With an eye on important areas such as regulatory concerns for food packaging and the growth of digital and UV printing, this year’s National Printing Ink Research Institute’s (NPIRI) Technical Conference put a laser focus on these issues and more.
 
The 2016 NPIRI Technical Conference, held by the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM), clearly met the interests of ink manufacturers and suppliers, drawing 190 attendees, a significant increase over the past few years and the highest number of attendees in nearly a decade. The conference was held Oct. 25-27 at the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Hotel and Conference Center in Oak Brook, IL.
 
After a Short Course on Color, NPIRI’s opening session began with a keynote address by Tak O’Haru, a former ink company senior executive, who offered an inspiring talk about during Japan’s catastrophic earthquake and tsunami and Operation Tomodachi, the rescue and recovery efforts afterward.
 
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck near Japan. As a result, a tsunami that reached as high as 133 feet struck northeast Japan, traveling as far as six miles inland. As a result, 15, 824 died, with more than 3,800 other people missing. The US military immediately mobilized to help Japan.
 
“Operation Tomodachi was one of the greatest, most respectful actions ever taken,” O’Haru said. “In 10 minutes, the US formed a team, and two days later, US Navy ships arrived. It was unbelievable how fast they got there.
 
“There were 24,000 US soldiers, who rebuilt the airport and provided medical support,” O’Haru added. “Companies also helped out. AT&T allowed free calls to Japan, and Comcast gave free access to Japanese TV. The Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Chicago raised $1.2 million in two weeks. We realized the true meaning of friendship.”
 
Catherine Nielsen of Keller and Heckman covered the topic of differences between US and European food packaging regulations.
 
“There are different legal requirements regarding the use of printing inks in food packaging between the US and Europe,” said Nielsen. “There is no single list to look at. In the EU, there is much greater involvement of the authorities, while in the US, non-governmental groups are pressing for delisting of chemicals for food packaging. Consumers and brand owners are watching this closely.”
 
The lack of a uniform standard for inks is a challenge for manufacturers.
 
“Printing inks are not subject to harmonized standards,” Nielsen added. “The Swiss Ordnance is the de facto standard, even though Switzerland is not a member of the EU. Some brand owners like Nestle and Kraft have more rigorous standards than the laws dictate.”
 
Steven Sides of the American Coatings Association discussed the role of industry associations in innovation. He noted that the ACA has embarked on Big Data studies on chemicals, understanding that targeted, feasible and effective collaboration benefits the industry. He also discussed STEM education, information awareness and management of change as goals for innovation.
 
“Paints and inks are not worlds apart, and the language of science allows us to understand ach other and learn from each other,” said Sides. “As soon as a chemical is found in human tissue, such as BPA, it exponentially becomes more of a concern.”
 
 
Braden Sutphin Ink CEO Jim Leitch and Inksolutions VP of sales John Jilek Jr. then provided the State of the Industry report, noting that areas such as healthcare costs and business conditions are a growing concern.
 
“Rising health care costs and unfavorable business conditions, such as taxes and government regulations, are major concerns of manufacturers,” Leitch reported.  
 
Christian Maus of Evonik was up next, with his talk on “A Fundamental Study of the Influence of Dispersants, Their Concentrations and Grinding Parameters to Inkjet Related Parameters of Particle Size, Stability and Color Development of Pigments and Dyes.” Maus’ talk received this year’s NPIRI Lecture Award.
 
“The digital printing market is taking off,” said Maus. “Inkjet inks have completely taken over the ceramic tile market, the digital textile market is growing rapidly, and the packaging market is interesting for inkjet.”
 
Pigment particle size is a key component of a successful inkjet ink.
 
“Pigments are the heart of the inkjet ink,” Maus noted. “Particle size impacts color strength, as the smaller the particle size, the color strength increases. However, the smaller the particle size, the less stability it has, and the more dispersant that is needed.”
 
A Supplier Showcase, including speakers from Allnex, BASF, Eastman, Keim Additec, Shamrock Technologies and Pantone, closed the first day’s schedule. The speakers included:
•Jo Ann Arceneaux, Allnex
•Mark Dingeldein, Solvay
•Cody Wilson, Eastman Chemical Company
•Saif Ansari, Keim Additec
•Ryan Waier, BASF
•Shichiu Kwan, Shamrock Technologies
•Kevin Hupp, BYK
•Matt McDowell, Pantone
•Shirley Hsu, Air Products
 
NPIRI’s second day featured two specific session, beginning with the morning Technical Session. Mike Libby of SAPPI discussed trends in paper, noting that direct mail and catalogs are effective means for reaching consumers.
 
“Direct mail response remains above those for digital channels, and research shows they are more preferred by consumers,” Libby reported. “Land’s End ‘s sales dropped $100 million when they decided to go away from catalogs. They conducted research, and found that 75% of online sales occurred when the customer had the printed piece in hand.”
 
Steve Simpson of PhotoType gave a talk on color management, an important topic for brand owners.
 
“Brand owners have expectations of color consistency across a brand,” Simpson said. “A piece may be reverse printed by gravure, placed in a carton printed by offset and then have a shrink sleeve printed with flexo. The brand owner wants the whole family to match. Spot colors are the brand equity of a brand owner, and some spot colors are bound by law.”
 
