New Laminator at Juniata College Handles Long Banners

By Bob Neubauer

Heather Bloom uses the new Phoenix 440-ML mounting laminator to laminate directional signage for Juniata College.

“We do a lot of outdoor signage,” proclaims Heather Bloom, Print Services supervisor at Juniata College — parking signs, building signs, COVID safety signs, and many more, all printed on the in-plant’s HP Designjet Z6200 aqueous printer. Most are placed into 28x44˝ sign holders around the rural Huntingdon, Pa., campus, located in the scenic mountains of central Pennsylvania.

“If they’re going to be in those holders for a long period of time, they get laminated,” she says — that is, until the laminator stops working.

That’s what happened earlier this year when the shop’s 10-year-old ProSeal laminator broke down, and replacement parts were unavailable. That got Bloom thinking about the limitations of that laminator, chiefly its inability to laminate long banners. The largest size the ProSeal could laminate was 36x47˝, and outsourcing banner lamination was a challenge.

“There are very limited places outside the college to get long banners done,” notes Bloom, the in-plant’s sole employee. “We would have to travel to State College” — home of Penn State University, about 45 minutes away.

So, in April, Print Services acquired a 44˝ Phoenix 440-ML mounting laminator from Southwest Binding & Laminating with adjustable temperature and speed, and the ability to feed from a roll of up to 250 ft. This enables the lamination of some very long banners. The Phoenix 440-ML can also provide cold lamination for thermally sensitive items, and it easily handles pouch boards up to ¼˝ thick.

The Phoenix 440-ML has enabled the in-plant to add value to the 1,400-student college, not only by increasing the versatility of signage and banners, but by giving professors the ability to laminate student research posters they want to display.

In addition to handling Juniata’s printing needs on its Ricoh Pro C7100SX and Xanté Impressia digital printers, Bloom also oversees outgoing bulk mail for the 145-year-old private liberal arts college.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.