David Savastano, Editor07.31.18
In 2018, Sonoma was among the northern California regions devastated by fires. There were some concerns that the 2018 National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers’ (NAPIM) Annual Convention, scheduled for Sonoma, might have to be moved. However, the region has recovered.
The lessons learned from the fire, from the need to prepare for the worst and how to recover, led to NAPIM putting a focus on how industry can move forward from any disaster. As a result, the convention, which was held at the Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, Sonoma, CA, from April 20-23, focused on the theme of “Emergency Preparedness.” Speakers covered a range of topics, from the fire itself to workplace violence, cyber security and more.
John Copeland and George Fuchs of NAPIM said the conference was a success.
“I think we had a great theme to work with ‘Emergency Preparedness 2018,’” said Copeland, NAPIM’s executive director. “Our planning committee felt strongly that we should have this theme. Craig Fugate, our keynote speaker, started the convention off with the right topic and presentation, and our other speakers and topics fit very well with theme.”
“This year’s NAPIM Convention was exceptionally well attended with a higher than normal number of guests and spouses. We were very pleased with the quality of the venue and business session presentations. These smaller resorts are always well-liked by the attendees because they provide greater opportunities to connect with older friends and to meet new ones,” added Fuchs, NAPIM’s director, regulatory affairs and technology.
Copeland said that holding the venue in wine country proved to be a good draw for attendees.
“The 2018 NAPIM Convention was different than any previous convention due to the fact that we were in a new and different location,” said Copeland. “This is the first time we have been in northern California in the wine country. We had more positive comments about the location, the program, the food and the overall convention than many of our previous conventions.”
Copeland noted that attendees said they enjoyed the conference, including the awards night and fun night. The fun night featured the Ink Knives, a NAPIM band featuring Copeland and Pat Powers of DSM on guitars, Michael Gerkin Sr. of Kustom Group on bass, Jeff Koppelman of Gans Ink on keyboards and Ink World’s Dale Pritchett on drums.“We believe the people attending had a great time this year. The awards dinner and the fun night were both well attended and enjoyable for everyone. Of course the performance of the ‘Ink Knives’ and the T-shirt giveaways were both big hits this year.”
Preparing for Challenges
The convention began with a keynote talk by Fugate, FEMA administrator from 2009-2017, who discussed his experiences with disasters, including Hurricane Sandy. He noted that emergency management is for when the organizational chart fails.
“We plan for what we are capable of responding to, and place what we see as being too hard to do in an annex or ignore,” Fugate said. “The big problem is that we think our emergency response system can scale up to disasters, but major disasters like Hurricane Katrina cannot be scaled up.”
One major challenge is getting life back to normal after a disaster. “After Katrina, businesses reopened, but eventually had to close because stores and schools were not open as workers left the area,” said Fugate. “In Florida, we made sure that schools opened after Hurricane Charlie, and even sent the National Guard to drive school buses. That was a morale boost.”
Next up was the NAPIM State of the Industry Report, which was presented by Bryce Kristo of INX International Ink Co. and John Jilek Jr. of Inksolutions. They reported that ink sales grew slightly to $4.57 billion in 2017, and EBIT was 0.5%, after being at 5.8% in 2015 and 3.1% in 2016.
“The print market is a growing market, but it is also a consolidating market,” said Jilek. “The top current concerns for ink companies are overall economic activity, customer consolidation and rising imports.”
Starting off the second day, Luther Wright Jr., an attorney at Ogletree, Deakins, discussed “Workplace Violence Preparedness.” “The best way to prevent workplace environment is to nip it in the bud,” Wright said. “Certain behavioral markers have a high correlation to violence – fascination with acts of violence, substance abuse, performance problems, resistance to feedback, social isolation, history of bullying others. Companies must have a workplace violence policy with zero tolerance and have a crisis management team.”
Larry Copeland, senior account manager for Puppet, covered “Information Security and Disaster Preparedness.
“There are lots of vulnerabilities and breaches – retail, credit services, others,” he noted. “Low hanging fruit includes automating repetitive IT tasks, strong password policy, two factor authentication and having a tested disaster recovery plan.”
Next up was Bob Norrbom, Sonoma County Fire Department battalion chief, who discussed the efforts battling the fire and the lessons learned from it. He noted that relative humidity was below 10% and wind gusts reached 60 miles per hour, which led to the fire quickly getting out of control.
He said that 11,000 firefighters were called on to fight the many blazes; the NUNS fire alone burned 54,382 acres in Sonoma and Napa. All total, 246,000 acres were burned, 100,000 people were evacuated, and there were 42 fatalities.
“The biggest thing we learned from the fire is how challenging it is to get our community prepared for this,” Norrbom reported.
Gary Saperstein, executive director, Sonoma Valley Visitor’s Bureau & Sonoma County Tourism Board, then gave an update on relief efforts. “Nature wins in the end – it is all green again,” he said.
On the closing day, Dr. Ron Davis, economist for the Printing industries of America (PIA), gave his thoughts on the economy and the printing business.
