Greg Hrinya, Label and Narrow Web Editor03.16.22
For more than 60 years, FTA Forum has been a fixture for many in the label and package printing industry. The pandemic put a halt to the value experienced at Forum and IN-FOFLEX for several years, but the events returned with a rousing success in 2022. From March 13-16, attendees traveled to Fort Worth, TX, USA, to see and learn about the new-est technologies – in-person – that industry leaders have to offer.
Over the course of the event, FTA Forum delivered nine technical sessions and more than 25 in-depth presentations from 30-plus industry experts. Bart Wright, VP of technical sales and service at Pacificolor, served as the co-chair alongside Laura Wright, CEO at CSW Inc.
Following FTA Forum, guests attended the 40th edition of INFOFLEX, the first live exhibi-tion in three years for the entire package printing industry. INFOFLEX, which began in 1982 as a small tabletop show, has grown into a full-fledged exhibition. Sponsored by Esko, the event featured more than 180 exhibitors over 10-plus hours. New technologies and product demonstrations were on full display.
“Nothing beats in-person learning and networking,” stated Wright. “Zoom fatigue is real, and the investment in attending a live Forum always pays back.”
FTA Forum featured a wide range of sponsors, too. From Anderson & Vreeland, Bobst, Ep-son and Flexo Wash to Fujifilm, Harper and PCMC.
Forum’s sessions took a deep dive into many issues affecting flexographic label print-erstoday. In Monday’s opening session, industry experts addressed real-world production issues and explained the cause, effect and remedy in, “How Do I Fix This?” Catherine Haynes, director of Digital Solutions and Training, APR, served as the session’s chair, and the esteemed panel included DuPont’s PJ Fronczkiewicz, ABX’s Jason McGowan, Berry Global’s Megan Burns, and Kenny Tucker of the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics at Clemson University.
“We’re in our fourth iteration of a troubleshooting presentation,” noted Haynes. “We de-cided to let the people speak and tell us their challenges, so we went out and got videos of the people doing the work in prepress and production.
“We wanted to go beyond print faults,” she added. “There are other things that happen in the prepress arena and the pressroom. Our panelists talked to colleagues in the industry to pull together the information for this session. Then we designed strategies to decide how we’re going to solve these problems and help you design an action plan to move for-ward.”
The session featured a wide array of topics, from ink maintenance and anilox inventory management to addressing dirty print. “Viscosity is always the first thing we start with when we have problems on-press,” said McGowan. “I always encourage my operators to manually check the viscosity so you can make sure the automation that’s set is what you’re seeing on-press. If you don’t’ know what your viscosity is, it can start to pinhole and it’ll read lighter. The problem might be as simple as getting the ink back in the proper operat-ing range.”
In regards to dirty print, Fronczkiewicz commented, “I’m drawn to think about the plate when it comes to dirty print. There are a number of reasons, over impression, wrong anilox roll, wrong solvent blend, you name it. There are some more complicated reasons that aren’t as easy to fix. Normally screen builds are prone to have this happen, in my experience. Regardless of the cause, this is definitely one of those subjects you should address with your plate vendor. They can recommend plate exposure issues or diagnose how you’re cleaning the plates.”
Despite any press issues, Burns recommended instituting contingency plans to remain prepared. “When things go wrong, do you have a plan in place?” she questioned. “Make sure you have an idea and that you’re documenting it and correcting the problem.”
Meanwhile, the session, “Taking Your Flexography Further” was hosted by Kimberly-Clark’s Dan Blackburn and Miraclon’s John Anderson. The panelists included Mark Andy’s Ted Bright, who explained how shrink can help expand a converter’s book of business, and Fathom Optics’ Tom Baran and Matthew Hirsch, who noted how their award-winning technology has added 3D optics to printed labels.
For shrink sleeving, Bright noted that the market is expected to be worth $2 billion by 2025 at a 5% growth rate. This application has historically been dominated by food and beverage, and household and industrial chemical end-use markets.
“There are certain attributes very palatable to the eye. It’s very beautiful when you have full coverage and you’re maximizing the real estate for a brand,” said Bright. “There’s no doubt about it, the shrink sleeve market is growing at a very significant rate.”
Fathom Optics, on the other hand, showcased how their technology can differentiate la-bels and packaging on the shelf. Fathom notched the 2021 FTA Technical Award and the 2021 Miraclon Global Flexo Innovation Award for its efforts.
