Page 13 - Print21 Magazine May-June 2021

Cover Story
packaging operations the means to present their product in an attention-grabbing way, providing an aspirational look and feel to the product.
“We are very proud of Alumma.
It offers dieless operation, and produces really high quality, with everything from fine detail to solids looking great. It will give printers more to offer to their clients.”
One of the benefits of Alumma
is its turnaround time. Typically,
a full sheet of packaging dies will take around two days to prepare, with makeready often taking many hours on top. Alumma has minimal makeready.
It also opens up hot foiling for short run and on-demand work – the process is cost effective whether you’re running 100 sheets or 100,000 sheets.
For printers’ customers this means foiling, and embossing is now available quickly and efficiently at a reasonable cost whatever the run length.
The ability to produce raised foil without embossing, that is denting out the substrate, will also be welcomed. Hone says, “For greetings cards, magazines and commercial print it means they do not have to lose a page of real estate as they
do at the moment when the front image is embossed. Because the foil is raised without the embossing, the reverse side is still perfectly flat,
so that space no longer needs to be sacrificed.”
The system works with the machine laying down a transparent film with the layout to be foiled and raised on the printed sheet, with
the hot foil then applied on top. The chemical make-up of the transparent film that the foil adheres to has
been one of the key developments in the whole process. The application unit is enclosed which prevents any dust entering into the process. Hone says, “It has been through extensive testing – we have printed reams of solids, there is no dust in there.”
“We can lay it down to any level,” he says. “We can build up with different colours or the same colour, and we can build it to be quite thick.” It is a mechanical engineering process – there are no electro piezo print heads involved. Hone says being a pure mechanical process means the reliability is easier
to achieve.
It can lay down gold, silver and
many different colours at once. Avon is about to release swatch books
“It is a huge step in the Australian market. Especially at a time when we are seeing a lot of manufacturing coming back from China.” — Tate Hone, Avon Graphics
for what will be available through Alumma and Alumma X.
Hone says, “We feel it is a huge step in the Australian market. Especially at a time when we are seeing a lot of manufacturing coming back from China, as companies deal with the uncertain trade relationship and the current difficulties in shipping with supply and surging costs. Supply is key – you can’t sell
it if you don’t have it. We are seeing a big increase in businesses looking to move manufacturing of all kinds back onshore. Alumma and Alumma X are here at just the right time.
“The process is cost-effective, it is fast, and it produces quality of the highest level.
“We looked at other ways of doing it but came to the conclusion that the system we have developed has the combination of speed, quality, cost of equipment and consumables that will enable print businesses of all sizes to be able to go to the market with confidence.”
Alumma is not limited to paper or board, it can be applied to a wide range of substrates including wrapping papers, plastics and laminates. Avon Graphics is also releasing a holographic Alumma range which Hone says will be “very special”.
“In this digital age speed is important, especially for commercial printers,” he says. “Alumma and Alumma X will enable those printers to give their customers the benefits of foil and emboss but without
the drawbacks of too much added time – it will dramatically improve turnaround times. It is a very exciting step. It will really knock people’s socks off – no one will have seen anything like it before.”
Hone says the release of Alumma will be “a positive” for the whole industry. “At Avon, we feel we have a responsibility for the whole industry as the leading embellishing house
in the country. We are committed to giving our customers more – we are not standing still. Print has unrivalled benefits, but we need
to keep building on those benefits, and that is what Avon is doing with Alumma.” 21
A positive for the industry: Tate Hone with the new Alumma system
Avon Graphics
Avon Graphic is Australia’s largest specialist finishing house. It has grown significantly in recent years, partly through organic growth, partly through strategic growth, and partly through acquisition. It bought Auscote in Brisbane, it bought Rotoflex and Cello Central in Sydney, and Cello Protectaprint in Melbourne, to add to its existing businesses in each location.
It has also become a major wide format trade house, with both roll-to-roll and flatbed printers, and has also started a photo canvas printing business, Jondo.
When Trevor Hone joined the business 43 years ago as a planner, it had four staff. Today, with the Hone family now the sole owner, it has 120 staff, with Tate having been there for the past 17 years after serving an apprenticeship elsewhere as an offset printer.
The business has always been committed to developing its technology with the development of its own laser cutters among its other achievements.
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