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Mounting & laminating (image finishing) is the production step that takes wide-format digital prints and turns them into working signs and displays. "Finished" prints command a higher retail value and a greater level of customer satisfaction than digital prints alone due to their increased durability and enhanced appearance.
Both film laminating and liquid laminating technologies offer sound solutions for protecting, enhancing, and adding value to digitally printed graphics. Whether one chooses liquid or film depends on the type of graphic being produced and its final application. For the purposes of this article, we'll focus on film laminating.
Protection, Application, Enhancement
Despite the advantages of durable printing inks and media, current research shows that the primary job of laminating films is protecting graphics from damage and degradation due to ultraviolet radiation, water, chemicals, and pollutants, scratching, tearing, excessive handling, and prolonged exposure to public environments.
Many digitally printed graphics become integral components of larger marketing, merchandizing, trade show, or advertising campaigns. Such campaigns cost customer companies thousands of dollars and are pivotal to the generation of leads, sales, and revenue. A graphic has to communicate a message throughout the life of a campaign and must be protected. Laminating offers this protection and provides profit for the graphics producer.
Laminating films also offer image-enhancing properties. These visual and textural effects range from the softening properties of matte films, to the easy-reading qualities of luster, to the sharp, crisp look of high gloss. Even the texture of artist's canvas can be applied with laminating film. Laminating films can be used to control glare from "hot" lighting as well as to add rigidity, flexibility, and portability.
Real Profit Potential
In a market survey of 109 wide-format producers, conducted by Web Consulting Inc. (October, 2006), it was reported that 36 percent of the participants found mounting and laminating to be "highly profitable" with an additional 45 percent reporting that is was "marginally profitable" for their businesses. Today, it is estimated that more than 32 percent of all coated inkjet media gets a clear laminate, while more than 30 percent gets mounted to a rigid substrate using a film-type adhesive. The mark-up for a single-sided laminating and/or mounting job can be as much as five times the actual cost per square foot. Digital print producers who are not offering finishing services are missing out on a valuable source of revenue and profit.
Matt Simpkins, purchasing and estimating manager for Andrés Imaging & Graphics, Chicago, IL, recommends lamination for all photographic and aqueous-based inkjet prints. Simpkins explains that many solvent inkjet prints on pressure-sensitive vinyl media also receive a laminating film for improved protection, extended durability, and image enhancement related to the specific application.
Research shows that finished graphics can support a retail value that is up to 100 percent greater than an unfinished print. Let's consider a standard 30x40-inch rigid graphic. We'll start with a 30x40-inch inkjet print on paper media. Next, we'll add the key components to convert this print into a working graphic. These components, and their general production costs, are listed below:
- 9 sqft of pressure-sensitive mounting adhesive (allowing for some waste) at $0.67/sqft = $6.03
- 9 sqft of a 4 mil, standard grade, pressure-sensitive vinyl laminating film with UV inhibitors at $0.53/sqft = $4.77
- (1) 30x40x.25" expanded PVC board at a production cost of $15.50
Running the print through a roller laminator, the image is sealed between the film laminate and the adhesive laminate to form a decal. In a second pass, the decal is mounted to the PVC board. Excess material is trimmed off and the print is ready for sale.
The retail price of the print is about $125. The total material cost to convert it to a rigid display graphic is $26.30. Including fair labor costs and expenses, the retail value of these services runs around $115. The total retail price of the finished graphic is $240, an increase of 92 percent versus the print alone (Note: retail prices show here are derived from randomly sampled pricing, Northeastern US). With production costs at less than 40 percent of the retail value for mounting and laminating services, margins are strong. Of course, costs will vary per geographic region, market conditions, and materials selected.
Simpkins says Andrés Imaging can "easily maintain good retail margins on mounting and laminating because of the value it adds. It's the customer's understanding of the protection, durability, and enhancement that finishing provides that allows you to increase your margin."
