Manroland Inc.

McCoy Packaging's "Kuleto Villa" wine label poured on enough printing charm to ace two categories and capture Best of Show honors in packagePRINTING's 15th annual Excellence Awards. by Susan Friedman, Editor If McCoy Packaging's Best of Show-winning strategy was to forge an indelible impression in the judge's minds, it succeeded, hands down. McCoy's "Kuleto Villa" wine label repeatedly stood up to its competitors in packagePRINTING's 2001 Excellence Awards, initially nabbing first place in the Labels—Flexo (Process) category, where judges singled it out as a difficult printing, diecutting, and embossing job well executed. "[This label] holds beautiful register at 175 line screen," commented judge Roy

Bert-Co Graphics uses a keen creative instinct to produce highly visible, highly celebrated offset packaging. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor MAYBE IT'S THE water. Not only does Los Angeles breed an inordinate bevy of beauties and budding starlets, even the packaging produced by and for the Southern California market seems especially ready for its next close-up. Take Bert-Co Graphics, based at two locations in Los Angeles. As sheetfed offset packaging printers, the company's folding cartons have dominated pP's last two Excellence Awards competitions, and managed to nab numerous awards from the National Paperbox Association, the Paperboard Packaging Council, and the Software Publishers Association, among

Press developments make the dizzying heights of today's sheetfed offset a little easier to reach. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor IT WAS ALMOST heartbreaking for the packagePrinting 2000 Excellence Awards Competition judges. Faced with about 50 sheetfed offset folding carton entries, they struggled to whittle the category down to only four winners; ultimately, only the slightest register flaws eliminated the competition. Such a resounding testament to the health of sheetfed offset prompts a question: What challenges do sheetfed printers face? And what solutions do press suppliers offer to enable those formidable folding cartons? Challenge 1: Freedom of substrate Four years ago, Hammer Lithograph

Consumer behavior continues to shape package printers' need for sheetfed offset presses. By Chris Bauer WHEN IT COMES to corrugated package printing, sheetfed offset suppliers suggest printers remember the old saying, "The customer is always right." Customers want shorter runs of high quality work and cost-effective results. This is why suppliers say sheetfed offset is the perfect solution. "For the folding carton and the packaging industry, sheetfed offset is really the production unit of choice," offers Achim Schmidt, packaging manager for Heidelberg. Schmidt believes sheetfed offset presses are the answer for shorter runs, more flexible and versatile press operation, and higher quality work which

North American First Place Awards 1. Flexo, Line/Prime Northwest Flexo Specialties, Lynnwood, WA Columbia Wine Labels 8 waterbase and matte UV spot varnish colors. 380-440 lpi laser-engraved anilox. 55# metallized silver paper foil. 130 fpm for 6 hours. Double bump red & black for opacity. Passed 2,000 rubs on a Sutherland rub tester Mark Andy 7" 2200; Cyrel .067 plates; RotoMetrics dies/cylinders; AKZO Nobel inks; Fasson substrate; Praxair anilox 2. Flexo, Line & Screen, Tone/Prime Adams Label & Tag, Surrey, BC Kiona, 1997 Cabernet Merlot Varnished on a second pass. 175 line screens; 125 fpm; 3 colors plus gold foil stamp & UV varnish

Packaging-specific prepress technologies are opening new lines of communication, unprecedented quality-enhancement opportunities for printers, and strategic alliances between suppliers. by Terri McConnell "It doesn't get any better than this" was one of the first principles I was taught 15 years ago as a fledgling mechanical artist. Thankfully the statement wasn't a commentary on my career potential—it was a strong warning that as layouts moved through the analog printing process, image quality had generally nowhere to go but down. I also remember another warning: "When a press operator walks through those swinging doors carrying plates, pray he's not looking for you." In those days, little

Tag/paperboard suppliers and converters air game plans for managing printing differences among surfaces, calipers and chemistries. By Susan Friedman Put the same tag or paperboard substrate through several different print processes, and the only thing that's likely to change is image quality. The most pronounced differences in the performance of these substrates on-press arise across the categories of surface, thickness and formulation. Coatings, synthetics lead tag issues A high degree of performance diversity can be found between coated anduncoated tag stocks, explains Glen Payton, Product Manager, Fraser Papers. "Coated tag stocks are best used for very high quality four-color process printing with line screens

Sheetfed offset press advances have reached a level where neither sheet size—nor substrate—has to matter. By Susan Friedman Sheetfed offset press technologies have reached a nearly egalitarian state in which small-, medium- and large-size jobs can be handled in similar time with similar resources. But which format are most printers trying on for size? A smaller sheet size that appears to have garnered appeal across printing markets is the 28˝ x 40˝. Achim Schmidt, manager for the packaging and label industry, Heidelberg, relates that the company's 40˝ Speedmaster CD, though introduced at DRUPA 86, took until the early '90s to really catch the sheetfed

Shopping for and finding digital output devices to enhance workflow productivity is a matter of education in relation to your needs. By Marie Ranoia Alonso SHOPPING THE output odyssey is not a simple task for package printers looking to expand in a digital direction. So many solutions in the platesetting segment, so much to consider. Thermal or non-thermal platesetter? Small or large format? Semi- or fully-automated? What is the ROI? Pay close attention to new OEM agreements, such as the recently struck Agfa agreement to market Krause America's LaserStar 140 and LaserStar 170 platesetters, bringing a great deal of PDF power to the Krause