Close to Perfection

Judgement Day for the Excellence Awards contest is a special day at the offices of packagePRINTING. The judges—this year including Peter Menzian, DuPont –Imaging Technologies; Jim Flynn, Gallus; Joe Hamway, Mark Andy; and Bob Waddington, UVitec Printing Ink—contribute greatly to the success of the program with their high level of expertise and a commitment to conscientious evaluation.

This year's contest brought in a total of 82 awards, including 28 first-place awards and the Best of Show. Selection of the Best of Show winner is always a challenge; all the first-place category winners are eligible, so the judges start with top-notch entries. This year was especially difficult. After working hard to pare it down to two final candidates, the judges compared what they felt was "a phenomenal label" against one that was "close to perfection."

In the end, Spear's (www.spearsystem.com) "Mogen David Pomegranate," came in an exceptionally close second. It was described as a "tough, killer job" by Hamway, with line work that Menzian felt was "dynamite."

Spear can take some consolation in finishing neck and neck with a label Hamway said was probably "the best reproduction I've ever seen." packagePRINTING's 2009 Best of Show honors went to All Stick Label's (ASL, www.allsticklabel.com) "Panama Jack's French Vanilla Cream" entry. Waddington was especially impressed with the vignettes in the label, which were "clean and clear," and the screen printing, especially in the fine text, which he called "phenomenal."

It was clear to the judges that the Panama Jack's entry was a complex design that incorporated a lot of different technologies. Steve Durham, senior account manager for the customer, Andrew Peller Ltd., said that ASL's sales and operations teams worked directly with the customer and the design firm, Design Source, early in the development stage to identify special treatments for the package. "The bird and the banner were areas of focus, and the resulting effects in these areas were achieved through this collaborative approach," he said.

ASL used three silkscreens for each of the back and front labels. According to Stacy Daly, VP of operations, the flexo colors were laid down first, followed by two silkscreens and a combination of matte and gloss coatings. The coatings provided a contrast in certain areas of the label. A silkscreen process on the last station applied the raised varnish over the bird.

Two silkscreens were used for printing the text to allow clear readability of the very fine type, especially on the back label. "Originally we were planning to knock out the fine type," reports Daly. "However, we decided to use a silkscreen process for ease of registration and type clarity instead. This proved to be the right decision as the fine-type text is clean and crisp."

ASL used a Gallus RCS 330 12-station press and Kodak NX plates to print the labels; Fasson silver metalized paper; and Sun Chemical, Water Ink Technologies, and Actega inks and coatings. ASL printed each label in one pass. "Typically a label with special-effect print might require an offline process to achieve, as an example, an embossed look," said Daly. "With the Gallus technology we are able to add an embossed look, effect varnishes, and other special treatments all in one pass."

In addition, Durham states that the Panama Jack's –label was one of the first labels ASL printed stochastically. "The combination of Gallus technology and the Kodak NX –stochastic technology delivered outstanding results for our client," he said. n