In the 1950s, the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM) introduced the National Printing Ink Research Institute (NPIRI) Summer Course, and throughout the years, the NAPIM Summer Course has provided graphic arts professionals training in inks, raw materials, equip-ment and printing.

This year, the 2021 NAPIM Summer Course will be held virtually from Aug. 2-6, 2021. While the summer course would be able to provide the hands-on experience that goes along with the sessions taught by industry experts, there is plenty to offer.

“The 2021 course will be our first virtual NAPIM Summer Course, and we’ve adapted this year’s course to be effective and interesting in a virtual format,” said George Fuchs, NAPIM’s director of regulatory affairs and technology. “All of the Summer Course ‘hands-on’ demonstrations – press runs, testing, equipment configuration, interactive sessions – have been adapted to work in an online format.”

Fuchs noted that the Summer Course is one of NAPIM’s most popular events and is the only course of its type.

“Attendees will be provided with foundational training in ink formulation techniques, raw materi-als selection, on press performance evaluation and many other essential skills,” he added. “At-tendees from all types of graphic arts backgrounds - ink manufacturing, ink formulation, printing, packaging, etc. - will benefit from attendance at this year’s course.”

The five-day course is broken into paste and liquid ink modules. The topics are wide-ranging. The NAPIM Summer Course Program begins full sessions on paste inks on Mon-day, Aug. 2 with the following classes:

• 9:00 am - 9:15 am - Graphic Printing Ink Industry Overview – John Copeland and George Fuchs
• 9:15 am - 9:45 am - Introduction to Printing Ink – Les Watkins
• 9:45 am - 10:30 am - Lithographic Print Process – Les Watkins
• 10:30 am - 11:30 am - Litho Paste Ink Vehicle Composition – Les Watkins
• 11:30 am - 12:30 pm - Offset Press Demo - Eric Weisenmiller
• 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm - Litho Paste Ink Composition –Les Watkins
• 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - Formulating Litho Inks & Vehicles – Les Watkins
• 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm - Substrates - Paper Properties & Printability – Jim Niemiec
• 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm - Digital Printing Substrates – Jim Niemiec

Tuesday, Aug. 3 features a mix of paste and liquid inks, as well as inkjet and printed elec-tronics. The following sessions are scheduled:

• 9:00 am - 10:00 am - Fountain Solution & Press Room Chemicals (Part 1) – Frank Pannel
• 10:00 am - 11:00 am - Fountain Solution & Press Room Chemicals (Part 2) – Frank Pan-nel
• 11:00 am - noon - New Tech Inkjet - Douglas Bugner
• 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm - Viscosity Demo – Borpit Intawiwat
• 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm - Printability/Proofing Demo – Paul Sopkin
• 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm - Inkometer Testing Demo – Dean Kershaw and Dakota Kershaw
• 2:30 pm - 3:15 pm - Printed Electronics – Liam O’Hara

The Wednesday, Aug. 4 sessions will also feature a mix of paste and liquid inks, with a fo-cus on raw materials:

• 9:00 am - 10:00 am - Principles of Rheology & Practical Applications – Dr. Saeid Sa-varmand
• 10:00 am - 11:00 am - Organic/Inorganic Pigments, Metallic & Special Effect Colorants – Mike Oberski
• 11:00 am - noon - Energy Curable Inks
• 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm - Fundamentals of Carbon Black – Manesh Panta
• 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm - Introduction to Color Matching and Color Management – Bobby Congdon
• 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Principles of Dispersion – James Ford
• 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Liquid Inks Additives - Dr. Xiangtao Meng

Thursday, Aug. 5 focuses on the liquid ink portion of the industry:

• 9:00 am - 10:00 am - Flexo & Gravure Solvent Vehicle Composition
• 10:00 am - 11:00 am – Flexo & Gravure Water Based Ink & Vehicle Composition – Dave Tappa
• noon – 1 pm – Flexo & Gravure Printing, Lamination, Converting Processes – Brian Chweirut
• 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm – Flexo Press Run – Ken Tucker
• 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm – Digital Press Demo - Eric Weisenmiller
• 3:00 pm – 3:45 pm - Flexo Plate Making/Mounting – Brad Gasque

Friday, Aug. 6 closes the Summer Course with more on liquid inks:

• 9:00 am – 9:45 am – Anilox Discussion/Application – Darris Smith
• 10:00 am – 10:30 am – Proofing & Printability Demo – Paul Sopkin
• noon – 12:45 pm – Substrates for Surface & Reverse Printing and Lamination – Devin Vandewalle
• 1:00 pm – 1:45 pm – Flexo & Gravure Ink Composition – Brian Chwierut
• 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Formulating Flexo & Gravure Vehicles and Inks

Please contact the NAPIM office for registration information, or to register, please click this link.