June 1999 Issue
In-line Insights
Flexographic printers lead the charge toward in-line coating and laminating system installations. By David Luttenberger Running a press can be a big enough job in itself. Add in-line coating/laminating capabilities, and the classic "if one process is down, the whole line is down" scenario rears its head. Still, a number of package printers have taken on this in-line process's responsibilities with gusto. Matt Tielkemeier, VP/GM at Dri-Tec, reports that most of his company's in-line coating/laminating units currently in the field are installed behind 6- to 8-color flexo presses printing flexible packaging. The vast majority of these systems, he elaborates, apply laminating adhesive to the
Sounding Boards
Tag/paperboard suppliers and converters air game plans for managing printing differences among surfaces, calipers and chemistries. By Susan Friedman Put the same tag or paperboard substrate through several different print processes, and the only thing that's likely to change is image quality. The most pronounced differences in the performance of these substrates on-press arise across the categories of surface, thickness and formulation. Coatings, synthetics lead tag issues A high degree of performance diversity can be found between coated anduncoated tag stocks, explains Glen Payton, Product Manager, Fraser Papers. "Coated tag stocks are best used for very high quality four-color process printing with line screens
