Harper Corp. of America

Every package printer strives to produce packaging of the highest quality for its customers. Aiding in that effort is today’s higher anilox roll line counts. Line counts upwards of 1,000 have given printers the ability to reach realms of quality impossible with older, lower cell count aniloxes. The only drawback to these higher counts is the delicate nature of the anilox cells, which can be easily damaged during cleaning. This is a conundrum printers need to consider and take seriously if they plan on reaping the full rewards attainable through these newer rolls. “Higher count anilox rolls, in response to the need for higher

As always, companies exhibiting at CMM International 2005 put on a display of impressive new products and technologies for converters and package printers. A SUCCESSFUL TRADE show is always measured on an individual basis—foot traffic, promising leads, or signed contracts. While attendees weren't exactly carried down the aisles in a swell of people, CMM International 2005 still offered a wide array of new products and technologies from the exhibiting companies. The following is a small sampling of what CMM International had to offer. Company news Enercon and Ciba Specialty Chemicals announced a joint development agreement which will combine Enercon's surface modification Plasma3™ technology

AAA PRESS INT'L Praxair™ laser-engraved ceramic anilox rolls; tint sleeve kits. Write 604, Visit www.aaapress.com, ABSOLUTELY MICRO*CLEAN Micro*Clean use a unique plastic media to deep-clean anilox rolls. The well-proven method is used off-press in an enclosed blast cabinet. The media is cleaned and recycled for reduced costs/elimination of hazardous waste. Write 605, Visit www.microcleanintl.com ADVANCED CYLINDER REPAIR Recognized leader in "In Press" cylinder repair services. We serve the offset, web, and flexo industries with the most up-to-date repair technology available. Write 606 American Die Technology Anvil rolls and printing cylinders for narrow-web flexo equipment with web widths to 30˝. Write 607, Visit

Beyond Star Wars' use of lasers, package printers are using two main types of lasers to engrave cells into anilox rolls. by Joy English, Assistant Editor THROUGOUT OUR LIVES, we are constantly fascinated by things that light up. We capture fireflies and "ooh" and "aww" at Fourth of July fireworks. Laser light shows are a big attraction at amusement parks and even science museums, where rays of light dance to funky background music. But these beams of light energy can be very powerful and very useful tools in various industries. In the package-printing industy, lasers are being used to engrave anilox rolls for

A review of the top issues concerning doctor blades. THE ARTISTRY OF doctoring the doctor blade is giving way to science. Tom Allison, president of Allison Systems (Riverside, N.J.), remembers when he used to ask his dad what the press operators were doing as he watched them prepare the doctor blade for printing. After hushing his son, Allison's father would say, "Pressmen are frustrated artists; each one has his own 'pallet' of special things he feels that he alone can do to make 'great art' come off the press." Where once true—when the performance of the doctor blade depended solely upon the operator's set-up—now