Making Flexo Stronger: FTA’s Focus at 50

DALLAS, Texas—Milestones were marked, and new ground was broken, as nearly 1,600 flexographic printing/converting professionals rolled into Dallas, Texas for the 2008 Foundation of Flexographic Technical Association (FFTA) Annual Forum and INFO*FLEX Exhibition. There, they lined up to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the society that is dedicated to growing the flexo industry—FTA.

The event took place April 27-30 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas. More than 60 speakers offered insights in 10 educational sessions. Attendees networked with suppliers at the INFO*FLEX exhibition that has been called the “best ever.” Forum 2008 was also marked by the presentation of lifetime and educational achievement, and a Golden Jubilee Special Event at the ever-popular SpeedZone® Race Track. Attendees, exhibitors, and speakers alike professed their appreciation for FTA’s “50 Years of Making Flexo Stronger.”

Scott Gilbert, Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., who chaired this year’s event alongside vice-chair Mark Mazur, DuPont Packaging Graphics, said he couldn’t have been happier with the turnout. “I’ve received a lot of positive feedback on the content, the keynote, and of course INFO*FLEX,” he said. “Overall, I’m extremely happy.”

Opening session keynote speaker Jackie Pflug told the heart-wrenching tale of her experience with an airplane hijacking and hostage situation that ended with her taking a bullet in the brain—and somehow surviving. “Choices in your life require faith in the idea that no matter what you do, you will be OK,” said Pflug. She explained, “We think a lot with our heads, but we sometimes have to think with our feelings.” Pflug advised attendees to “behave your way to success.”

She recommended:
• Have a great attitude. Expect more success than failure.
• Don’t worry over the little things in life.
• Be grateful every day.

Plug concluded her talk by reminding the audience that “nothing great is accomplished alone.” The keynote ended with a standing ovation from all in attendance. Gilbert said that the speech was well received by all. “Sometimes we make assumptions that everyone wants business or technical information,” he relayed. “In this case, Jackie gave us something we needed but didn’t necessarily know we wanted.”

Prepress Session

Tom Cassano of MacDermid Printing Solutions asked where the value of a digital prepress workflow is. When it comes to converting to digital platemaking, Cassano said the critical question is “Will I lose business if I don’t?” Ray Bodwell of DuPont Packaging Graphics compared the three types of processing (solvent, thermal and laser) and three types of imagesetters—direct laser engravers (DLE), laser ablation mask (LAM) and laser laminate. Mark Samworth, EskoArtwork, took a new look at an old topic: dot gain curves. He declared, “Fundamentals are more important than the advanced,” and “Curves are the most important part of flexo.”

Richard Black, All Printing Resources asked, “Should we be matching the press to the proof or the proof to the press?” Obstacles to making flexo stronger include variation in print color and quality, the lack of practical standards, and the fact that all rival processes have standards, claimed Dieter Niederstadt of Asahi Photoproducts. Anchoring the session, EskoArtwork’s Ian Hole offered a perspective on sustainability “from 30,000 ft,” encouraging attendees to take advantage of existing products that enhance sustainability, such as sample making devices, remote approval systems, and software that tracks waste.

Flexo 101 Session

Ann Michaud, 3M, led the call for measurement and control. Carl Hartz, Flint Group, spoke to the basic components of inks. He noted that that versatility may prove the printer’s differentiating factor. Basic theory and real pressroom experiences were folded into a presentation by Jean Jackson, Allison Systems, and Donnie Gramlich, Smurfit-Stone Preprint, as they reviewed the critical roles played by both the anilox and doctor blade in an effective and productive ink metering system.

By specifying color in digital format, a printer, or his consumer product company (CPC) customer, can communicate expectations down the supply chain and all around the world, according to Brian Ashe, X-Rite Inc. Al Bowers, RR Donnelley, addressed basic plate requirements, namely: durometer, gauge, thickness, length, digital and analogue options, etc. Tony Donato of Harper Corporation of America delved into the relationship of doctor blade contact angle to vibration.

Business Management Session

Declaring that “Eighty-four percent of all IT projects fail,” Glyn Slack of Radius Solutions advised attendees to make sure that, if they are going to invest in an ERP/MIS system, that they choose one that is market specific, adaptable and compatible with existing systems. Udi Arieli of EFI followed by addressing global optimization, with a focus on the function of MIS. In a talk on unveiling customer expectations, Diego Lanchuske, Mid-West Packaging, said, “Every product equals a new standard” in quality and productivity.

