David Savastano, Ink World Editor11.09.06
The National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM) celebrated the National Printing
Ink Research Institute’s (NPIRI) 50th Technical and Manufacturing Conference with the theme, “Looking Forward: Imagination, Communication, Accomplishment.”
The theme of the conference, which was held at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and Spa, Fort Lauderdale, FL from Oct. 11-13, was timely, as the ink industry finds itself and its customer base evolving.
The conference opened with three in-depth short courses, which lasted the morning. The first, “Software Usage and Mixture Design,” was led by Pat Whitcomb of Stat-Ease, Inc.
The second, “Regulatory/Legal Issues for Printing Ink Manufacturing,” was two-fold. The first, led by David Currier, Flint Group and George Fuchs of NAPIM, analyzed regulations of importance to ink manufacturers. The second part, hosted by Dave Lazar, Sun Chemical North American Inks, discussed intellectual property. The third course was “Understanding Basic Rheology,” and was led by Mark Pavlin of Arizona Chemical and focused on viscosity and elasticity.
After lunch, NAPIM executive director Jim Coleman led off the opening session with “The Other Side of Weird Science,” a look at the remarkable technical adaptability of ink. He was followed by Central Ink’s Doug Anderson, conference chair, who delivered a talk by JoAnn Hines, Packaging Coach, focusing on current and future trends in packaging design and print process selection, including the emergence of green technologies and increasing importance of convenience to customers.
Dr. Martin Kanert of EuPIA then discussed “Major Challenges for the Printing Ink Industry in Europe: Requirements for Food Packaging Inks and REACH,” a look at the issues of food packaging in Europe, including ITX. Dr. Graham Battersby closed the session with “Printed Electronics - The Positives and Negatives,” a straightforward look at the potential for printed electronics. The evening closed with the tabletop exhibits/poster board presentations and reception.
The second day featured concurrent sessions on publication/commercial, manufacturing and packaging.
Arnie Beringer, Sun Chemical Corporation/NA Inks and Pat Campbell, Environ Corporation, led off the
manufacturing session with “Complying With Water Treatment Standards.” Barry Cullens, Hockmeyer Equipment, then discussed “Plant Scale-Up and Optimization,” focusing on the practical “scale-up” issues that are faced when moving from the lab bench to the plant floor. “ANSI Standards – Vertical Post Mixer and Three Roller Mill,” a look at the new ANSI standards, was covered by Mr. Fuchs and Mr. Currier.
Kerstin Grosse of Buhler discussed “Challenges and Solutions for the Production of Nanodispersions.” Jim Bailen of INX International Ink closed the session with “Statistical Process Control/Failure Mode and Effect Analysis.”
“The speakers were really good, and there has been a lot of feedback,” said Wayne Bice, Siegwerk Ink Packaging and Manufacturing session moderator.
The packaging session featured “Off-Odor Troubleshooting of Inks and Coatings” by Tom Hartman, Rutgers University, followed by Tom Dunn of Printpack, who discussed “Proactively Responding to Customer Inquiries,” focusing on food packaging. Vincent Stone, Cytec Surface Specialties, examined “Low Odor/Low Extractable Energy Curable Raw Materials for Food Packaging,” and Doug Rhubright of Cognis discussed “Binder Resins For Retortable Flexible Packaging Inks.” The session was closed by Andrew Seecharan, Cytec Surface Specialties, who discussed “UV Flexographic Inks for Shrink Sleeve Applications.”
“I thought it went well. The first three talks were related to each other, and then we got into what some companies are doing to create new products for flexible packaging,” said Packaging Session moderator JoAnn Arcenaux of Cytec Surface Specialties
On the publication/commercial side, the first talk was “An Approach to Develop Quantitative Measurements that Correlate to Sensory Descriptions on Ink Rheology,” presented by Carl Weisbecker, Sun Chemical Corporation/NA Inks, which received top prize in the Hexion Specialty Chemicals competition. Rosalyn Waldo, Cytec Surface Specialties, followed with “Ink Misting and Lithographic Inks.” Domenic DiRenzo, AdPhos-Eltosch – Advanced Photonics Technologies, discussed “UV Hybrid Printing,” followed by “Update on Ink and Paper Interactions,” by David Smith, Dow Chemical. “A Mechanism for Setting & Gloss Development of Offset Ink,“ presented by Douglas Donigian, Specialty Minerals, closed the session.
