David Savastano, Editor01.24.23
The Technical Associate Member (TAM) Service Award is one of the most prestigious honors presented by the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM). Presented at its annual Technical Conference, the TAM Service Award is awarded to a supplier “who has played a major role in the progress of the printing ink industry.”
Mike Oberski, the 2023 TAM Service Award honoree, is a deserved choice for this year’s award. Since he joined the ink industry as an intern at Flint Group in 1995, he has made numerous contributions to the ink industry as well as NAPIM, in fields ranging from news ink and inkjet ink to printing and pigments and more. His career has ranged through a number of companies, including Flint Ink, Jetrion, EFI, Dart Container, BASF, BASF Colors & Effects and Sun Chemical, where he is currently technical industry manager.
“I was very gratified to see Mike Oberski of Sun Chemical win this year’s Technical Achievement Award,” said. George Fuchs, director – regulatory affairs and technology for NAPIM. “Mike is a very knowledgeable, long time ‘ink guy’ and has been an invaluable and continuing technical resource for NAPIM for many years.”
“It is rare that I am speechless, but I was when George called me about receiving this award,” said Oberski. “I am profoundly humbled and thankful. I would like to thank NAPIM for the award and for their support of the ink industry. It is truly appreciated and a pleasant surprise!”
“Normally, coatings companies like Sherwin Williams/Valspar, etc. would do interviews,” Oberski recalled. “I get a call from the program leader/instructor telling me to report for internship interviews in an hour. I explained that I had no suit or good clothes to wear; as a college student, any good clothes were at my parents’ house. He said, ‘Just wear the best clothes you have’.”
“So I went to the interview in jeans, flannel shirt, and work boots,” Oberski added. “I must have looked more like a lumberjack than an aspiring chemist.”
Oberski’s first project was the Arrowlith Color book and 2000g batches of every color that Flint Ink offered for news ink.
“Having never made ink, I lacked basic understanding all inkies know well,” he said. “Things like news ink doesn’t not ‘dry’; whatever a small amount of ink touches, it transfers, and gets everywhere, and that vertical post mixers are adept at slinging ink everywhere.
“I was trained well but we all know and need to learn by doing,” Oberski continued. “Needless to say, I was a complete train wreck. Compound this with the batch size. Anyone who has worked in a lab knows how much of a mess gets made with 2000g vs 200g batches. I must have gone through dozens of lab coats, thousands of gloves, ruined all kinds of clothes, ink up the nose, in my hair, and transferred ink to nearly every surface in that lab, tracked ink into my car, apartment… a true rite
of passage.
“Very early on, I could see that the people in this industry is what makes it so great. Thinking about my career, I have been fortunate in my to work either work for, with, alongside of and support customers that reads like a who’s who of previous Technical Achievement award winners, Printing Ink Pioneers, Ault Award winners, and countless others who I have learned from.
“My point is, it is hard to be around this caliber of people in the industry and not learn, and grow. Again, they are what was makes this industry so great,” Oberski added.
“Finally, I need to thank my family,”Oberski noted. “My beautiful wife Mandy, that woman is a saint to put up with me. We are blessed with two wonderful daughters, Grace, 15, and Claire, 14; both are great kids. Mandy and I could not be prouder of them.
I would not be here without their support.”
Mike Oberski, the 2023 TAM Service Award honoree, is a deserved choice for this year’s award. Since he joined the ink industry as an intern at Flint Group in 1995, he has made numerous contributions to the ink industry as well as NAPIM, in fields ranging from news ink and inkjet ink to printing and pigments and more. His career has ranged through a number of companies, including Flint Ink, Jetrion, EFI, Dart Container, BASF, BASF Colors & Effects and Sun Chemical, where he is currently technical industry manager.
“I was very gratified to see Mike Oberski of Sun Chemical win this year’s Technical Achievement Award,” said. George Fuchs, director – regulatory affairs and technology for NAPIM. “Mike is a very knowledgeable, long time ‘ink guy’ and has been an invaluable and continuing technical resource for NAPIM for many years.”
“It is rare that I am speechless, but I was when George called me about receiving this award,” said Oberski. “I am profoundly humbled and thankful. I would like to thank NAPIM for the award and for their support of the ink industry. It is truly appreciated and a pleasant surprise!”
Career in the Ink Industry
Oberski was in the Polymers and Coatings program at Eastern Michigan University, where he needed to complete two internships in order to graduate. Flint Ink would turn out to be both of the internships.“Normally, coatings companies like Sherwin Williams/Valspar, etc. would do interviews,” Oberski recalled. “I get a call from the program leader/instructor telling me to report for internship interviews in an hour. I explained that I had no suit or good clothes to wear; as a college student, any good clothes were at my parents’ house. He said, ‘Just wear the best clothes you have’.”
“So I went to the interview in jeans, flannel shirt, and work boots,” Oberski added. “I must have looked more like a lumberjack than an aspiring chemist.”
Oberski’s first project was the Arrowlith Color book and 2000g batches of every color that Flint Ink offered for news ink.
“Having never made ink, I lacked basic understanding all inkies know well,” he said. “Things like news ink doesn’t not ‘dry’; whatever a small amount of ink touches, it transfers, and gets everywhere, and that vertical post mixers are adept at slinging ink everywhere.
“I was trained well but we all know and need to learn by doing,” Oberski continued. “Needless to say, I was a complete train wreck. Compound this with the batch size. Anyone who has worked in a lab knows how much of a mess gets made with 2000g vs 200g batches. I must have gone through dozens of lab coats, thousands of gloves, ruined all kinds of clothes, ink up the nose, in my hair, and transferred ink to nearly every surface in that lab, tracked ink into my car, apartment… a true rite
of passage.
“Very early on, I could see that the people in this industry is what makes it so great. Thinking about my career, I have been fortunate in my to work either work for, with, alongside of and support customers that reads like a who’s who of previous Technical Achievement award winners, Printing Ink Pioneers, Ault Award winners, and countless others who I have learned from.
“My point is, it is hard to be around this caliber of people in the industry and not learn, and grow. Again, they are what was makes this industry so great,” Oberski added.
“Finally, I need to thank my family,”Oberski noted. “My beautiful wife Mandy, that woman is a saint to put up with me. We are blessed with two wonderful daughters, Grace, 15, and Claire, 14; both are great kids. Mandy and I could not be prouder of them.
I would not be here without their support.”