Jeff Feltz of Mark Andy took the stage next to compare the advantages and disadvantages of buying new versus used machinery, and at the same time weighed the option of upgrading existing equipment. “Platform presses can offer multiple print processes capabilities in an unlimited number of combinations of printing process possibilities,” added Denny McGee, MPS America LLC in a talk on combination printing.

Emerging Technologies Session

Observing that it is better to find an approximate answer to the right problem than find a precise answer to the wrong one, Timothy Gostick of MacDermid Printing Solutions spoke on direct write imaging, which combines the exposure and imaging process. DuPont’s John S. Locke, Ph.D., showed attendees comparisons between a traditional flexo plate and one with a less smooth surface. A collaborative study on EB inks and digital plates was reported jointly by Bob Mullen of Sun Chemical and Rick Marsh of DuPont. The quest: to find out if there was a way to reduce flexo’s inherent environmental footprint and also produce gravure-level quality.

EskoArtwork’s Kris Van Bael offered a demonstration of 3-D visualization software. Ed Dedman, Hewlett-Packard Co., followed on the topic of digital printing in a flexo pressroom, stating that there is minimal competition within the flexible packaging market for digital. Acting as the voice of the customer, Gail Wong of General Mills Inc. explained how, with 70 percent of purchase decisions made on the shelf, the package is a critical link to customers.

Sustainability Session

FTA’s director of EHS services and special projects, Doreen M. Monteleone, Ph.D., explained the primary goals of the Sustainable Green Printing (SGP) Partnership—an alliance forged between FTA, SGIA (Specialty Graphic Imaging Association) and PIA/GATF (Printing Industries America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation).

“Sustainability is actually very personal and very individualistic,” said Debbra Johnson, DuPont Packaging Graphics as she revealed preliminary results of a study into flexography’s current sustainability factor. Martin Spatz, Sun Chemical Corp., reviewed existing sustainability options for inks, noting that “dry inks of less than 1 percent are not factored into compostability.”

Pliant Corp.’s Dan Collins discussed various bio-based films, such as starch, cellophane, cellulose film, PLA (polylactic acid), and PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates). Frank Belardo, Phoenix Environmental Technology, spoke on the economics of solvent recovery and recycling. Charlie Black, Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., finished up with a presentation on cube utilization. “Consider logistics as part of sustainability,” he said.

Faster, Better, Cheaper Session

Speaking on computer-to-plate (CTP) manufacturing, Bob McVey, GMF Flexo Prepress stated this simple goal: “Make the plates the same anywhere.” Roger Bostdorff, Leader Engineering, walked the audience through a sample of computer-assisted plate mounting technologies work. Offering solutions to plate bounce, Xymid LLC’s Mike Smoot made recommendations for both minor and major cases.

Tag-teaming on how to correlate one’s ink proofer to one’s press was Bill Poulson (Harper Corporation of America) and Kurt Hudson (Water Ink Technologies). Poulson advised printers to reduce their anilox inventories to two or three volumes. “Pressroom practices for flexo need to be implemented at the upper management level,” added Hudson.

Tom Jacques, North American Cerutti, addressed automation in the pressroom, insisting that operators like simplicity. Rounding out the list of presenters, John Thome of BST Pro Mark offered a comparison of different print defect detection systems, focusing on two core technologies: area scan and line scan.

FIRST and FQC Session

Print trials, their tribulations, the data generated and the results analysis took center stage. Brett Kilhenny of Rogers Corp., presented findings of a study to understand and predict print performance through analysis of physical properties of the plate and mounting tape. Bill Pope, FTA’s technical director, briefed the audience on an FQC study into the measurement of color on transparent or translucent substrates. Research supports claims that plate resiliency is critical to minimizing press bounce issues, claimed Rodrigo Yamaguchi of MacDermid. Variables to consider are plate, tape, speed and impression.

In a presentation on near-neutral calibration, Jay Sperry, Clemson University, summarized his experience and experiments, then recommended that flexographers work step-by-step through the process. Dr. Nona Woolbright, Clemson University, addressed the human perception of “good color.” She concluded that “Substrate is a factor upon perceived effectiveness of calibration method.” Stefano d’Andrea outlined the ATIF’s (Italy’s FTA) method for applying standardization to flexography. “Standardization does not flatten quality,” he said. “In fact, the spirit of standardization should become a real point of reference among worldwide flexo users.”