“The session was really well structured, and everything tied together very nicely,” said Dr. Sobhy El-Hefnawi of Cognis, who served as moderator.
The concurrent sessions were followed by the golf outing, which was halted by thunderstorms, and the awards dinner. NAPIM honored Andrew Matthews, technical director for Flint Group, and Brian Chwierut, marketing manager for Sun Chemical North American Inks, with the Technical Achievement Award (TAA) for their tremendous record of contributions to the ink industry. Dr. Constantinos Nicolaou, senior scientist for Sun Chemical Performance Pigments, received the Technical Associate Member (TAM) Award for his efforts on behalf of the industry.
The Oct. 13 program featured the Closing Session. Clariant’s Chris Patterson led off with “Optimizing Ink Pigment Performance.” Christina Vacca, Aria Analytics, followed with “’Fingerprints’ of Inks Using Acoustical Impedance Technology.”
Michael Kucharski, Cytec Surface Specialties, followed with “Digital Printing Market Update,” analyzing
the rapidly developing digital printing market. Jeanine Snyder of Air Products & Chemicals, who received third place in the Hexion competition, presented “New Additive Technologies for Fountain Solutions,” and Mark van den Brink of BASF closed the conference with “Waterborne Surface Printing as an Alternative to Meeting New Environmental Directives,” which earned second in the Hexion competition.
Overall, NAPIM officials and ink industry leaders were pleased with the conference, although the program, was down to 180 attendees.
“I thought it went very well,” Mr. Coleman said. “The feedback on th quality of the program has been very good. The way we split the program up this year allowed the committee to develop a program that was more immediate.”
“I thought it was excellent,” added NPIRI president Joe Cichon of INX International Ink. “The changes we have made over the years has really added take-home value for attendees.”
Next year, the NPIRI Technical Conference will be held Sept. 5-8 at Eaglewood Resort & Spa inChicago, IL. For more information, contact NAPIM at (732) 855-1525 or on the web at www.napim.org.
On hand for the awards presentation were, from left, Andrew Matthews of Flint Group, Lisa Hahn of Flexo Tech, Brian Chwierut of Sun Chemical, NPIRI president Joe Cichon of INX International Ink, Pete Notti of Ink Systems, and Sal Moscuzza of Superior Printing Ink, and Hexion Lecture Competition honorees Jeanine Snyder of Air Products & Chemicals, Carl Weisbecker of Sun Chemical Performance Pigments and Collin Moore of BASF. |
The theme of the conference, which was held at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and Spa, Fort Lauderdale, FL from Oct. 11-13, was timely, as the ink industry finds itself and its customer base evolving.
First Day
The conference opened with three in-depth short courses, which lasted the morning. The first, “Software Usage and Mixture Design,” was led by Pat Whitcomb of Stat-Ease, Inc.
The second, “Regulatory/Legal Issues for Printing Ink Manufacturing,” was two-fold. The first, led by David Currier, Flint Group and George Fuchs of NAPIM, analyzed regulations of importance to ink manufacturers. The second part, hosted by Dave Lazar, Sun Chemical North American Inks, discussed intellectual property. The third course was “Understanding Basic Rheology,” and was led by Mark Pavlin of Arizona Chemical and focused on viscosity and elasticity.
The opening session was led by, from left, conference chair Doug Anderson of Central Ink,Dr. Martin Kanert of EuPIA, Dr. Graham Battersby, and NAPIM executive director Jim Coleman |
Dr. Martin Kanert of EuPIA then discussed “Major Challenges for the Printing Ink Industry in Europe: Requirements for Food Packaging Inks and REACH,” a look at the issues of food packaging in Europe, including ITX. Dr. Graham Battersby closed the session with “Printed Electronics - The Positives and Negatives,” a straightforward look at the potential for printed electronics. The evening closed with the tabletop exhibits/poster board presentations and reception.
