Nilpeter

Can the printing disciplines be ranked in order of UV usage? by Susan Friedman How easy is it to separate the UV leaders from the UV followers? On the surface, UV flexo has executed a clean swipe of the No.1 spot, right? Maybe so. But don't forget the longevity of UV screen and UV letterpress...two processes that confronted the unknowns of UV years ago and have been using it to their advantage ever since. And don't count out offset, which may be leaning on UV a bit more now to meet soaring quality goals, and gravure, which stands ready to employ UV if the

Package printers have platefuls of digital printing options to plow through. by Susan Friedman Heads up! Digital printing developments are hurtling past from all angles...aiming for the heart of package printing needs. The quickest way to the heart may be through the stomach, but what mix of ingredients will tempt converters to pick up their forks and truly dig into digital printing with gusto? Here's a look at what's bubbling on the stove in suppliers' test kitchens...as well as what's already served and steaming on packaging's table. Nilpeter's DL 3300, which runs on Xeikon's electrophotographic simplex print engine, has doubled its speed to run

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

Narrow-web letterpress, screen, and gravure pressmakers and printers show off their specialties and gauge the competition. by Susan Friedman Letterpress: quality still rules Letterpress hasn't lost its high-end lustre, but its marketshare may be vulnerable to claims of improved quality at less cost by other processes—particularly flexo. "For years we've been rotary letterpress, and flexo has been 10 paces behind," says George Noah, V.P. at Lewis Label Products. "Now flexo is one pace behind, and nine out of 10 buyers can't tell the difference." Noah estimates Lewis Label now prints 50 percent of its work with rotary letterpress—a level that was formerly as high

Offset plate suppliers stretch to manage conventional- and digital-world needs. By Susan Friedman Many offset plate suppliers are stretching to be in two places at once—edging conventional technologies up a notch while running like mad to win the digital marathon. Convention rally On the conventional side, Dwight Collier, national sales manager for pressroom products at Pitman Co., a distributor of printing consumables, equipment and services, sees "a conscious effort to continue to improve plate latitude in a variety of environments." Three areas of emphasis, he notes, are developing coating weights that are more resistant to abrasion, improving grain structures to achieve a more efficient

One-time, from-the-ground-up press designs aren't package printers' only route to acquiring a unique'specialized' printing and converting system. By Susan Friedman It's a doozy of an order, a real profit-booster—hundreds of thousands of impressions and multiple reruns during the next few years, but nothing currently on the pressroom floor can print and convert it the way the customer has specified. Is this a signal to recruit a supplier to build a one-of-a-kind specialty press? Not always. Chris Faust, marketing manager, Comco International, says specialty press purchases are indeed often motivated by the end-user's need to put a value-added, printed product on the shelf that draws

Will offset-loyal folding carton printers buy into flexo's quality gains and process efficiencies? By Susan Friedman A $4 billion dollar carrot could be dangling in front of folding carton printers interested in pursuing flexo, according to The Future of Flexo Printing for Packaging and Specialty Markets 1996, released by Graphic Arts Marketing Information Service (GAMIS). All but 20 percent of the $5 billion folding carton printing market could potentially be done flexo, the report states, with the exception being high-end packages for cosmetics and other industries. Flexo is more likely, however, to jump from 20 percent to 40 percent penetration within five years, mostly

LETTERPRESS, Rotary line/prime Assta Labels Pty.—Seagrams Spirit Sam Cougar Black To advertise products at point of sale. Sets of quality labels made up of small quantities for point of sale promotion in bars and liquor outlets. LPM-300 letterpress. Photopolymer plates. Bright silver Mylar and laminated with clear Mylar. LETTERPRESS, Rotary line/nonprime Guy & Co.--AST Computer Label is for AST laptop computer. Printed on metallized polyester material with gray reversed through black. Difficult to hold small fonts from filling in. Casco Nobel inks. Holfeld Graphics plates. Lazerform dies. Gallus R200 press. Flexmark material with L23 adhesive. Printed at 40m/min. LETTERPRESS, Rotary line and screen/tone—prime

packagePRINTING presents the tag and label industry's exclusive first look at the winners of the 1997 TLMI Awards competition. By taking Best of Show honors in the Tag & Label Manufacturers Institute's Awards competition, a combination offset-printed/foil-stamped front and back label solidified multi-process printing's reputation for adding value and elegance to printed packaging. Converted by Impressive Labels, Safford, AZ, the "Frescolina" wine label was tagged by the panel of judges as being superior to all 290 entries in this 20th annual competition. Overall, 49 TLMI and 18 FINAT member companies participated. Cited for its extremely exacting registration of two foils put down one