The 62^nd Annual National Printing Ink Research Institute’s (NPIRI) Technical Conference, which began Oct. 9, offered attendees a look at key issues, technical advances, regulatory matters, and new technologies.
 
Hosted by the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM), the first two days of the 2018 NPIRI Conference covered a wide range of issues, from the packaging needs of brand owners and the many challenges faced by purchasing executives to tariffs and new regulations. The conference was held Oct. 9-11 at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL.
 
Before the conference started on Oct. 9, NAPIM held “Intro to Ink Formulation and Manufacturing,” a three and a half hour short course on ink basics. It was taught by Les Watkins, Lisa Fine, Jerry Napiecek, James Ford and Joe Cichon.
 
The NPIRI Conference began in the afternoon, with the Keynote Talk given by Ron Osborn, principal scientist at Mars Wrigley Confectionery. Osborn noted that food packaging maintains the safety and quality of food as it moves through the distribution chain from manufacturer to consumer. However, the packaging materials cannot have adverse effects on the food itself.
 
“Food contact material cannot be transferred to the product, and can’t alter taste, odor, texture or composition of the product,” Osborn said. “In the EU, the burden of proof is on the supplier; in the US, it is on the food manufacturer. Consumers have higher expectations, and expect full transparency.”
 
“The most challenging part of my job is printing inks,” Osborn added.
 
Osborn said that understanding what might be coming in terms of regulations is critical for brand owners.
 
“We try to anticipate emerging changes, such as with BPA,” Osborn observed. “We ask questions about allergens, PVC, PFA, nanomaterials, mineral oil, phthalates, CMR compounds. We need our suppliers to understand the end use of the food contact material and supply safe and compliant materials and documentation. The brand owner, converter and ink supplier need to work together and communicate.”
           
“Critical Supply Chain Issues” was the focus of Jeffrey Shaw of Sun Chemical. Shaw emphasized that companies have to make sure they are ready.
 
“We are living in a world where things are changing very quickly,” he added.
 
Shaw identified eight macro variables that are impacting the ink industry as well as the chemical industry. These variables include:
• President Trump’s administrative tariffs on up to $250 billion in imports - “There’s not a lot of wiggle room in pricing, and at some point, price increases stop,” said Shaw.
• Supplier force majeures – “This is the highest number ever in the chemistry industry,” Shaw noted. “Since 2004, force majeures have increased eight-fold. You have to have other suppliers and materials quantified.”
• China’s environmental shutdowns – “China rightfully wants to improve its environment,” he said. “It is having a big impact on our supply chain. We don’t get much notice if any when a site is shut down or when it might open.”
• Raw material cost increases – “It has continuously gone up since the second half of 2017and will likely continue through 2019,” Shaw reported.
 
He added that other macro variables include Brexit and NAFTA; feedstock tightness; regulatory matters; and increasing logistics costs. The key is doing risk management.
 
“We evaluate for alternatives,” Shaw noted. “Not having an alternative is not acceptable. You have to understand the variables., have to discuss these with your customers and be transparent. We meet with our suppliers as you can’t solve all of these problems on your own. Doing what’s always been done is not an answer.
 
“When you are doing contingency planning, you have to manage with a scalpel,” Shaw added. “’One size fits all’ does not work. Every issue or event requires its own solution. You must construct Plans B, C and D and be ready to change now. The objective is to keep our customers and sites operational.”
 
David Forgue of Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, LLP focused on “Global Import/Export Considerations,” a look at trade agreements, tariffs and regulations. One area of interest is the tariffs on Chinese products, which some companies try to avoid by shipping these through other countries with free trade with the US. Forgue said this won’t always work.
 
“With the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement, if you bring Chinese ingredients to countries in this treaty and produce it into another product, it is still treated as Chinese and subject to tariffs,” Forgue pointed out. “NAFTA 2.0, if approved, will be stricter than 1.0. Aluminum extrusion is made in China and repackaged in Malaysia, which US Customs is aware of.”
 
Forgue said that trade agreements and tariffs remain very fluid.
 
“If NAFTA 2.0 is approved by Congress, it would likely be 2020 before it is implemented,” Forgue said. “There is no US free trade agreement with the UK. I have no idea what would happen if Brexit is implemented. I can’t see how it can’t be anything but a train wreck. The EU wants to make Britain suffer so no else tries to get out. With China, we implemented a 10% tariff as of Sept. 24, 2018, going up to 25% as of Jan. 1, 2019. It is intended to persuade China to negotiate IP protection and forced technology transfer and is intended to impede China’ manufacturing plan China 2025. It is revocable or amendable by Presidential proclamation.”
           
