The trade printer/finisher's sheetfed Docufinish, which was installed last week, will allow the firm to produce cards, labels, barcodes, magnets, RFID tags and holograms integrated into letters.

"We're very excited about it because it opens up a lot of opportunities for us... now we've just got to create the markets," said IOS co-owner and sales director Phil Collins.

The 6,000sph Docufinish applies a laminate "patch" to one side of the pre-printed sheet, which it then kiss die-cuts to allow the reinforced section to be easily removed. The line can also apply a laminate to both sides by repeating the process.

"But the real beauty of this machine is that it's sheetfed, whereas nearly all of the other machines on the market use webs," said Alistair Sawyer, managing director of VDB's UK agent RM (Rotary) Services.

"So if someone wants 500 integrated cards doing, we can do it," added Collins.

The Belgian line installed at Exeter-based IOS can handle envelopes from C5 up sheets to A3, the firm is in the process of adding an option to take the minimum size down to DL envelopes.
The Docufinish can handle substrates from 80gsm to 600mic. "And will also take preformed flat carton material," said Sawyer. It can be supplied with a two-up option to double productivity, and an RFID application and sorter module.

Darryl Danielli