UVitec Printing Ink

Featured Products for the the flexographic, narrow-web and package printing industries, including UV flexo inks, low viscosity inks, heat shrink labels, inkjets, in-line pH sensors and more.

Paring down the category winners to select the Best of Show winner is quite a chore. This year, Mansfield, Mass.-based Hub Folding Box Company's Stoli Gold PET VAP nosed out South Australia-based Collotype Labels' offset-printed Trilogy wine label.

Judgement Day for the Excellence Awards contest is a special day at the offices of packagePRINTING. This year's contest brought in a total of 82 awards, including 28 first-place awards and the Best of Show. packagePRINTING's 2009 Best of Show honors went to All Stick Label's (ASL, www.allsticklabel.com) "Panama Jack's French Vanilla Cream" entry.

When presented with a challenge, MPI Label Systems stepped up to the plate, impressing its customer, as well as the judges of this year’s packagePRINTING Excellence Awards.

Last month’s stamping and embossing feature established that employing such techniques allows for cost-effective value enhancements that will grab consumers’ attention—perhaps even the most cost-effective way to give packages the eye-catching appeal brand owners demand. Foil decoration is one effect stamping and embossing affords. It can be done inline on the press or treated as an off-press finishing effect. Either way, metallic effects continue to improve. “Foil and metallic effects have continued to be a popular choice for packaging applications due to the eye-catching appeal they evoke,” says Jeff Peterson, executive director of the Foil Stamping and Embossing Association (FSEA). “One of the best

Yes They Did!

When the judges of this year’s Excellence Awards began examining the more than 200 entries, it was like watching kids in a candy store. And, the judges were excited for good reason. packagePRINTING received a great collection of entries this year. But, the entry that took front and center was a wine label submitted by MPI Label Systems of California (MPI, Calif.). The label, produced for Lodi Vineyards’ Windmill Estates Chardonnay, part of the Michael-David Winery’s family of wines, impressed judges with its complexity, aesthetics, embossing, tight tolerances, and small type. “I think it’s a combination of technical difficulty and overall aesthetics,” said Joe

More than 20 years before “sustainability” became the buzz word it is today, Flower City Printing (FCP) was already rethinking the inks it was using in its pressroom. In 1985, Executive Vice President Bill Oliveri began replacing petroleum-based inks with vegetable-based inks, as well as eliminating alcohol in press fountain solutions. “Inks made from renewable resources were already in existence, but mainly used for newspaper production,” Oliveri reflects. “FCP was one of the first printers to experiment with vegetable-based inks for the offset sheetfed industry. Switching to vegetable-based inks [resulted in] a reduction in VOCs (volatile organic compounds), less ink [required] in the

Excellence Awards — And the Winner Is...

During the judging of packagePRINTING’s 2007 Excellence Awards, the judges’ eyes were drawn to this year’s collection of digital entries. But, one entry earned more than just a glance. Wilmington, Mass.-based Dow Industries, received the honor of Best in Show for it’s “Canary Island Banana - Hybrid” label, produced for The Yankee Candle Company. The entry is also the first-place winner in the digital labels category. What struck judge Dean Gilbert—assistant professor, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University—was that the label’s sharpness, striking color, and offset-like quality were achieved using a digital press. “Until now, [digital printing] hasn’t really been recognized for outstanding