“The State of the Industry Report,” a look at the present f future of the printing and ink market, was presented by Bryce Kristo of INX International and John Jilek, Jr. of Inksolutions. The NPIRI Lecture was next. Natasha Banke of INX International Ink was honored with this year’s award for her paper, “Residual Building Block Chemicals in Raw Materials and Finished Printing Inks – a Risk Assessment Approach to Manufacturing and Detection Limits.” 
 
Banke discussed the “BPA snowball,” where a headline from a paper from UC-Davis that was more dramatic than the findings was widely picked up and ignited blogs, leading to major concerns. Banke discussed tests conducted on BPA and other materials.
 
“We need to redefine ‘zero,’” Banke concluded. “Science is dynamic and constantly changing, including new equipment and experimentation methods. The story for BPA may already be written, but we can apply these analytical use techniques and a risk-based approach to other NIAS (non-intentionally added substances).”
 
The first day of the NPIRI conference concluded with six Supplier Spotlights, presented by Dhara Metla of BYK; Charles Douglas of Lubrizol Advanced Materials; Dr. Saif Ansari of Keim Additec Surface USA; Bill Dougherty of Total Cray Valley; Charlie Hsu of BASF; and Sanjay Monie of Orion Carbons.
 
NPIRI breaks down its second day into two sessions. Moderated by Joe Cichon of INX, the morning session is focused on technology and began with “Top Trends in the Graphic Communications,” presented by Jim Workman of Printing Industries of America.
 
Workman covered five key trends: high-speed inkjet printing; digital enhancement; industry dynamics; short-run packaging; and AI, automation and robotics.
 
Workman noted that the printing industry has evolved in the last 20 years. “In the late 1990s, computer-to-plate was the hot news,” he added. “Much has changed.”
 
For high-speed inkjet printing, Workman noted that Videograph brought to market the first commercial inkjet printer in 1969. Key production print variables include format, whether web or sheetfed; print width from less than 20 inches to 71 inches; speed from 150 to 1000 feet per minute’; and resolution from 600x600 to 1200x1200 dpi.
 
Workman pointed out three presses of note: Canon Oce ProStream 1000 Inkjet Press, which uses polymer-based ink; Heidelberg Primefire 106 Sheetfed Inkjet Press; and the Ricoh Pro VC70000.
 
Digital enhancements include spot colors, varnish, foil, specialty white inks, special effects; Workman discussed MGI JETvarnsh 3D, the first web press to do digital enhancements; Scodix Sense with Scodix Metallic; the Xerox Iridesse Production Press, which prints seven colors, including metallic white and clear, in one pass; and the Nobelus 4-Step Sleeking Process, which produces short-run foil and spot coating.
 
Industry dynamics have also changed. “1994 was the peak year for a number of printing companies in the US with 54,500 commercial printing companies, and it has been going downhill since then, with 25,521 in 2016,” said Workman. “Packaging, labels and wrappers, signage, direct mail and point of purchase are growth areas.”
 
In terms of short-run packaging, the EFI Nozomi C18000 corrugated digital printer is 71 inches wide, can print in 4 to 6 color including orange and violet, and can do variable data and versioning. For AI, automation and robotics, Workman discussed Industry 4.0, using Heidelberg’s “Push to Stop” technology, which operator only interrupts the run if necessary, as an example.
 
Pierre Boulangue of Ferro Corporation gave a talk on “Benefits of Pure Pigments: An Azo-Based Solution.”
 
“There is a trend in the market to get purer, safer, more reliable raw materials,” Boulangue said. “Content of PAA of the pigment should be as low as possible, lower than 100 ppm as worst case level at about 10 ppm for tissue ink application. It can’t contain or won’t generate detectable carcinogenic amine. You should also use positive listed additives. High purity azoic pigment allows you to fulfill the most stringent regulations in terms of possible migration, and can be used for tissue ink and bakery paper as well as toys, indirect food contact, nonwovens, etc.”
 
Luke Ackerman of the FDA/Center for Food Safety and Nutrition then presented “FDA MS-DART Analytical Technique Update.”
 
“Nobody wants to see their products in the news in ways other than they want it to be,” said Ackerman. “We want to see if we can identify additives and components on packaging and food contact surface, detect evidence of print set-off, and survey photoinitiators on the retail landscape. DART+LC covers most cases, while GC-MS is easiest.”
 