“GDP is up in the 3% range. However, the current expansion is nine years old, and only two out of 11 post war expansions have lasted longer,” Dr. Davis said. “So what can go wrong? Trade restrictions and barriers could slow down the US and global economy, as can labor charges and immigration restrictions, pricing pressures and inflation. Printing is still an industry of opportunity.”
Fuchs then presented his “Regulatory Overview,” a look at what the ink industry has to face in terms of regulatory mandates, and how NAPIM can help companies.
“The 2018 Printing Ink Industry Guidance for Food Packaging Status is available and we are working with EuPIA to coordinate with them,” he reported. “We work rather closely with EuPIA, although the regulatory environment between the US and EU are dramatically different.” He also noted that the NAPIM is working on an FDA guideline project.
Mitzi Clark of Keller and Heckman focused on California with her talk, “Update on Proposition 65.”
“Proposition 65 is a consumer right-to-know law and was supported by 63% of California voters,” Clark said. “The focus is on exposure to listed chemicals on consumer products, workplace or environment. The list is now at 950 chemicals.”
Clark noted that lead, bisphenol A in canned and bottled foods and beverages, acrylamide, styrene, PCBs, ethylene glycol and TiO2 (for inhalation exposure) are on the list, and vinyl acetate is being considered.
“The burden of proof is on the defendant in a lawsuit,” Clark added. “The level of exposure that requires a warning is very low. The California attorney general has sought to limit payments and reduce financial incentives for attorneys.”
The Ault and Pioneer Awards
One of the highlights of the annual NAPIM Convention is the black-tie awards. This year, NAPIM honored Joseph Cichon, VP manufacturing technology and TPM for INX International Ink Company, with its prestigious Ault Award.
“This is fantastic,” Cichon said. “I started in the ink industry in 1974 with the goal of getting two years of experience in the chemical industry, and 44 years later, I’m still with the same company. It’s been a great ride.”
In addition, NAPIM presented eight Printing Ink Pioneer Awards during the ceremony. The honorees include:
Michael Brice, INX International Ink Company;
Gene Cassidy, Lawter;
Vic Dahleen, Central Ink Corporation;
Jonathan Graunke, INX International Ink Company;
Mark Hill, INX International Ink Company;
Kris Johansen, Toyo Ink America;
Jim Leitch, Braden Sutphin Ink (and NAPIM’s new president);
Pat Powers, DSM Coatings Resins.
Next year’s NAPIM Convention will be held April 5-8 at The Biltmore Miami-Coral Gables in Florida. For more information, see www.napim.org.
The lessons learned from the fire, from the need to prepare for the worst and how to recover, led to NAPIM putting a focus on how industry can move forward from any disaster. As a result, the convention, which was held at the Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, Sonoma, CA, from April 20-23, focused on the theme of “Emergency Preparedness.” Speakers covered a range of topics, from the fire itself to workplace violence, cyber security and more.
John Copeland and George Fuchs of NAPIM said the conference was a success.
“I think we had a great theme to work with ‘Emergency Preparedness 2018,’” said Copeland, NAPIM’s executive director. “Our planning committee felt strongly that we should have this theme. Craig Fugate, our keynote speaker, started the convention off with the right topic and presentation, and our other speakers and topics fit very well with theme.”
“This year’s NAPIM Convention was exceptionally well attended with a higher than normal number of guests and spouses. We were very pleased with the quality of the venue and business session presentations. These smaller resorts are always well-liked by the attendees because they provide greater opportunities to connect with older friends and to meet new ones,” added Fuchs, NAPIM’s director, regulatory affairs and technology.
Copeland said that holding the venue in wine country proved to be a good draw for attendees.
“The 2018 NAPIM Convention was different than any previous convention due to the fact that we were in a new and different location,” said Copeland. “This is the first time we have been in northern California in the wine country. We had more positive comments about the location, the program, the food and the overall convention than many of our previous conventions.”
Copeland noted that attendees said they enjoyed the conference, including the awards night and fun night. The fun night featured the Ink Knives, a NAPIM band featuring Copeland and Pat Powers of DSM on guitars, Michael Gerkin Sr. of Kustom Group on bass, Jeff Koppelman of Gans Ink on keyboards and Ink World’s Dale Pritchett on drums.“We believe the people attending had a great time this year. The awards dinner and the fun night were both well attended and enjoyable for everyone. Of course the performance of the ‘Ink Knives’ and the T-shirt giveaways were both big hits this year.”
Preparing for Challenges
The convention began with a keynote talk by Fugate, FEMA administrator from 2009-2017, who discussed his experiences with disasters, including Hurricane Sandy. He noted that emergency management is for when the organizational chart fails.
“We plan for what we are capable of responding to, and place what we see as being too hard to do in an annex or ignore,” Fugate said. “The big problem is that we think our emergency response system can scale up to disasters, but major disasters like Hurricane Katrina cannot be scaled up.”
