For almost 40 years Vivid Laminating Technologies has been serving the print finishing sector, moving with the times as lamination moved from a trade speciality to in-house, with smaller formats developed for faster-turnround digital printers, and moving with the times as large-format work went from screen printing to inkjets.
It adapted the laminators for hot foiling in the last decade and supports them with a wide range of film and foil effects consumables.
Vivid has also designed and built a growing range of digital cutting tables with innovative add-ons, and also sells fold-crease-perf machines. It showed these off together with its latest launches at Drupa in May, with a promise of more to come later this year.
The company was founded by Martin Evans in 1986 after working as a salesman at GBC. He’s still managing director today. His son Lewis joined the company in 2004, initially working in the service department, and later being appointed a director.
The company employs more than 50 people today. “Many of our staff members have been with us for 20 to 30 years, and we consider them family,” Lewis says. “Our close-knit team is one of our greatest strengths.”
Today Vivid exports 30% of its sales, Lewis Evans says. “We export to over 55 countries, including Europe, North America, South America, New Zealand and South Africa. Our verified partner network supplies print finishing equipment globally, providing local support to end users.
“Our customers and partners are at the heart of everything we do. Working closely with end-users, industry experts, and leading manufacturers allows us to continually develop systems that add value to print. We see ourselves as a partner to anyone we do business with and support them every step of the way.”
Originally based in a small unit in Coalville in north-west Leicestershire, the company quickly moved a larger unit nearby, called St Georges House. In 2017 it moved a few kilometres to Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
“Our 2,700sqm premises were purpose-built, housing our showroom, manufacturing, and R&D facilities,” says Evans. “As our range grows, we plan to expand our building further.”
The company builds its core products itself. Lewis says: “We manufacture Matrix Systems and all Pneumatic options on Easymounts. Velotaper and Veloton die-cutting systems are also manufactured at Vivid HQ.”
Laminator ranges
“Our first product, the Easymount laminating system, designed in-house, put Vivid on the map,” says Lewis. “It won international awards and remains one of our best-selling ranges.”
These are wide-format laminators, ranging from entry-level models (Easymount Sign) to professional heavy-duty thermal models (Easymount Air). There are cold and thermal film models, and a double-sided version. Widths range from 650 to 1,600mm.
They are suited to laminating and mounting rigid or flexible materials, such as display boards, pop-up banners, signs and exhibition panels, vehicle wraps, window graphics. They can mount as well as lay down application tapes and vinyl. They have multi-lingual control panels, with a patented pneumatic pressure gauge handle on some models. A recent addition is a swing-out arm system at front and the rear to help load and unload rolls with minimal heavy lifting.
Last year Vivid launched Easymount Hybrid, a multi-patented innovation that it says is the world’s first all-in-one roll-fed laminator and applicator. It’s a modular system combining a roll-fed laminator and a flatbed applicator, so saving cost and space. It uses new roll-to-roll hover technology for long-run and roll-fed laminating.
Matrix for smaller formats
In 2008 Vivid introduced the Matrix laminator series, which are compact single-sided models with a small footprint, on casters for mobility. The idea, fairly new at the time, was that even small printers could afford to run one in-house. Lewis describes the concept as “reducing outsourcing costs and adding a wow-factor to your prints”.
The first MX-530 took sheet widths up to 500mm, for landscape feeding of the typical SRA3 formats of digital toner presses, and B2 portrait if needed. At 10m per minute, equivalent to about 1,000 SRA3 sph, it was fast enough to handle short-to-medium-run digital or offset print, though it could run twice as fast if pushed. It featured a hand-fed semi-automatic streaming sheet feeder table with positioning guides, requiring virtually no makeready.
Over the years Vivid built on this concept, adding a positionable multilingual LED control panel after 18 months, then the smaller MX-370 (420mm wide sheets) and larger MX-700 (730mm), though the latter is no longer listed. At Drupa 2012 it added auto-feeders, which could be retrofitted to the manual models. Double-sided models were later introduced, the MX-370DP and MX-530DP – they also support encapsulation, popular for maps, posters and menus. Pneumatic models were introduced that run twice as fast.