“We offer a technology that adds 3D depth and motion to 2D printed images,” explained Baran. “Fathom is the only embellishment company that doesn’t sell any materials or equipment.
“It’s about a shift in thinking about how you do design, and we think this is very im-portant to communicate to brands,” he added. “Everything you do can be totally custom. You can create a custom effect and print it in perfect register, and you could use a different effect for every SKU in the production line.”
And the award goes to…
As part of the event, the Annual Awards Banquet took place on Sunday, March 13. FTA honored a wide range of recipients, ranging from the Sustainability Award and FTA Pres-ident’s Award to the Excellence in Flexography Awards.
Having been raised in a flexo family, Mike Buystedt was named the 2022 Hall of Fame in-ductee. As a result of lifelong endeavors that stretched over a 41-year career, this label master is now the 60th individual to have the honor of entering FTA’s Flexo Hall of Fame.
In the narrow web category, a wide range of companies were recognized with Excellence in Flexography Awards. Among the winners were Berry Global – golf and best of show recognition – and McDowell Label, Bay Tech Label, Multi-Color Corporation, Labeltronix, Label Tech and more.
For the best of show win, Berry Global, rewarded for its Jergens Body Butter Sandalwood Tube label, stated, “This print uses a combination of process inks and spot colors with a gold cold foil accent and pleasing soft-touch coating. The pearlescent sheet makes for a difficult substrate due to the stretch of the material. Registration and color consistency is critical for the appearance of the white band and image. Properly balanced color is imper-ative for this nature-based image with a range of light and dark tones.”
Meanwhile, All Printing Resources’ Catherine Haynes, Cyber Graphics’ Kevin Borquin, and CSW’s Laura Wright – also Forum co-chair – were all honored with the FTA President’s Award.
From a sustainability standpoint, Industrias de Plasticos SA de CV (INPLASA), of Valle de Amarateca, Francisco Morazán, Honduras, was recognized for its sustainability programs. Plus, Footprint, based in Gilbert, AZ, took home honors for innovations in sustainability. Sun Chemical and TC Transcontinental Packaging received honorable mention in the sus-tainability category.
Finally, DuPont Cyrel Solutions garnered an FTA Technical Award for its Cyrel Lightning Plates, and Soma received a Technical Award, as well, for its Soma Changeover Wiz-ard.
Over the course of the event, FTA Forum delivered nine technical sessions and more than 25 in-depth presentations from 30-plus industry experts. Bart Wright, VP of technical sales and service at Pacificolor, served as the co-chair alongside Laura Wright, CEO at CSW Inc.
Following FTA Forum, guests attended the 40th edition of INFOFLEX, the first live exhibi-tion in three years for the entire package printing industry. INFOFLEX, which began in 1982 as a small tabletop show, has grown into a full-fledged exhibition. Sponsored by Esko, the event featured more than 180 exhibitors over 10-plus hours. New technologies and product demonstrations were on full display.
“Nothing beats in-person learning and networking,” stated Wright. “Zoom fatigue is real, and the investment in attending a live Forum always pays back.”
FTA Forum featured a wide range of sponsors, too. From Anderson & Vreeland, Bobst, Ep-son and Flexo Wash to Fujifilm, Harper and PCMC.
Forum’s sessions took a deep dive into many issues affecting flexographic label print-erstoday. In Monday’s opening session, industry experts addressed real-world production issues and explained the cause, effect and remedy in, “How Do I Fix This?” Catherine Haynes, director of Digital Solutions and Training, APR, served as the session’s chair, and the esteemed panel included DuPont’s PJ Fronczkiewicz, ABX’s Jason McGowan, Berry Global’s Megan Burns, and Kenny Tucker of the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics at Clemson University.
“We’re in our fourth iteration of a troubleshooting presentation,” noted Haynes. “We de-cided to let the people speak and tell us their challenges, so we went out and got videos of the people doing the work in prepress and production.
“We wanted to go beyond print faults,” she added. “There are other things that happen in the prepress arena and the pressroom. Our panelists talked to colleagues in the industry to pull together the information for this session. Then we designed strategies to decide how we’re going to solve these problems and help you design an action plan to move for-ward.”
