Siegwerk Ink Packaging

LUXEMBOURG—Flint Group has signed an agreement with Siegwerk Group on the acquisition of Siegwerks’s packaging ink business in Australia and New Zealand. The agreement in-cludes the intangible assets, sales, marketing and distribution channels of Siegwerk in both countries. The product range embraces flexible packaging (film and foil), sheet-fed, decorating inks and coatings. The acquired business in Australia and New Zealand has annual sales of around $39.6 million. The transaction is expected to close end of April 2008, subject to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approval. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

The NorthEast Label Manufacturers Association (NELMA) will be holding its 6th Annual Expo and Networking Conference on Thursday, May 8th at the Bridgewater Marriott in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The event will run from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This event will feature an exhibit hall with key suppliers of products and services to the label printing industry. They will included such vendors as UPM-Raflatac, Technicote, 3M, FlexCon, Spinnaker Coating, Mark Andy, AquaFlex, Matik NA, PCS (Degrava), Siegewerk Ink, Alden & Ott, Sun Chemical, Wilson Mfg., Kocker & Beck, Tek Graphics, Anderson Vreeland, Anilox Roll Cleaning Systems, Quality Discount Press Parts, AAA Press Parts, Rotoflex,

MINNEAPOLIS—Peter Mulheran, a veteran of the printing ink industry, has announced the acquisition of Sani-Blast, Inc. Sani-Blast is a pioneer of the anilox cleaning business and has a reputation of providing the high-quality anilox cleaning equipment and service solutions. The acquisition is expected to provide the platform for expansion throughout the North American market. Mulheran’s flexographic career began as a founder of Werneke and Mulheran, Inc., (WMI) a maker of waterbased and energy-curable inks. He continued with Akzo Nobel Inks, Sicpa North America, and Siegwerk Inks while being actively involved in trade associations such as FTA, TLMI, and NAPIM.

Package printing is not for the faint of heart. One needs to look no further than packaging ink systems to get an understanding of the complex nature of printed products for the packaging market. Inks can be water-based, solvent-based, or radiation-cured systems; they can be developed for specific processes such as offset, flexo, gravure, or screen; and can be compatible (or not compatible) with different coating, lamination, or adhesive systems. Some are designed for use with specific substrates, while others are applicable for a wide range of substrates. These are just the basic, top-level considerations. Beyond these, there are a multitude of functional,

With the use of shrink-sleeve labeling for product decoration growing at a double-digit rate, suppliers of shrink film inks are developing a steady stream of products to carve out a piece of the action. But in addition to the normal adhesion issues that are common with non-porous film applications, shrink inks have several other factors to contend with that make their development more challenging. Some of these issues include distortion (cracking, delamination, etc.), blocking, coefficient of friction (COF), and in food and beverage applications, low odor. Demanding applications Shrink labeling is growing in popularity because it offers brand managers at least two advantages. It

Coating technologies sometimes seem like they can do it all, from the mundane to the smart technology applications that are opening up creative opportunities for package printers and consumer products companies alike. Whether it’s water-based, solvent-based, or UV/EB curing, coatings are helping companies save money and sell product—in anyone’s book, a pretty good combination of benefits. Each of the coating technologies has an important role to play in package printing. INX International manufactures all three primary types—water, solvent, and energy cured—but Davant Davis, INX national accounts manager, aqueous solutions, throws his hat in the ring for water-based systems offering the best growth potential. His