Screen

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

Screen material suppliers address vignette and metallic ink printing challenges, and look toward digital prepress compatibility solutions. by Susan Friedman With a wide-open attitude toward changing needs, screen material suppliers are addressing everything from larger pigment ink problems to process printing prospects, to compatibility with more presses. With nickel sleeve constructions, the byword is stability. Stork Rotaform's line of Rotamesh rotary screens, which are produced in the round, feature a 100 percent nickel, non-woven material that is electroformed to create walls and holes, along with a smooth surface inside and outside. "Most other rotary screen materials are woven with the same materials typically used

Package printers share their picks and pans of specialty inks vital to on-the-shelf package differentiation. By Susan Friedman This time last year, packagePRINTING's ink survey revealed that more of its readers were using water-based inks than any other. At the same time, despite a slight usage decline, a solid number of converters planned to stay loyal to solvents. And excitement bubbled over UV quality and makeready benefits, particularly for narrow-web flexo. pP's 1999 ink survey deviates from the mainstream of solvent, water, UV and soy to take a closer look at the specifics of the specialty inks market: preferences, prices, press issues and more.

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

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