On Board with Pressure-Sensitive Technology
For shops looking to add image finishing to their range of services, today's pressure-sensitive mounting and laminating technologies offer some key advantages:
- First, the initial equipment investment (cost of entry) is lower with pressure-sensitive systems because you don't need a "hot" roller laminator. Laminators that offer cold-roller or warm-roller operation cost less than fully heated machines. Also, the cost of pressure-sensitive laminating materials has dropped, making a pressure-sensitive finishing system cost-effective.
- Second, is the versatility and production ease that pressure-sensitive finishing offers. Pressure-sensitive adhesive technology affords strong bonding with numerous inks and substrates without fear of bubbling or lifting. These films will bond with most aqueous, solvent, eco-solvent, and dye-sublimation inks, and producers don't have to worry about high heat affecting the print surface or causing adhesion issues.
- Third, there is a full range of adhesive-backed media available that allows printing directly to materials that can be mounted to a substrate without the additional production step of applying an adhesive. This is a time saving and cost saving factor that contributes to a higher profit margin. Pressure-sensitive image finishing has a low cost of entry and a solid return on investment.
Pays for Itself
For the image producer who has yet to embrace a finishing department as a profit center, here is some food for thought. Consider the shop that farms out its finishing requirements to meet customer demands. Sure the customer gets all the benefits of a durable finished graphic, yet the shop is paying markups of up to 100 percent on laminating materials to someone else. By moving image finishing in-house one incorporates the flexibility to meet customer demands and puts the revenue in one's pocket. Remember, current research shows that 32 percent of all coated inkjet media gets a clear laminate and that 30 percent of all inkjet prints get mounted to a hard substrate.
Now, consider the shop that has just purchased an entry-level professional laminator and is starting a pressure-sensitive finishing department. We'll assume that this shop pays fair market value for labor and business expenses, and charges fair market rates for inkjet prints and finished graphics. Did you know that such a shop, producing about twenty-eight square feet of inkjet prints per day, and mounting and laminating just a third of those prints, can pay off their new laminating system in under fourteen months with the revenue generated from image finishing alone?
Opportunity Knocks
Once a finishing department is up and running, the opportunity for new revenue grows. Laminating opens a world of new business opportunities such as digitally produced outdoor signs and banners; flexible trade show displays that are easily portable, yet can stand up to years of abuse; retail merchandizing signs and POP displays; backlit graphics and floor graphics for public venues that resist the rigors of public exposure; graphics for theatrical sets, museums, and more.
The smoother a finishing department runs, the greater the profit potential. Factors such as volume of throughput, the length of time it takes to finish a print, operating costs, and materials inventory costs all have an impact on bottom line profit. Knowing what laminating film combinations work best with a particular media, ink, and application, and gaining experience is key to improving smooth production flow and minimizing overall production costs.
Laminating systems manufacturers can provide tested, proven, and sometimes guaranteed finishing solutions. These companies invest time and money in R&D to ensure that producers deliver graphics solutions without fear of delaminating or color-shift by matching media and films fit-for-purpose to a given graphics application.
In addition, compatibility information about films, adhesives, inks and media helps with inventory management, reducing overall inventory volume and costs. Shops don't have to have so many different materials on hand. By combining manufacturers' recommendations with their own testing and experience, producers can identify what solutions work best for the graphics applications they produce the most and purchase those materials accordingly.
Finally, image producers can look to leading laminator manufacturers and resellers for training and applications support to help master image finishing procedures. For companies new to image finishing, be sure to invest with a manufacturer who can thoroughly support your finishing department after the sale.
Image finishing plays an important and profitable role in digital graphics production and application. Mounting and/or laminating adds value. It creates more durable and versatile graphics applications, offers real profit potential for digital graphics producers, and generates greater levels of satisfaction for graphics customers.
Angela Mohni is director of marketing for Neschen Americas, manufacturers of SEAL and Neschen brand laminating equipment and materials. For more information visit www.neschenamericas.com.
author: BY ANGELA MOHNI