54" roll to laminate a 24" print has an obvious waste problem. When the shop has less media types, it can afford to stock more sizes of the media it has. This is one way to solve the size problem. The other is to use the slitter on the laminator to cut the material down to size as it runs through the laminator. Then save the offcut pieces for hand feeding.

So spending a little extra time on due diligence and cleanliness can save time and money in the long run. And spending a little extra time to save material will help the expenses and the environment. No way to lose.

Sign & Digital Graphics

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