Why More Printers Are Replacing Lamination with Coating

For years, lamination has been used as a solution for protecting print, improving durability, and creating a premium finish. Today, more printers are taking a closer look at what lamination really costs them in materials, labor, speed, and waste. What they are finding is that coating offers a smarter path forward.

With the right coating system and chemistry, printers can achieve the protection, visual appeal, and tactile enhancement they need without the added plastic film, offline workflow, and production bottlenecks that often come with lamination. For many applications, coating is not just a comparable alternative, but rather the more sustainable and profitable one.

Why Printers Are Moving Away from Lamination

Lamination has traditionally been valued for durability and shelf appeal, but it also adds complexity. It is typically an offline process, requires additional materials, takes more time, and often introduces more labor into production. It also depends on plastic-based films that can make recycling more difficult and can work against the sustainability goals that many brands and print providers are now prioritizing. Coating changes that equation.

A More Sustainable Choice

One of the biggest advantages of coating is that it helps reduce dependence on single-use plastics. Lamination typically relies on polyethylene or polypropylene films, which can be difficult for many recycling systems to separate from paper fiber. Coated sheets, by contrast, are often better aligned with paper recycling streams and are widely positioned as a more eco-friendly choice for print and packaging applications.

This matters more than ever as brands look for practical ways to improve sustainability without sacrificing performance. In Europe especially, the pressure to reduce plastic use and improve recyclability continues to grow, and those expectations are increasingly influencing packaging and print decisions across global markets.

For printers, that creates an opportunity. Offering coated alternatives to laminated print gives customers a path toward more sustainable production while also improving operational efficiency inside the plant.

Faster Throughput, Better Workflow

Sustainability is important, but ROI is what drives many investment decisions. This is where coating becomes especially compelling.

Lamination is often a slower, offline process that adds extra handling, longer setups, and extra touchpoints. Coating can be integrated far more efficiently into production, especially with modern chamber-anilox systems built for speed and repeatability. We find that coating with a chamber-anilox system is up to 6x faster than lamination.

Faster finishing means jobs move through the plant more quickly, bottlenecks are reduced, and shops can take on more work without adding additional labor. For printers dealing with shorter runs, tighter deadlines, and increasing pressure on margins, that speed advantage can translate into a major operational win.

Lower Cost Per Job

Material cost is another major factor. Lamination adds film, adhesive, handling, and a separate finishing step, all of which increase the cost of the job. Coating is typically a much leaner process that uses less material overall and removes many of the extra costs tied to film-based finishing.

On a B2 sheet lamination can roughly cost around $0.05 to $0.10 per sheet, while a standard flood UV coating is often closer to about $0.01 to $0.03 per sheet. Lamination can easily cost up to 5x more per sheet in consumables alone, before factoring in labor, slower throughput, extra handling, and film waste. Coating generally delivers a lower per-job cost while also helping printers run faster and more efficiently.

Less Labor, Less Waste

Labor is one of the most overlooked costs in finishing. Every offline step adds operator time, material handling, setup, and more chances for something to go wrong. Lamination often requires more touchpoints in the process, which can slow production and increase the risk of wasted materials.

Coating helps simplify the workflow. When applied inline or nearline, coating reduces manual intervention and allows jobs to move faster with fewer delays. This has a direct impact on both labor savings and waste reduction. By reducing extra handling, film waste, and production slowdowns, coating helps printers run leaner and more efficiently in an environment where staffing, uptime, and turnaround time all matter.

Ready to Replace Lamination with a Better Alternative?

For printers looking to improve ROI while aligning with the market’s push for more sustainable production, coating is not just an alternative to lamination. It is the more forward-looking choice.

If you are looking for a faster, more sustainable, and more cost-effective way to protect and enhance print, Harris & Bruno can help. From proven chamber-anilox coating technology to high-performance coatings, we help printers reduce waste, improve efficiency, and deliver premium results without the added complexity of lamination.

Get in Touch with H&B