Second Day
The second day featured concurrent sessions on publication/commercial, manufacturing and packaging.
Arnie Beringer, Sun Chemical Corporation/NA Inks and Pat Campbell, Environ Corporation, led off the
The manufacturing session featured, from left,Barry Cullens of Hockmeyer Equipment, Arnie Beringer of Sun Chemical Corporation/NA Inks, NAPIM’s George Fuchs, moderator Wayne Bice of Siegwerk Ink Packaging, David Currier of Flint Group, Jim Bailen of INX International Ink, Pat Campbell of Environ and Kerstin Grosse of Buhler. |
Kerstin Grosse of Buhler discussed “Challenges and Solutions for the Production of Nanodispersions.” Jim Bailen of INX International Ink closed the session with “Statistical Process Control/Failure Mode and Effect Analysis.”
“The speakers were really good, and there has been a lot of feedback,” said Wayne Bice, Siegwerk Ink Packaging and Manufacturing session moderator.
The packaging session featured “Off-Odor Troubleshooting of Inks and Coatings” by Tom Hartman, Rutgers University, followed by Tom Dunn of Printpack, who discussed “Proactively Responding to Customer Inquiries,” focusing on food packaging. Vincent Stone, Cytec Surface Specialties, examined “Low Odor/Low Extractable Energy Curable Raw Materials for Food Packaging,” and Doug Rhubright of Cognis discussed “Binder Resins For Retortable Flexible Packaging Inks.” The session was closed by Andrew Seecharan, Cytec Surface Specialties, who discussed “UV Flexographic Inks for Shrink Sleeve Applications.”
“I thought it went well. The first three talks were related to each other, and then we got into what some companies are doing to create new products for flexible packaging,” said Packaging Session moderator JoAnn Arcenaux of Cytec Surface Specialties
From left, the publication/commercial session was led by Dr. Sobhy El-Hefnawi of Cognis and featured talks by Domenic DiRenzo of AdPhos-Eltosch – Advanced Photonics Technologies, David Smith of Dow Chemical, Douglas Donigian of Specialty Minerals, Rosalyn Waldo of Cytec Surface Specialties and Carl Weisbecker, Sun Chemical Corporation/NA Inks. |
“The session was really well structured, and everything tied together very nicely,” said Dr. Sobhy El-Hefnawi of Cognis, who served as moderator.
The concurrent sessions were followed by the golf outing, which was halted by thunderstorms, and the awards dinner. NAPIM honored Andrew Matthews, technical director for Flint Group, and Brian Chwierut, marketing manager for Sun Chemical North American Inks, with the Technical Achievement Award (TAA) for their tremendous record of contributions to the ink industry. Dr. Constantinos Nicolaou, senior scientist for Sun Chemical Performance Pigments, received the Technical Associate Member (TAM) Award for his efforts on behalf of the industry.
Closing Session
The Oct. 13 program featured the Closing Session. Clariant’s Chris Patterson led off with “Optimizing Ink Pigment Performance.” Christina Vacca, Aria Analytics, followed with “’Fingerprints’ of Inks Using Acoustical Impedance Technology.”
Michael Kucharski, Cytec Surface Specialties, followed with “Digital Printing Market Update,” analyzing
The packaging session featured, from left,Vincent Stone of Cytec Surface Specialties, Tom Dunn of Printpack, moderator JoAnn Arcenaux of Cytec Surface Specialties,Doug Rhubright of Cognis, Andrew Seecharan of Cytec Surface Specialties and Tom Hartman of Rutgers University. |
Reaction to the Conference
Overall, NAPIM officials and ink industry leaders were pleased with the conference, although the program, was down to 180 attendees.
“I thought it went very well,” Mr. Coleman said. “The feedback on th quality of the program has been very good. The way we split the program up this year allowed the committee to develop a program that was more immediate.”
“I thought it was excellent,” added NPIRI president Joe Cichon of INX International Ink. “The changes we have made over the years has really added take-home value for attendees.”
Next year, the NPIRI Technical Conference will be held Sept. 5-8 at Eaglewood Resort & Spa inChicago, IL. For more information, contact NAPIM at (732) 855-1525 or on the web at www.napim.org.