"The EK 102/142 is the first machine in the UK to use the latest technology to allow sheet to sheet lamination of specialist materials including metallised polyesters and holographic materials," said Hi Gloss managing director Alex Thompson.

The EK can handle sheet sizes from  320x450mm to 1,020x1,420mm in base materials from 135gsm upwards. It offers a top speed of 60m per min as well as very fast makereadies. Hi Gloss plans to target it at run lengths all the way from 1,000 to the 100,000 mark.

"This machine allows us to cut polyester because it has a very expensive hot-knife bolted onto the end of it," said Thompson. The firm has a turnover of just over 3m, but hopes that its investment will add around 500,000 to that figure.

"We will be offering customers the opportunity to buy exactly what they need in terms of quantity, size grammage and availability,  rather than them being restricted by minimum order size or what's on the shelf," said Thompson.

Not only is the machine capable of window patching, but it can also apply laminates in strips. "I could see the potential from our point of view," said Thompson. He added that the new machine, which was installed two weeks ago, has already created a lot of interest from packaging customers thanks largely to its "on-demand" capabilities.

Thompson said that the Leeds-based firm's machine was a "virtually bespoke" unit, specified in conjunction with Billhfer's technical team in Nuremberg, Germany.

Story by Darryl Danielli