“Confessions of a Lifetime Inkaholic” was a quick substitute talk by Les Watkins of US Polymers/Accurez. Watkins said in his career he “has probably made every mistake in ink making,” and offered a 12-step guide to making better ink. The first is supplier relationships. “The relationships we have is really very good, and I encourage you to expand on this as much as you can. The knowledge you gain is incredible.”
 
“You also have to listen to your customers and not talk over them,” he noted. “You should also have empathy and listen to your customer’s customer. Finding a progressive ‘pet printer’ and initiate projects together, as it is amazing what can be achieved.” Working with peer suppliers like paper and press manufacturers also offers benefits. He also noted that “legislative groups are not the enemy,” and the industry needs to work with them.
 
“Embrace and explore new technologies” is also important, Watkins said, citing LED curing as an example. It is also important to diversify your workforce in terms of disciplines; don’t ignore history but also don’t be held back by it; be prepared to teach all the time; and that NAPIM and NPIRI are great groups, and it is important to join other associations. “Most important, have the patience of a saint,” he added.
 
It is also important for the ink industry to stand tall. “Just because the ink is a small part of the spend does not diminish its importance at the table,” Watkins said. “Without it, the whole process doesn’t work.”
 
“Compostability Evaluation of Inks” was presented by Ron Walling and Greg Geil of Advanced Materials Center, Inc.
 
“The US Composting Council and the BPI are influential,” said Walling. “At ASTM, we did a variety of tests on compostability. ASTM D 6400-12 deals with polymers, while ASTM 6868-17 is designed for natural products (cellulosics).
 
“Heavy metals evaluation of printing inks is particularly important, especially where compost is going to be used in an application for vineyards, orchards, fruit and vegetable fields, etc.,” Walling added. “They will stop any material that does not pass toxicity testing. For rapid disintegration of inks, we can do a two-week compost exposure. We are going to be looking for FTIR, ash, heavy metals, a percentage of dry solids and fluorine.”
 
The afternoon of Oct. 10 featured five regulatory talks, moderated. by Juanita Parris of Sun Chemical.
 
“Update on California’s Proposition 65,” presented by Natalie Rainer of Keller and Heckman, discussed the law and the efforts of  California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazards Assessment (OEHHA).
 
“OEHHA can request identity and concentration of listed chemicals in manufacturers products, estimated levels of human exposure based on the product’s use,” Rainer said.
 
“Lead is the number one source of enforcement. Styrene was listed in April 2017,” Rainer added. “N-Hexane is going into effect in December 2018, and vinyl acetate is being considered. Private lawsuits are more common; the burden of proof is on the defendant. The plaintiff is not required to show physical harm. Best practices are to monitor new listings, understand the scope of listings, consider testing and conducting exposure assessment and be prepared to respond to requests from your customers and bounty hunters.
 
BASF’s Rachel Staran then focused on “The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (LCSA).”
 
“The TSCA Reset requires US manufacturers and importers to report to EPA any chemicals in US commerce between June 21, 2006, and June 21, 2016,” said Staran. “Chemicals will then be designated ‘active’ or ‘inactive’ so EPA can more effectively prioritize them for risk evaluation.”
 
In June 2018, EPA released problem formulation documents for the first 10 chemicals for risk, including asbestos and Pigment Violet 29.
 
“EPA is facing a backlog,” Staran reported. “It now takes EPA longer than 90 days to review and approve new substances for TSCA inventory listing. TSCA reform is continuing to impact the chemical supply chain. It has implications for the innovation pipeline.”
 
Brian Rutherford of PIA MidAmerica then gave a talk on “The Cost of OSHA Compliance or How to Save $100,000 Before Lunch.” Rutherford focused on fines and penalties assessed by OSHA, and simple ways to fix the problems, whether it is simply buying a tape measure or printing out and filling out OSHA forms.
 
Greg Pace of Sun Chemical then discussed “International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Committee: Overview and Activities,” an overview of the ILSI North America Packaging Workshop held in September 2016, and Peter Walther of Siegwerk covered “Food Safety Alliance for Packaging (FSAP) Current Activities.” Milind Pradhan of Ramboll closed the Regulatory session with his talk on “Health & Safety Management System (H&SMS) Standard ISO45001.”
 
NAPIM held its annual awards dinner. NPIRI president Dan Delegge of inksolutions presented the Technical Achievement Award to Mark Hill, VP of R&D at INX and the Technical Associate Member Service Award to Kay Sanborn, technical service manager at Indulor.