Issue #0812/1 - Xerox, as a major global paper manufacturer, has come up with an alternative to laminating that promises to be quick, easy and durable for all those applications where a little more resistance to wear and tear is required. Given the trademark ‘NeverTear’, the new media just might have the potential for keeping tears out of your eyes.
NeverTear is a printable polyester media that can be passed through a laser printer, MFP or copier and used for any application that would normally require a laminated sheet – and many, many more. The potential for reducing the time and hassle factor involved in the production of durable sheets, for whatever purpose, is absolutely massive.
Not unusually for Xerox, there is extraordinarily little information about the new Premium NeverTear available at this time. But, from the little information supplied, this looks to be an innovation worth investigation.
Firstly, durability – made from high white polyester, NeverTear is said to be tearproof, waterproof and greaseproof.
Archivability – the durable nature of printed documents means that critical hard copies can be archived safely for long periods of time.
Wipe-clean - NeverTear can be wiped clean, making it ideal for environments where moisture and liquids and dirt are prevalent – such as kitchens, restaurants, workshops and gardens (oh, and in offices where coffee is spilled and chocolate gets everywhere!). The media can even be wiped clean with disinfectant!
Presumably, as a wipe-clean media, NeverTear can be drawn on with chinagraph pencils, opening up yet another vast range of possible applications where collaboration is part of the workflow or for printed maps requiring temporary annotations.
Look and feel – as a polyester material (matt finish), NeverTear is said to offer an improved look and feel for those applications where a little extra class is the order of the day.
Die cutting – NeverTear can be die cut or easily trimmed with an office trimmer, or a pair of scissors for those one-off requirements, meaning that unique shapes can be prepared for such applications as product labelling (clothing, plants, tools, etc.), luggage tags, doorknob signs.
Manual cutting also opens up opportunities for prototyping.
Flexibility – NeverTear is available in sizes ranging from A4 to SRA3 and in thicknesses from 95 micron to 350 micron.
For printing, NeverTear has been designed to have good toner bonding characteristics and can be printed by offset lithography as well. This means that it can be used in any office laser printer or copier or could be prepared by a commercial printer with background imagery, ready for in-situ personalisation (restaurant menus for instance). However, no inkjet version is available (yet!).
From the cost of printing angle, NeverTear is not a cheap media. Customers can expect to pay about 35 pence per sheet (ex tax) for 270 micron A4 media (prices start at about 19 pence per sheet for 95 micron A4 material. This is not a small amount and any wastage would be costly.
However, the cost of materials for creating a durable laminated A4 sign at about 270 micron using ordinary office paper and a laminating pouch, typically range from around 24 pence to 45 pence (depending on brand and source). But, a laminating machine is required as well (not hugely expensive but another piece of equipment to be bought and stored) and, more importantly, there is a significant time overhead to creating laminated materials.
Once the paper sheet is printed, not only does the laminating machine have to be turned on to warm up (usually taking 5 minutes or more) but the process of laminating an original also takes time – a laminating pouch must be taken out of its packaging, the original must be placed into the pouch carefully, so that it is straight and central, and then the whole package must be run through the laminator.
It is a time consuming and labour intensive operation, the precise cost of which will depend on the pay scale of the person creating the sign and how experienced they are at laminating.
Imagine being able just to lift a sheet of material (for a one-off product) out of its box, place it in the printer and hit “print”? The result is a durable, ready-to-use, plastic sheet.
Xerox’s tag line for some NeverTear promotions is “Tired of Laminating”? For those producing significant numbers of pages for product brochures for several sales people, for instance, the time to be saved in simply loading a printer’s paper tray with NeverTear is huge. The pages are immediately ready to be inserted into whatever type of final presentation folder/binder is required.
So, whether 95 micron is adequate for indoor notices, worksheets, brochure pages, etc. (at 19 pence per sheet), or 350 micron is required for heavy duty outdoor or mobile signage, etc. (at 45 pence), the high cost of NeverTear might not represent a saving on direct materials cost but will, most definitely, reduce time spent on production of resources, and therefore overall cost, and will certainly reduce stress and aggravation.
Potential applications for NeverTear would seem to be never-ending. It will be particularly useful in environments where frequent or heavy handling is involved – perhaps including local authorities, schools and leisure centres as well as restaurants, factory floors and warehouses or for compilation of product brochures and creation of tickets, vouchers and gift cards.
Currently, NeverTear is available only in the regular office page sizes, but this could easily be expanded as it becomes readily accepted and sales volumes increase, thus widening the potential applications further.
Another very useful extension to this media range might be NeverTear label sheets for more durable and personalised labelling applications such as: hardware security labels; temporary or permanent indoor/outdoor signage (No Smoking signs, Fire Exit signs, room identification signs, etc., etc.) to replace expensive custom wall and door plaques.
Or, how about window stickers for retail outlets, promotional materials, etc,?
In fact – this sounds like an ideal media for use in a test lab!
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