Screen

Q.C. Packaging Systems takes Best of Show in packagePRINTING's 18th Annual Excellence Awards competition. Q. C. PACKAGING SYSTEMS (Mississauga, Ontario) will take home this year's Best of Show honors for the intricate printing and packaging of its "Buick Rainier" compact disk case. This entry was the first place winner in the Folding Cartons—Flexo (Process) category. The consistent color, the diecut registration, the UV inks with water-based coating, and the quality of the flexo printing job made this year's judges of packagePRINTING's 18th annual competition look twice at the CD case. Commenting on the print quality, Clemson University Instructor Dean Gilbert said, "This piece could

Converters looking to differentiate their capabilities with exciting and innovative imagery are making combination rotary screen printing their top choice. Next time you're playing bartender, look behind (literally) the dashing graphics on that bottle of margarita mix. Chances are you'll see a brilliant white or colored background printed with rotary screen. From food and beverage to health and beauty, rotary screen is laying the foundation for some of today's most exciting and innovative imagery. Since the 1980s, when it was first commercialized, rotary screen technology has found increasing favor in the label and package printing world. The main feature of screen printing—its ability to

One big round of applause for McDowell Label and Screen Printing, the 2003 TLMI Best of Show Award winner. For more than 26 years, the Tag & Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) has been hosting its annual awards competition. With numerous entry categories, a variety of companies enter multiple times. This year proved to be no different. With 273 entries, it's no wonder the judges continue to comment on how difficult it is to select category winners. "The show continues to get better each year," noted Mike Buystedt, judge and director of new market development at Azko Nobel Inks. "The labels

THE SHEER SIZE and impeccable registration of the Domaine Chandon Brut corrugated preprint entry captured the attention of the 2003 Excellence Awards judges and this year's Best of Show prize. The package, produced by Inland Paperboard and Packaging, stands 75˝ tall with six panels printed across the web—a difficult undertaking, remarked Cordes Porcher of Smurfit-Stone Container and a 2003 Excellence Awards judge. "The registration across the web is very consistent," Porcher said, "and the size of the repeat is very large. As a result, the job was very difficult." Excellence Awards judge Roy Webb of Mark Andy added, "Because of the big sheet it

WITH WINTER WEATHER firmly in place, warmth is something that is on everyone's mind. Here's something that is sure to add some heat to 2004. packagePrinting has put together a collection of the hot products of 2004. In categories including prepress, presses, press accessories, substrates, and inks/adhesives, converters can get a glimpse of the latest package-printing products. Prepress Creo Creo's HyperFlex™ screening is new technology aiding in the formation of smaller dots on a photopolymer flexo plate. It provides a thicker foundation of photopolymer material that allows a smaller minimum dot size to be formed and held throughout the print process. DuPont

Fiscal anxiety may lead converters to delay press investments and additions. See below for a guide to narrow-web press series and their respective levels of investment. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor THE "WAIT AND SEE" mentality has descended upon the narrow-web print set and its purse strings. While press manufacturers continued to heighten the graphic sophistication level of narrow-web presses in 2001 with improved press models, many converters may not consider capitalizing on those technology gains until the economic picture comes into focus. Relatively, the narrow-web market is in a much better boat than many other printer segments. Printing Industries of America's (PIA)

What products and companies were most sought-after in 2001 by packagePRINTING readers? Here's the scoop on the year's most-wanted technologies, ranked below based on responses to both editorial features and display advertising.*** TOP 10: Prepress Equipment 1. Anderson & Vreeland—Photopolymer plate processing systems, rubber plate molding presses, flexo platemaking materials, digital imaging systems and software 2. DuPont Cyrel—Photopolymer plate and prepress systems, including Cyrel FAST thermal technology 3. BASF—Nyloflex® and nyloprint® equipment combinations for processing flexo and letterpress plates and sleeves 4. MacDermid—Sheet, liquid, digital, and water-wash photopolymer plates, platemaking equipment, sleeves, and plate mounting systems for flexo printing 5. CreoScitex—PDF-based packaging

The 2001 TLMI Awards bestows its highest stamp of approval on a flexo process promotional label by Valley Forge Tape & Label. by Susan Friedman, Editor PEEL AWAY The trappings, and the big winner in the 2001 Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) Awards looks a little familiar. "Once again, flexography took Best of Show," enthuses Steve Lee, VP/director of technical support at RotoMetrics and chair of the TLMI's Awards Competition Committee. Valley Forge Tape & Label's coup of this year's Best of Show honor, achieved with "Stamp Out Hunger," a flexo process promotional label, follows Adams Label & Tag's capture of top accolades

by Michael Paeth, President, FlexoGrafix The one thing consistent in the world of prepress is change ... daily! If keeping up with new software, proofing, screening technology, plate exposure technology, direct-to-plate, and the myriad of other ever-changing facets of prepress isn't for you, you are not alone. But before you put your work into the hands of a trade shop, you should evaluate your needs, and then evaluate the trade shop that will be getting your work. Here are the "Top 10" criteria (in ascending order) to keep in mind when deciding on a trade shop to handle your work. Since everyone's needs

Demand for screen retrofits multiplies as printers look to satisfy process-savvy manufacturers. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor WHILE THERE IS no easy-out clause when adopting a new print method, screen retrofits allow printers to make a significantly smaller leap of faith (and finance). And with manufacturers gaining awareness of its unique benefits, job-specific or brand-specific requests for screen will make the retrofit an even more appealing option. Path of less resistance Screen printing, in its nature, is a more niche-oriented process. As Gary Teeter, after market applications engineer for Mark Andy explains, "Printers likely to retrofit…are typically looking to expand production capabilities in