For longer unattended runs, there are now optional deep-pile feeders for all models. Like the Matrix units, they are on casters and can be wheeled into place when needed.
Matrix Metallic is a pneumatic version specifically intended for hot foiling and spot UV embellishment effects – it works as a normal laminator too, albeit slightly slower. The major difference apart from the foil roll feeder is specially textured rollers, that can press the foil into coated and uncoated stocks.
It works by heating a printed toner image (dry or HP Indigo) and then feeding and pressing hot foil onto it, so the adhesive selectively melts and the foil remains attached to the image area only. If a toner-compatible clear film is used to protect a printed sheet, the embellishment image can be printed onto that and the foil applied as a second pass through the laminator.
Vivid also supplies the Boss range of OPP film consumables tailored to work with the laminators, plus Aqua Aura hot foils in a range of colours and effects.
Cutting tables
The VeloBlade cutting table range is available in two models: Volta and Nexus. Volta range has two models for maximum 2mm cuts, and four ‘+’ models for up to 10m, in table sizes from 600x400mm up to 1,600x1,200mm, with auto sheet loaders as well as roll feeders on the wider models. There are bar code readers and CCD cameras for registration, and tools to cut, crease, perforate, half-cut and engrave. They are controlled by the ZipCore Software included in the package. An optional Weeder unit strips away waste vinyl, saving a lot of hand work.
Nexus is for 25mm cuts on more solid media such as Dibond, MDF and acrylic as well as textiles. There are three table sizes: 1,600x1,800mm; 2,500x1,600mm; and 3,280x1,600mm. A choice of 100-plus tools includes a CNC router and V-cut blades. Again ZipCore software is standard, but these tables can work with Caldera, Onyx and other wide-format RIP output.
Velotaper is a fully automated flatbed taping system to fit onto VeloBlade tables, that applies double-sided tape accurately to a various media and substrates, making finished cut and creased products ready for assembly. This is a patented product and won the Pinnacle Intertech Award for Best Technology in 2022.
Veloton is the latest introduction, a patented interchangeable bar system with multiple aligned cutting heads. It’s available in several sizes with different numbers of heads. These can be positioned across the width of the sheet, so it cuts a row of multiple identical shapes at once, for decals and labels. The next row can be a set of different shapes. Vivid says this boosts cutting speed by up to ten times with multiple aligned cutting heads, available in various sizes.
Lewis calls Veloton “ground-breaking” and says “Not only will this be of interest to new users, but the Veloton is also retrofittable to any of our already installed VeloBlade machines, including the Volta + and Nexus systems.”
The ZipCore Packaging Suite is CAD/CAM packaging software that’s integrated with Adobe Illustrator, said to handle every aspect of packaging design, with an extensive library of parametric models and packaging designs that can be adapted to individual jobs. This is included with VeloBlade tables.
Vivid also resells the Linear range of encapsulation laminators, and the Peak range of pouch laminators, for schools, offices and inplants.
Another product line is the Magnum series of cut, crease, fold and perforation machines, starting with a small desktop creaser, and progressing to the fully automated MCC-35ASP, essentially a multi-finisher for full bleed cutting, creasing and perforating (including partial perfing for coupons), with interchangeable die modules, job memories and a 100mm deep pile feeder, for sheets up to “long SRA3” 330x660mm. The MC-35AS+MKF can crease, perforate and fold sheets up to 330x900mm.
Drupa and beyond
At Drupa earlier this year Vivid showed off its range in Hall 6. Evans said at the time: “Drupa serves as the perfect stage for introducing new products, and we’re thrilled to unveil the Veloton to visitors. While there’s much to explore at our Drupa showing, we also have a lineup of undisclosed launches later this year.”
So, what’s on the way? Evans responds enigmatically with something of a mission statement: “We are committed to continuous innovation and improvement, introducing new technologies that enhance your capabilities and keep you competitive. In 2025, we plan to launch our biggest product yet, perfect for adding the wow factor.”
STAR PRODUCT
“Our VeloBlade sales indicate a strong market interest,” says Lewis Evans. “Many companies are bringing their wide-format printing and finishing in-house, demonstrating strength and positivity in the market.”
