Supplier News - November 2013

Innovation Awards for Mark Andy, Flint Group

ST. LOUIS, MO.—Mark Andy Inc. was recognized for its efforts in moving the industry forward and building collaboration among key suppliers. During Labelexpo Europe, the company was honored with the Award for Innovation for its UV LED curing system, ProLED. Flint Group also won an Award for Innovation for its development of EkoCure™ UV LED printing inks. Both companies have spent nearly two years in joint development of the technology, making it an available mainstream technology for converters and printers worldwide.

"We are very happy to receive the Award for Innovation this year for Mark Andy ProLED," stated P.J. Desai, president of Mark Andy. "We are proud of the successful collaboration with Flint Group. Working together through joint cooperation has a truly positive impact on the industry as a whole, and we hope to see more of this among other industry suppliers."

Label Days at Heidelberg

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—Some 80 representatives from label producers around the world met at Heidelberg's Print Media Center at its Wiesloch-Walldorf site in September. At the demonstration center, Heidelberg showed how its packaging solutions could be used for flexible and highly productive industrial label production.

According to Heidelberg, labels make up around 20 percent of today's packaging printing segment worldwide. Global demand is currently growing at around 4.5 percent a year and production was approximately 49.2 billion square meters in 2012. The share of labels printed on sheetfed offset presses is currently growing strongly; the print volume for this technology is expected to increase by 65 percent between 2010 and 2016, according to a study on offset printing by Smithers Pira.

"This market segment still offers a great deal of potential for many print shops," said Heidelberg Management Board member Marcel Kiessling at the opening of the Label Days event. "The shift from flexographic to sheetfed offset printing shows that this technology meets the manufacturers' requirements for quality, productivity, flexibility, and sustainability in every respect. Our packaging printing solutions are ideal for label production."

Label Days focused on the production of in-mold labels made of polypropylene (PP) in sheetfed offset, complete with workflow and postpress. Although this market segment currently makes up only around 2 percent of the total volume of label printing worldwide, it offers interesting growth potential, with average growth rates of 5.6 percent forecast through to 2020.

A demonstration on a Speedmaster XL 106 with the FoilStar cold foil module showed how wet-glue labels could be produced efficiently and flexibly using sheetfed offset printing. Two coating units before and after the printing units were used to create attractive matt/gloss combinations, while the modular cold foil module provided partial metallic gloss effects.

Diecutting for Short Runs

ANAHEIM, CALIF.—Rollem International has sold a Delta 5 Die Cutter that was featured at CPP Expo to MCM Technologies of Providence, R.I. The MCM team oversees design, production, and fulfillment for a range of imprinted high-quality products.

The Delta 5 Die Cutter is said to be a new class of flexo-magnetic rotary diecutting machine designed for sheet-fed, short-run label, packaging, and mail applications. It will diecut and kiss-cut a wide range of products including labels, folding cartons, shaped direct mailers, and much more. "The Delta's quick changeover time, short-run capacity, and ease of operation make it ideal for those companies seeking to expand into shorter run label and packaging market, or for companies currently in the space with a need for finishing digitally produced runs of personalized labels, boxes, or direct mail," says Kevin Corwin, product manager for the Rollem's Die Cutting Division.

Mark Andy Digital Series

ST. LOUIS, MO.—Mark Andy Inc. unveiled its latest advanced digital printing platform, Mark Andy Digital Series. The Digital Series is a configurable system that integrates full-color digital printing technology to meet converters' needs for fast change, web handling, in-line converting, and other label and package decoration options. With beta sites identified, the first Digital Series will be installed in December 2013.

At the core of the Mark Andy Digital Series is a flexible "hybrid" platform designed to yield more revenues in less time, using less space, less equipment, and minimizing labor. It combines the advantages of all digital workflows, digital inkjet printing, and flexographic printing processes.

The Digital Series is comprised of a group of machine solutions providing varying degrees of performance at different price points. The result is a high-performance, full-color (C, M, Y, K, O, V + W) inkjet or hybrid system with running speeds of more than 200 fpm. It is available for a range of web widths beginning with 13 inches and is capable of a range of substrates from sophisticated packaging materials to films to traditional pressure-sensitive label stocks.

The line will be commercially available in North America in the spring of 2014 and to the rest of world later in the year.

Flint Group Invests in Narrow Web Industry

SLAGELSE, DENMARK—Flint Group has made a significant investment in Nilpeter printing technology to support the efforts of its narrow-web Technical Center in Trelleborg, Sweden. The global ink manufacturer will upgrade its existing letterpress equipment, as well as acquire a new fourth-generation MO-4 offset press combined with FA-4 flexo printing heads for water- and UV-based flexo inks. The platform technology enables inline screen printing, along with cold foil, UV lamination, and inline converting.