The session featured a wide array of topics, from ink maintenance and anilox inventory management to addressing dirty print. “Viscosity is always the first thing we start with when we have problems on-press,” said McGowan. “I always encourage my operators to manually check the viscosity so you can make sure the automation that’s set is what you’re seeing on-press. If you don’t’ know what your viscosity is, it can start to pinhole and it’ll read lighter. The problem might be as simple as getting the ink back in the proper operat-ing range.”
In regards to dirty print, Fronczkiewicz commented, “I’m drawn to think about the plate when it comes to dirty print. There are a number of reasons, over impression, wrong anilox roll, wrong solvent blend, you name it. There are some more complicated reasons that aren’t as easy to fix. Normally screen builds are prone to have this happen, in my experience. Regardless of the cause, this is definitely one of those subjects you should address with your plate vendor. They can recommend plate exposure issues or diagnose how you’re cleaning the plates.”
Despite any press issues, Burns recommended instituting contingency plans to remain prepared. “When things go wrong, do you have a plan in place?” she questioned. “Make sure you have an idea and that you’re documenting it and correcting the problem.”
Meanwhile, the session, “Taking Your Flexography Further” was hosted by Kimberly-Clark’s Dan Blackburn and Miraclon’s John Anderson. The panelists included Mark Andy’s Ted Bright, who explained how shrink can help expand a converter’s book of business, and Fathom Optics’ Tom Baran and Matthew Hirsch, who noted how their award-winning technology has added 3D optics to printed labels.
For shrink sleeving, Bright noted that the market is expected to be worth $2 billion by 2025 at a 5% growth rate. This application has historically been dominated by food and beverage, and household and industrial chemical end-use markets.
“There are certain attributes very palatable to the eye. It’s very beautiful when you have full coverage and you’re maximizing the real estate for a brand,” said Bright. “There’s no doubt about it, the shrink sleeve market is growing at a very significant rate.”
Fathom Optics, on the other hand, showcased how their technology can differentiate la-bels and packaging on the shelf. Fathom notched the 2021 FTA Technical Award and the 2021 Miraclon Global Flexo Innovation Award for its efforts.
“We offer a technology that adds 3D depth and motion to 2D printed images,” explained Baran. “Fathom is the only embellishment company that doesn’t sell any materials or equipment.
“It’s about a shift in thinking about how you do design, and we think this is very im-portant to communicate to brands,” he added. “Everything you do can be totally custom. You can create a custom effect and print it in perfect register, and you could use a different effect for every SKU in the production line.”
And the award goes to…
As part of the event, the Annual Awards Banquet took place on Sunday, March 13. FTA honored a wide range of recipients, ranging from the Sustainability Award and FTA Pres-ident’s Award to the Excellence in Flexography Awards.
Having been raised in a flexo family, Mike Buystedt was named the 2022 Hall of Fame in-ductee. As a result of lifelong endeavors that stretched over a 41-year career, this label master is now the 60th individual to have the honor of entering FTA’s Flexo Hall of Fame.
In the narrow web category, a wide range of companies were recognized with Excellence in Flexography Awards. Among the winners were Berry Global – golf and best of show recognition – and McDowell Label, Bay Tech Label, Multi-Color Corporation, Labeltronix, Label Tech and more.
For the best of show win, Berry Global, rewarded for its Jergens Body Butter Sandalwood Tube label, stated, “This print uses a combination of process inks and spot colors with a gold cold foil accent and pleasing soft-touch coating. The pearlescent sheet makes for a difficult substrate due to the stretch of the material. Registration and color consistency is critical for the appearance of the white band and image. Properly balanced color is imper-ative for this nature-based image with a range of light and dark tones.”
Meanwhile, All Printing Resources’ Catherine Haynes, Cyber Graphics’ Kevin Borquin, and CSW’s Laura Wright – also Forum co-chair – were all honored with the FTA President’s Award.
From a sustainability standpoint, Industrias de Plasticos SA de CV (INPLASA), of Valle de Amarateca, Francisco Morazán, Honduras, was recognized for its sustainability programs. Plus, Footprint, based in Gilbert, AZ, took home honors for innovations in sustainability. Sun Chemical and TC Transcontinental Packaging received honorable mention in the sus-tainability category.
Finally, DuPont Cyrel Solutions garnered an FTA Technical Award for its Cyrel Lightning Plates, and Soma received a Technical Award, as well, for its Soma Changeover Wiz-ard.