The new model, which sells for around £120,000, replaces Special Binding Service’s previous Autobond Mini 105 laminator, which was destroyed by smoke and water in an inferno last year. The new kit in Brisbane outputs 10,000 sheet per hour B1. Autobond managing director John Gilmore said: “The old kit was about five years old and we moved heaven and Earth to get the new machine there; it’s a 10-week shipping time. What makes this model stand out is it’s really fast, very productive. Makeready takes five minutes.” Mini 105 mark II is a 105cm x 76cm landscape laminator with a maximum operating speed of 60m per minute. It utilises a Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 feed head and is fitted with an optional perfector to laminate two sides in one pass. It also features a stacker. “Special Binding Service has shown real character to bounce back from last year’s setback,” said Gilmore. “Australia is consistently proving to be one of our best markets for laminators. Because of the vast distances, it is essential to have reliable and versatile machinery.” Special Binding Service is a full finishing house for printers offering binding and lamination of book covers and posters. Production manager Warren Swinburne went to Drupa to replace the company’s production line. Tom Ralph, managing director of Australian agent Graph-Pak said: “Autobond is renowned across the Australasian markets for producing great build quality machines that are powerful, easy to use, and that can help expand a company’s business.”...

Scotland’s health minister Michael Matheson said it was disappointing that the UK government had decided not to take action on the standardised packaging of tobacco products. He added: “The Scottish government remains committed to introducing standardised packaging, given the strong evidence to support the impact it will have on preventing young people from starting to smoke. “We will now identify an appropriate timescale to introduce legislation on standardised packaging to the Scottish Parliament.” It follows UK health minister Jeremy Hunt’s announcement last week that the government would delay any plans to ban company branding on tobacco packaging until it has seen the impact of similar action in Australia, where plain packaging legislation has been in place since November 2011. In a written statement published alongside the government’s long-awaited Consultation on the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products, Hunt said: “Having carefully considered these differing views, the government has decided to wait until the emerging impact of the decision in Australia can be measured before we make a final decision on this policy in England.” In March, Scotland launched a tobacco control strategy making it the third country in the world to set an ultimate target of becoming tobacco-free and having less than 5% the population choosing to smoke by 2034. The strategy also included a commitment for the introduction of standardised packaging and education programmes to prevent young people from starting to smoke. Mike Ridgway who fronts a lobby group of UK packaging firms, said that last week’s announcement from the Scottish government suggested more thought is also needed north of the border. “All they have done is said they are thinking about a timescale. Who knows how long that might be? I’m sure they are committed but they are thinking about the practicalities. “How easy is it going to be if everything in Scotland has to have a different packaging design on it than south of the border? I think that would be a serious problem for retailers.” Institute of Packaging Professionals managing director Kevin Vyse said that both governments need to carry out more research before changes are made. He added: “There needs to be more in-depth data. We live in a world where branding plays a huge role and we need to properly look at how this would impact such an industry and all those businesses involved in it. “Changing to standardised packaging won’t stop smokers and in fact it is our belief that the gruesome pictures and lack of branding could in fact encourage a sort of cult behaviour with younger smokers. “I don’t think this is as much to do with waiting for evidence from Australia, where I don’t think there is much evidence yet,...