Veronika Lovell, Sun Chemical North American Inks, analyzed the ability to measure the brilliance of metallic inks.
 
“Inks that contain metallic pigments enhance package appearance by the mirror-like visual effects they produce, especially if the appearance is similar to the metallized substrates. Depending upon the substrate and the type of metal flakes used in the ink, appearance changes from non-mirror-like to mirror-like,” Lovell said.
 
Lovell’s research focused on vacuum metallized pigments (VMP), which are being used to replace foil and metallized board or film substrates for cost reasons. VMP inks can be used to print only the fractionalized part of the product.
 
“Production control of very thin layers requires methods to assess the level of reflectivity an its impact on appearance.,” Lovell continued. “It is possible to assign numerical values to the mirror-like appearance of metallic packaging inks and quantify the brilliance. The experiment indicates that the substrate can have a significant effect on the perceived brilliance of a print.”
 
BASF’s Charlie Hsu offered insights on the selection of raw materials for digital inks. “The key challenge for inkjet printing is speed,” Hsu reported. “Amino acrylates AA-4 provides fastest cure speeds.” Susan Bailey of IGM Resins closed the Technical Session with her presentation on low energy LED curing.
 
Penn Color’s Rich Johnson began the afternoon Regulatory Session with an update on REACH. In REACH, registration of all materials above one metric ton in the EU will be due by June 1, 2018.  Larger production level materials have already been registered.
 
“There are 9,472 substances already registered, with 45,373 dossiers submitted,” Johnson noted. “CaOH2 and ethanol are the substances with the most dossiers submitted.”
 
Johnson said that certain companies are asking for new regulations on key ingredients.
 
“France has filed for titanium dioxide by inhalation as a carcinogen category 1,” said Johnson. “There is no incidence of carcinogenicity. Will it be authorized or restricted?”
 
With REACH now impacting smaller production levels, Johnson anticipates many more chemicals and companies becoming involved.
 
“More than 20,000 registrations are expected by 2018, with new chemicals and new registrants, including SMEs with little experience, are expected,” Johnson said. “New SIEFs will be set up with new joint registrants. Chemicals over one metric tons must be registered, and companies should consider chemicals just below one metric ton.”
 
OSHA’s Saundra Harris then explained to NPIRI attendees the new E-Reporting rules.
 
“Effective Jan. 1, 2017, employers will be required to electronically submit injury and illness data,” Harris said. “You should have a written policy in place.”
 
Harris noted that there are advantages to E-Reporting.
 
“Through E-Reporting, OSHA is encouraging employers to reduce worker injuries and illnesses,” Harris said. “This will demonstrate to investors, job seekers, customers and the public that employers operate safe facilities. OSHA will better target our compliance assistance and enforcement resources at establishments.”
 
Keller and Heckman’s Kathryn Skaggs updated attendees on FMSA and FSVP.
 
“FMSA went into effect January 2011,” Skaggs said. “It shifts focus from response to prevention and expanded FDA’s authority. FDA now has mandatory recall authority. It also gives FDA the authority to ensure safety of imported food. FSVP compliance date for importers of FCS is now May 28, 2019, extended two years., as the agency acknowledged that the original compliance date is not feasible.”
 
Sun Chemical's Gregory Pace gave a talk on NAPIM’s new Food Packaging Guidance Document, which will soon be issued.
 
“This is broad scope guidance for inks and coatings intended for non-direct food contact printing applications,” Pace said.
 
Pace said that non-direct food contact is on the outer surface of a food packaging article or between plastic film laminations. It is separated from food by an FDA functional barrier, which prevents migration of chemicals that could adulterate food. Migratory chemicals are substances regulated by FDA as indirect food additives.
 
“The Swiss Ordnance list has approved packaging ink materials with known migration limits tied to consumer safety,” said Pace. “CPGs have specifications on packaging materials and printing ink guidelines and exclusion lists. Ink companies must understand the impact that adulteration caused by lack of controls in our ink and coating manufacturing, and inks must be formulated with raw materials known to be acceptable for the packaging end use.”
 
Skaggs then covered California’s Proposition 65 developments, which was adopted in 1986 by ballot initiative.
 
“Prop 65 prohibits knowingly discharging or releasing a listed chemical into water or land that passes to a source of drinking water n California, or knowingly exposing an individual to a listed chemical without giving a prior warning in consumer products, workplace or the environment,” said Skaggs. “It requires the state to publish and update a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. The list now contains approximately 950 chemicals.”
 
As for updates in chemicals, lead and cadmium are highly targeted, and styrene is listed as a carcinogen in April 2016, effective in April 2017. Vinyl acetate is now being considered. BPA was listed a female reproductive toxicant effective May 11, 2016, and OEHHA permitted a point-of-sale sign rather than pull all of the cans off the store shelves.
 
“Basically it was a reasonable action that they had to take,” Skaggs said. “They didn’t want to take all of these canned food off of the shelves. The concern was that retailers and manufacturers might have pulled all canned food off of shelves due to liability concerns.”
 
Skaggs reported that there are legal groups that have filed hundreds of cases looking to get settlements, and California is trying to reduce these cases.
 
“Private parties can sue under Prop 65 ‘in the public interest.’ The burden of proof is on the defendant. There is a whole legal practice devoted to it,” said Skaggs.