David Savastano, Editor09.20.18
Regulatory concerns, technical issues and new technologies, including conductive inks, will be major topics during the 2018 National Printing Ink Research Institute’s (NPIRI) Technical Conference. The conference, which will be held Oct. 9-11 at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL, is organized by National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM); it is being held in conjunction with the Electronic and Conductive Ink Conference, which continues through Oct. 12.
George Fuchs, director, regulatory affairs and technology at NAPIM, said that the NPIRI Technical Conference offers numerous benefits for attendees.
“The NPIRI Technical Conference is the only conference that focuses on current technical/regulatory/new technology issues in the graphic communications space,” Fuchs said. “It offers unparalleled networking opportunities for attendees to meet with ink industry colleagues and vendors, and attendees can learn about important new products and innovations from raw material suppliers in a low-pressure environment in the Supplier Spotlights and Tabletop exhibits.”
The 2018 NPIRI Technical Conference will open with the Pre-Conference Short Course: Intro to Ink Formulation and Manufacturing, a three-hour short course on the basics of printing ink. This course will cover material selection and ink formulation, manufacturing, testing, and technical service.
The NPIRI Technical Conference begins in the afternoon, with a Keynote Address by Ron Osborn of Mars Wrigley Confectionery. Osborn will discuss packaging materials and food safety from the perspective of a major brand owner. Jeff Shaw of Sun Chemical will then cover “Critical Supply Chain Issue,” a look at securing supply chains.
David Forgue of Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, LLP will give a presentation on “Global Import/Export Considerations.” Bryce Kristo of INX International and John Jilek, Jr. of Inksolutions will co-present “State of the Industry,” a look at the present and future of the ink, raw material and printing industries. Kristo and Jilek will be followed by the NPIRI Lecture honoree. From there, Jerry Napiecek of Colorcon will moderate the Supplier Showcases, followed by a reception and tabletop exhibition.
Wednesday, Oct. 10 will begin with Technical Sessions, moderated by Joe Cichon of INX International Ink Co. Jim Workman of Printing Industries of America will start the Technical Session off with “Top Trends in the Graphic Communications.” Ferro Corporation’s Pierre Boulangue will analyze “Benefits of Pure Pigments: An Azo-Based Solution.”
After the break, Luke Ackerman of FDA/Center for Food Safety and Nutrition will discuss “FDA MS-DART Analytical Technique Update.” “LED/UV Curing - Current State and Trends Ahead” will be covered by Barry Walsh of AMS Spectral UV. Ron Walling of Advanced Materials Center, Inc. will close the Technical Session with “Compostability and Printed Substrates.”
The afternoon Regulatory Sessions will be moderated by Dr. Juanita Parris of Sun Chemical. It will feature five speakers, beginning with Natalie Rainer of Keller and Heckman, who will discuss “Update on California’s Proposition 65.” BASF’s Rachel Staran will then discuss “The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (LCSA).”
Brian Rutherford of PIA MidAmerica follows with “The Cost of OSHA Compliance or How to Save $100,000 Before Lunch;” Sun Chemical’s Greg Pace will look at “International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Committee: Overview and Activities;” and Milind Pradhan of Ramboll will close the Regulatory Session with a talk on “Health & Safety Management System (H&SMS) Standard ISO45001.” The reception and awards dinner will follow.
On Thursday, Oct. 11, NAPIM/NPIRI will partner with Ink World and Printed Electronics Now magazines for its “New Technologies” session, covering Electronic and Conductive Inks.
Dave Savastano, editor of Ink World and Printed Electronics Now, will moderate the session and give the opening talk, “Conductive and Electronic Inks - Driving the Flexible Electronics Revolution.” Ajay Virkar, founder and CTO of C3Nanom will highlight his company’s Activegrid flexible transparent conductors in his talk on “Activegrid: A Flexible Transparent Conductor with Outstanding Optoelectronic Properties.”
Liam O’Hara of Clemson University will cover research being conducted on conductive inks and printed electronics at Clemson in “Printed Electronics and Functional Printing: Research at Clemson,” and Fuchs will analyze health and safety issues for nanotechnology materials during his presentation on “Health and Safety Issues - Nanotechnology Materials.”
Afterward, the Electronic and Conductive Inks Conference will continue, with talks from leading conductive ink suppliers, end users and researchers.
The Electronic and Conductive Inks Conference will feature a broad array of speakers from conductive ink manufacturers, end users, raw material and equipment suppliers, and researchers. The presenters will focus on the $2 billion conductive ink field and the commercial applications that are now reaching the market.
In particular, Roy W. Bjorlin, commercial and strategic initiatives director, Sun Chemical, Advanced Materials Group, will host a panel discussion featuring consumer brand companies that are utilizing smart packaging to drive growth. Michael Fein, senior product manager, RFID, Zebra Technologies, will highlight the commercial gains being made by RFID.
In addition, conductive ink and material specialists will highlight what they are seeing in the field. Speakers will include Vahid Akhavan, Ph.D., global applications engineering lead at Novacentrix; Dene H. Taylor, Ph.D., president, SPF-Inc. and Dan Harrison, Ph.D., EVP, IIMAK; Frank Wallace, technical director, NANOGAP, Inc.; and Dr. Rachel Ma, assistant professor, Department of Graphic Communication, Cal Poly.
Electronic and conductive inks and materials are found in a growing range of flexible and printed electronics applications, from photovoltaics and flexible displays to sensors, wearables, and smart packaging. Major brands such as Ralph Lauren, L’Oreal and GE are among the many companies who are successfully incorporating electronic and conductive inks into their products.
The potential applications for the flexible and printed electronics industry are appearing rapidly, and electronic and conductive inks are driving this fast-growing technology.