The Car Wrap Club soft launched earlier this year, with a white label website and social media campaign to generate interest and leads for car wrap companies. So far the website has generated “hundreds” of leads and social media interactions according to Paperlinx head of digital marketing Nick Stragnell. The initiative is the second in the paper merchanting group’s customer-centric projects, following on from the launch of its printers’ webstores packaging service in May. The Car Wrap Club project, which has in effect been in beta and more focussed on raising awareness via social media, is now set to go fully operational with a new, content driven website, supported by AdWord advertising, going live next week. “When we looked at launching The Car Wrap Club, we were aware that there might be some sensitivities about us targeting end users and in effect leapfrogging our customers. But after we spoke to them, they fed back that there isn’t a lot of knowledge and awareness out there and if we can help change that then that would be great,” said Stragnell. “We’re at the point now, six months after we had the first idea, that we’ve now tested the water and it’s been fantastic, so we’re ready to take it to the next level.” The first member of The Car Wrap Club is AST Signs, with five more companies set to be unveiled in the coming weeks. To support The Car Wrap Club strategy, an HGV trailer converted into a training centre has been touring Paperlinx branches in Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Northampton, London, Bristol and Birmingham for the past few months. It was also on show at Fespa and live wrapping demonstrations were held at the recent Mini Festival at Brands Hatch, in conjunction with Mini racing specialist Lohen, to drive consumer awareness. The “training truck” offers practical information for new entrants to car wrapping and established wrap companies looking to develop their skills. It is also being used for Paperlinx to benchmark the skill levels of the latter group, with a view to them being accredited and invited to join the club. The training truck is run by Rob Lambie, head of sign and display buying consortium UK Sign Group. Stragnell said that the company was ultimately looking at 100 members, but the plan was to be selective in terms of service quality and the fact that they are Paperlinx customers in some form. Equally, the merchant will aim not have any two members that are in direct geographic competition. “We don’t want to put customers in competition with each other, equally we don’t want to be seen as playing favourites. The important thing to remember is that we’re not...

Scotland’s health minister Michael Matheson said it was disappointing that the UK government had decided not to take action on the standardised packaging of tobacco products. He added: “The Scottish government remains committed to introducing standardised packaging, given the strong evidence to support the impact it will have on preventing young people from starting to smoke. “We will now identify an appropriate timescale to introduce legislation on standardised packaging to the Scottish Parliament.” It follows UK health minister Jeremy Hunt’s announcement last week that the government would delay any plans to ban company branding on tobacco packaging until it has seen the impact of similar action in Australia, where plain packaging legislation has been in place since November 2011. In a written statement published alongside the government’s long-awaited Consultation on the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products, Hunt said: “Having carefully considered these differing views, the government has decided to wait until the emerging impact of the decision in Australia can be measured before we make a final decision on this policy in England.” In March, Scotland launched a tobacco control strategy making it the third country in the world to set an ultimate target of becoming tobacco-free and having less than 5% the population choosing to smoke by 2034. The strategy also included a commitment for the introduction of standardised packaging and education programmes to prevent young people from starting to smoke. Mike Ridgway who fronts a lobby group of UK packaging firms, said that last week’s announcement from the Scottish government suggested more thought is also needed north of the border. “All they have done is said they are thinking about a timescale. Who knows how long that might be? I’m sure they are committed but they are thinking about the practicalities. “How easy is it going to be if everything in Scotland has to have a different packaging design on it than south of the border? I think that would be a serious problem for retailers.” Institute of Packaging Professionals managing director Kevin Vyse said that both governments need to carry out more research before changes are made. He added: “There needs to be more in-depth data. We live in a world where branding plays a huge role and we need to properly look at how this would impact such an industry and all those businesses involved in it. “Changing to standardised packaging won’t stop smokers and in fact it is our belief that the gruesome pictures and lack of branding could in fact encourage a sort of cult behaviour with younger smokers. “I don’t think this is as much to do with waiting for evidence from Australia, where I don’t think there is much evidence yet,...

The kit replaced a 13-year-old machine from Wraps UK, said managing director James Wheeler, who is using it for jobs including shrink wrapping of books. His company paid £18,500 for the equipment, supplied by Friedheim International. “The old equipment was coming to the end of its useful life and we wanted more speed and better options on size – this kit goes up to A3,” he said. “We were keen to increase not so much turnover but to make the work we do more profitable.” The EM 24 EL-Matic sealer runs at 600 to 2,400 packs per hour and the TM 18 TE-Matic shrink tunnel has a conveyor speed of 2.8 to 9.4m per minute. Kensett, based in Hove employs 40 staff and makes £1.8m turnover. It’s nearby sister company K&L Laminators has 10 staff and makes a turnover of around...