Guillaume Clement, global business director narrow web, says, "Flint group has a strong commitment to continue to invest in its Narrow Web segment—today and into the future. This new press is another step to further develop this growing and key market segment for us."

Jakob Landberg, Nilpeter's sales and marketing director sums up: "Our industry is driven by innovation and partnership—two elements that have been essential to both companies with a focus on quality and sustainability in the narrow-web sector. Now we are ready to take this even further for the benefit of future labeling, as well as packaging."

Streamlined Info for Distinct Packabilities

FOSTER CITY, CALIF.— Shepherdsville, Ky.-based Distinct Packabilities has invested in an EFI Radius ERP system to streamline its business management workflow for its flexographic label and packaging production operations.

"My core team and I reviewed five suppliers for this product along a number of parameters," said David Haley, GM Distinct Packabilities. "During the review of our final analysis it was obvious EFI Radius was the best product for our company in order to support the aggressive growth we expect over the next decade."

The installation will help the company benchmark and streamline its production practices using a full range of modules that includes: a sales management module; a packaging-specific estimating system; a dynamic scheduling module; purchasing and inventory management modules; and Radius's Business Intelligence module.

World Label Award for ASL Print FX

ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Ontario, Canada-based ASL Print FX recently captured the first-ever World Label Association's "Best of the Best" award for its Rennie Estate Winery label at the Global Label Awards in Brussels.

ASL uses Kodak FLEXCEL NX Plates for all its label production and, since the installation of its in September 2008, it has invested considerable effort in the optimization and standardization of its print production process. "The FLEXCEL NX System is fundamental to our print production capabilities," says Stacy Daly, VP and GM, ASL Print FX. "It provides a consistent and stable foundation that delivers outstanding print quality day in and day out."

PEOPLE

Xeikon NV announced that Michael V. Ring, president of Xeikon America, was inducted into the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) Walter E. Soderstrom Society. The Society and the awards are named for the late Walter E. Soderstrom, one of the founders of NAPL.

Mike Huey has recently been named Harper Corporation of America's central states technical account manager for the wide-web industry. He has worked in the flexo and gravure industries for 23 years.

Scodix, Inc. has expanded its executive team by adding two professionals, as well as elevating Marketing VP, Ziki Kuly, to the new position of VP of customer business development. Joining Scodix is Amit Shvartz, who will assume the role of VP marketing, and Dennis Kercher who has been appointed as North American sales manager, Western Region.

CIP4 organization has presented a CIP4 Fellowship to Dr. Rainer Posi of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. The CIP4 Fellowship Award recognizes individuals whose contributions to the development of the Job Definition Format (JDF) Specification are both substantial and significant to the integrity and function of JDF, as well as individuals who may have contributed to the industry's adoption of JDF.

Michael Massey, general manager, global technical services, and vice president for Kodak, has been appointed to the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) Field Services Advisory Board. This board works to strengthen the support and field services disciplines within the technology services industry.

Matik, Inc. has named Max Golter as its new VP of sales. He will be responsible for providing customized coating and laminating solutions from Olbrich and high-performance slitting and rewinding solutions from Goebel.

Mohawk announce several new hires for district sales manager positions to support its Mohawk Fine Paper and Mohawk Digital business divisions. Norman Charette will cover the New England Region; Christine Schaaf, Chicago; Brian Sagula, the Mid-Atlantic Region; and Marc Zitron the Southeast Region.

The supervisory board of Koenig & Bauer (KBA) elected Heinz-Joachim Neubürger as its new chairman. This follows the September resignation of Dieter Rampl as both longstanding member and chairman (since 2006) due to personal reasons. Heinz-Joachim Neubürger, former CFO at Siemens, was elected as member of the KBA supervisory board in June 2013.

Toray Plastics (America) announced that Michael Brandmeier has been promoted to the position of executive VP and will assume responsibility for the company's three divisions—Torayfan®, Lumirror®, and Toraypef®. In addition, Scott Van Winter has been promoted to the position of senior VP and GM of the Lumirror Division; Christopher Roy is now GM of the Torayfan Division; and Lisa Ahart has been promoted to the position of VP, U.S. corporate human resources and environmental health and safety.

Diversified Graphic Machinery announced the promotions of Paul Peyrebrune to the newly created position of executive VP and Dan Quenzer to VP of sales. Peyrebrune will develop new opportunities and assist with corporate development, strategic planning, and future expansion plans. Quenzer will be responsible for DGM Foildex™ Cold Foil and Filmdex™ UV film Cast and Cure™ systems to the world packaging market.

INX Digital has promoted Susie Mendelssohn to the position of North American sales manager. In her new role, she will direct efforts to expand the channel distribution program through the sign and graphics market.

Harris & Bruno International announced that Sean Tobler will now be the main point of contact for customers in the Northeast United States. His role will include visiting facilities and demonstrating first-hand how H&B's equipment meets printers' needs.