April 2001 Issue
15th Annual Excellence Awards
McCoy Packaging's "Kuleto Villa" wine label poured on enough printing charm to ace two categories and capture Best of Show honors in packagePRINTING's 15th annual Excellence Awards. by Susan Friedman, Editor If McCoy Packaging's Best of Show-winning strategy was to forge an indelible impression in the judge's minds, it succeeded, hands down. McCoy's "Kuleto Villa" wine label repeatedly stood up to its competitors in packagePRINTING's 2001 Excellence Awards, initially nabbing first place in the Labels—Flexo (Process) category, where judges singled it out as a difficult printing, diecutting, and embossing job well executed. "[This label] holds beautiful register at 175 line screen," commented judge Roy
Closing the Loop
Flexo plate sleeves are rounding out the process for higher quality, faster turnaround packaging. by Terri McConnell, PrePress Editor IN A MARKETING study recently conducted by the High Definition Flexo Consortium, end users across several consumer product industries were asked to identify the most important printing technology advancements over the past three to five years. The respondents were senior packaging engineers, packaging procurement managers, and senior designers from the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, and health and beauty segments. These professionals, key to influencing and specifying packaging print methods, overwhelmingly agreed computer-to-plate imaging has made a substantial positive impact on print quality. They also consistently
Glossing Over Differences
Substrate and equipment concerns plot printers on either the aqueous or UV route to high-gloss printing. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor UV-CURABLE FORMULATIONS are the big hitters of the coatings and adhesives market—offering remarkable gloss and great abrasion-, heat-, and chemical-resistance. Slightly less high-performance, yet in some cases more predictable, aqueous adhesives and coatings serve as reliable all-rounders. Suppliers say choosing between them depends on the nature of the job, and the equipment, at hand. Luster low-down Coatings manufacturers are largely unanimous when it comes to the virtues and challenges of aqueous and UV-curable formulations. Craig Adhesives & Coatings President Pat Foust,
Mixed Bag (Top Flexible Packagers Survey)
packagePRINTING's annual ranking balances converters' conservative business outlook with clear evidence of growth. by Susan Friedman, Editor Here's the financial low-down: Of the nearly $12 billion in collective sales reported for 2000 by the flexible packaging converters listed below, 75 percent is concentrated in the top ten companies' revenues. Overall, 2000 profit margins for the segment averaged 7.75 percent, with a high of 20 percent and a low of zero percent reported. Annual growth rates for the past year averaged 12.5 percent. Though packagePRINTING's State of the Industry report (see pP March 2001) portrayed a heavily conservative flexible packaging business climate for 2001, at
On the Straight and Narrow-web
Narrow-web combination printing attracts a lot of high-end hoopla, but straightforward flexo continues to make market strides. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor AMERICA IS HOOKED on the all-in-one solution, from superstores to shopping malls to everything advertised on infomercials. The packaging industry is no different—the current narrow-web combination craze certainly speaks to the single-source lover. Its rapid growth, however, may cloud non-combination narrow-web flexo's continuing progress. Though no one disputes the performance of, and market potential for, combination work in narrow-web, suppliers are quick to testify to the significance of straight flexo. Kim Tanis, VP/North American sales for Allied Gear/Gi Due USA,