One major challenge is getting life back to normal after a disaster. “After Katrina, businesses reopened, but eventually had to close because stores and schools were not open as workers left the area,” said Fugate. “In Florida, we made sure that schools opened after Hurricane Charlie, and even sent the National Guard to drive school buses. That was a morale boost.”
Next up was the NAPIM State of the Industry Report, which was presented by Bryce Kristo of INX International Ink Co. and John Jilek Jr. of Inksolutions. They reported that ink sales grew slightly to $4.57 billion in 2017, and EBIT was 0.5%, after being at 5.8% in 2015 and 3.1% in 2016.
“The print market is a growing market, but it is also a consolidating market,” said Jilek. “The top current concerns for ink companies are overall economic activity, customer consolidation and rising imports.”
Starting off the second day, Luther Wright Jr., an attorney at Ogletree, Deakins, discussed “Workplace Violence Preparedness.” “The best way to prevent workplace environment is to nip it in the bud,” Wright said. “Certain behavioral markers have a high correlation to violence – fascination with acts of violence, substance abuse, performance problems, resistance to feedback, social isolation, history of bullying others. Companies must have a workplace violence policy with zero tolerance and have a crisis management team.”
Larry Copeland, senior account manager for Puppet, covered “Information Security and Disaster Preparedness.
“There are lots of vulnerabilities and breaches – retail, credit services, others,” he noted. “Low hanging fruit includes automating repetitive IT tasks, strong password policy, two factor authentication and having a tested disaster recovery plan.”
Next up was Bob Norrbom, Sonoma County Fire Department battalion chief, who discussed the efforts battling the fire and the lessons learned from it. He noted that relative humidity was below 10% and wind gusts reached 60 miles per hour, which led to the fire quickly getting out of control.
He said that 11,000 firefighters were called on to fight the many blazes; the NUNS fire alone burned 54,382 acres in Sonoma and Napa. All total, 246,000 acres were burned, 100,000 people were evacuated, and there were 42 fatalities.
“The biggest thing we learned from the fire is how challenging it is to get our community prepared for this,” Norrbom reported.
Gary Saperstein, executive director, Sonoma Valley Visitor’s Bureau & Sonoma County Tourism Board, then gave an update on relief efforts. “Nature wins in the end – it is all green again,” he said.
On the closing day, Dr. Ron Davis, economist for the Printing industries of America (PIA), gave his thoughts on the economy and the printing business.
“GDP is up in the 3% range. However, the current expansion is nine years old, and only two out of 11 post war expansions have lasted longer,” Dr. Davis said. “So what can go wrong? Trade restrictions and barriers could slow down the US and global economy, as can labor charges and immigration restrictions, pricing pressures and inflation. Printing is still an industry of opportunity.”
Fuchs then presented his “Regulatory Overview,” a look at what the ink industry has to face in terms of regulatory mandates, and how NAPIM can help companies.
“The 2018 Printing Ink Industry Guidance for Food Packaging Status is available and we are working with EuPIA to coordinate with them,” he reported. “We work rather closely with EuPIA, although the regulatory environment between the US and EU are dramatically different.” He also noted that the NAPIM is working on an FDA guideline project.
Mitzi Clark of Keller and Heckman focused on California with her talk, “Update on Proposition 65.”
“Proposition 65 is a consumer right-to-know law and was supported by 63% of California voters,” Clark said. “The focus is on exposure to listed chemicals on consumer products, workplace or environment. The list is now at 950 chemicals.”
Clark noted that lead, bisphenol A in canned and bottled foods and beverages, acrylamide, styrene, PCBs, ethylene glycol and TiO2 (for inhalation exposure) are on the list, and vinyl acetate is being considered.
“The burden of proof is on the defendant in a lawsuit,” Clark added. “The level of exposure that requires a warning is very low. The California attorney general has sought to limit payments and reduce financial incentives for attorneys.”
The Ault and Pioneer Awards
One of the highlights of the annual NAPIM Convention is the black-tie awards. This year, NAPIM honored Joseph Cichon, VP manufacturing technology and TPM for INX International Ink Company, with its prestigious Ault Award.
“This is fantastic,” Cichon said. “I started in the ink industry in 1974 with the goal of getting two years of experience in the chemical industry, and 44 years later, I’m still with the same company. It’s been a great ride.”
In addition, NAPIM presented eight Printing Ink Pioneer Awards during the ceremony. The honorees include:
Michael Brice, INX International Ink Company;
Gene Cassidy, Lawter;
Vic Dahleen, Central Ink Corporation;
Jonathan Graunke, INX International Ink Company;
Mark Hill, INX International Ink Company;
Kris Johansen, Toyo Ink America;
Jim Leitch, Braden Sutphin Ink (and NAPIM’s new president);
Pat Powers, DSM Coatings Resins.
Next year’s NAPIM Convention will be held April 5-8 at The Biltmore Miami-Coral Gables in Florida. For more information, see www.napim.org.
