TULSA, Okla.—Dan McFarland, President, Ampac Flexibles Performance Printed Films, has been selected as CMM International’s Converter of the Year for 2009. Recognized for his accomplishments in the flexible packaging industry, specifically targeting the frozen food sector, McFarland is the 11th recipient in a list of distinguished honorees who have won this prestigious award over the last 20 years.
DPLenticular Ltd., a European supplier of lenticular plastic sheets and rolls for the graphic arts industry, reports a two-digit production increase for 2008.
Printers like to hear their presses running, because hopefully money is being made and customer demands are being met. But shorter runs can tie up a press with more frequent setups. Integrating short print runs into an overall business plan isn’t as easy as it might sound. To accommodate customer demand for these types of runs, a package printer must do its homework long before actually accepting the orders. Impact of shorter runs Print jobs that are shorter than the norm impact printers’ businesses and business operations, but not necessarily negatively as long as they are proactive. “Our short-run sales increased by 50 percent
Not many businesses are going to be successful without an overall business plan that includes where they are, where they want to go, and how they want to get there. One critical component of a business plan is a capital financing strategy. After all, a package printer isn’t going to grow its printing business without upgrading or updating equipment over time. Not every capital financing plan is the same, and each will be built based on company preferences, such as leasing over buying or whether or not to finance large expenditures. Building your plan It is difficult to pin down every component of a
Anilox rolls are at the heart of the flexographic printing process, so it only makes good business sense to try to extend the life of these critical components to protect your investments. Proper care is essential. While the flexographic process essentially is the same on every press, unique characteristics of each print job, each print shop, and each press make anilox roll care methods different for every print shop. Each anilox roll supplier has its own recommendations for caring for and ultimately extending the lives of its anilox rolls, and you should always start with your supplier. But as package printers run their jobs,
It seems things are built so well these days that we hardly think about maintenance until something goes wrong. However, when your livelihood and the livelihood of your employees depends on your printing equipment functioning properly, the onset of system failure is not the time to be thinking maintenance. If you are in the business of converting certain types of films, foils, and even some papers into packaging, you know that before printing on any of these substrates, their surfaces must be treated in some way to improve their receptiveness to various inks, coatings, or adhesives. To ensure your surface-treating systems are working properly,
Clean, clean, clean! It is one of the keys to successful package printing. The substrate must be substantially free of contaminants to stand any chance of providing consistent high-quality printing. Various systems are used to help keep printing surfaces clean, including static control systems and web cleaning systems. Although George Zuments, president of Web Systems, Inc., points out that static control and web cleaning are separate systems, they typically work in conjunction with each other. Static control systems are used to enhance the cleaning process by reducing or eliminating static levels. Static poses two problems relative to web cleaning. First, static can
It’s been 10 years and quite a ride for Wrightstown, Wis.-based Coating Excellence International (CEI). During the past decade, the company has expanded seven times, grown from 13 to 380 people, and is now set to expand into a second plant. In the grand scheme of things, 10 years is not a long time. So, going from $1.9 million in sales for 1997 to a projected $170 million for 2007 is remarkable. What started out as an extrusion coating operation has become a 600,000-sq.-ft. facility with nine flexo presses, three offset presses, two adhesive laminators, four extruders, and a variety of rewinders and slitters.
RONKONKOMA, N.Y.—In today’s environment, digital workflow processes such as plate making should be simpler not more complicated. Optimizing the Digital Plate Package for Flexography is a series of seminars, demonstrations and hands-on sessions where attendees will learn to un-complicate digital plate pre-press and production in order to achieve optimal results. The two-day program, August 2-3, is limited to 25 people and is hosted by Clemson University’s Department of Graphic Communications. Joining Clemson’s faculty will be top industry presenters such as Mark Mazur (Dupont Imaging Technologies), Mark Samworth (Artwork Systems), David Chinnis (Flint Group Printing Plates) and Dr. John Anderson (FTA). They will teach
Standards and RFID Converting Equipment Standards and their impact on smart label converting equipment is questionable, according to machine manufacturers. Much of today’s RFID converting technology can produce tags and labels of a variety of frequencies. However, there are a few points to consider when looking to purchase RFID converting apparatuses. First, it’s important to remember that, while notable advances have been made in smart labels and their construction, RFID in general is still a developing technology. This means converters need equipment that can develop along with the progress made in RFID. “Converters should purchase converting equipment that permits them to evolve with the on-going evolution of
