Foundation of FTA Explores Flexo’s Global Gateway
MONTREAL, Canada—More than 1,700 flexographers, hailing from 17 different countries, recently converged upon the Palais de congrès in Montréal, QC, Canada for Foundation of Flexographic Technical Association’s (FFTA) 2007 Annual Forum & INFO*FLEX Exhibition. Over the course of four days—May 6-9—they networked on the sold-out INFO*FLEX show floor, conducted business with 183 exhibitors, attended as many of the 10 technical sessions as possible, built new contacts and strengthened those already existing. One thing was certain—flexographic printing, as the Forum theme denoted, is “Crossing Borders,” and Forum 2007 was the global gateway to success. The event was chaired by David Nunez, Great Lakes Packaging. Dan Dietrich, Schawk, Inc., served as vice chair.
Keynote speaker David A. Schawk, Schawk Inc., addressed globalization and the Asian marketplace. “Be where the opportunity is!” Any company that wants to grow cannot ignore China and India, he asserted. There is much diversity within the 1.3 billion and 1 billion person populations of those countries alone, and as such, “Visual clues that consumers respond to vary in each region.” This leaves uncounted opportunities for short runs and fast turnarounds—the very mantra of flexographic printing. Debbra A.K. Johnson and John McCooey of DuPont, two of three individuals who joined Schawk at center stage, reported that, the world population is expected to grow by 60 million annually to reach 8 billion by 2030, then recommended that flexographers looking to expand beyond their borders embrace the five Cs—complexity, communication, competition, collaboration and corporate social responsibility (a.k.a. sustainability).
Michael Ferrari of Procter & Gamble, insisted “It’s not enough to survive” if one wants to go global. “You must want to succeed…I used to think the big ate the small, but now I know the fast eat the slow.” He encouraged flexographers to embrace one thing that made this industry truly unique—FIRST (Flexographic Image Reproduction Specification and Tolerances). Later, at the FIRST session, Ferrari decreed, “Take the guess work out of daily tasks!” He warned that in his own experience, “Inconsistent process controls have at times led to unnatural looking babies. And, unnatural looking babies don’t sell diapers.” Deployment of FIRST is not just about process control, it’s about controlling variables—inks, substrates, etc.
Forum’s other keynote speaker, Don Carli, The Institute for Sustainable Communication, called printing “the most important industry in the world.” He asked attendees to “consider life for one day without print” and proclaimed that print had “world-changing power.” Carli professed that sustainability was “the new IQ test for management.” He challenged everyone in the audience to become “the first search result in Google for ‘sustainable flexography.’”
Speaking of challenges, in a lively presentation entitled “Flexo—Make My Day, Don’t Torment My Nights,” PepsiCo’s John Fulcoly proclaimed that CPCs’ needs appear to be taxing the industry’s capabilities. He demanded flexographers do better and act to ward off infringement on their turf from competitive press processes.
World View
Hans Deamer, Windmoeller and Hoelscher, chaired the Flexo Global Session, where FTA’s technical and education director, Dr. John Anderson gave regional reports for both the FTA in North America and Australia (AFTA). Dieter Niederstadt of Asahi Photoproducts Europe offered the regional report for DFTA (Germany), citing a study done by the association that showed flexo is “seen as agile and innovative, but hardly reproducible.” Niederstadt informed the audience about a project by the DFTA to create a digital platemaking control strip, which would act as a quality guide for digital plates. Noting that size does matter, Jean-Pierre De Moor of Esko Graphics Asia spoke on threats and opportunities in Asia, most notably China, which hosts 96,000 to 160,000 printers, with 36,000 of them producing packaging. “Most are not sophisticated enough to compete in the world market,” Flexicon AG’s Gerrit Sander spoke about chances and challenges of prepress across borders. He warned, “Offshore production is an opportunity that requires more than cheap labor….By outsourcing labor you can focus on internal development projects.”
Lesley Hide of EFTA (UK) referred to retailers like Tesco as “brand owners in their own right.” She supported the notion, saying, “Forty-two percent of sales in UK are private label.” On the positive, the short shelf life of produce requires short runs produced domestically. Hide was followed shortly by David
Galton Asahi Photoproducts (UK) Ltd., who added that brand owners are “rationalizing printers” and highly encouraging Lean principles.
Closing out the session was FTA and FFTA Board member Raymond “Bud” Gray, Acucote Inc., who professed that worldwide counterfeiting costs companies $600 billion in lost revenue annually, with $250 billion lost in the U.S. He urged printers to act to stem that tide.
Technical Talks
FFTA kicked off the 2007 round of Forum sessions with a series of presentations on prepress. Session Chairs Mark Mazur of DuPont Imaging Technologies and Kevin Chop of Diageo North America led attendees through talks of color, light, workflows and platemaking. They were delivered by Bruce Leigh Myers, Ph.D., X-Rite Inc.; Iain Pike, Sun Chemical Corp.; Mark Bohan, PIA/GATF (Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation); Mark Samworth, Artwork Systems; and Robert Hannum, DuPont.
Flexo 101 saw Chairs, Cordes Porcher, Packaging Corporation of America, and Carl Cecil, Color Resolutions International, guide the audience through eight presentations covering everything from prepress to mounting inks and aniloxes. Advice and instruction was rendered by Dan Lacey, Artwork Systems; Bruce Bayne, Alder Technology Inc.; Ron Frew, FlexoLink.com; Mike Smoot, Xymid LLC; David Watson, Harper Corporation of America; Bob Cantu, Sun Chemical; Bill Mason, Powerwise Ink Pumps; and Tony Donato, Harper Corporation of America.
FIRST and FQC session Chairs Jean Jackson, Allison Systems Corp. and Paul Lodewyck, Flint Group, orchestrated briefings on work presently underway that is designed to improve flexography’s competitive posture.
Robb Frimming, Schawk Inc., classified FIRST as “production protocol,” and said, “It can define and measure performance indicators and qualify and characterize the value chain with CPCs.” Roberto Nunez, GIPSA, offered, “FIRST is a continuous education process to our people and our customers.” Tom Thackeray, Burrows Paper, told printers to “Communicate what you can perform to your customers.” He stressed, “Preproduction meetings are key to successful print jobs.” Recommendations voiced included: “Have instructions available at press side. Measure things as you go along. Train to use the tools.”
Jay Sperry, Clemson University and Jamie Eggleston, 3M Co., briefed attendees on design and optimization tests for stickyback tapes. They noted that presses differ, speeds differ, and jobs and desired outcomes differ. Finally, Phi Hall, Troika Systems, Ltd., delivered a similar message. It applied to anilox rolls. “If it is measurable, then it is manageable,” he decreed. Troika urged printers to use anilox verification to their benefit. “Reduce press time due to ink adjustment. Match (group) anilox rolls to the task and decrease press setup times.”
Leading the audience through the latest advancements in printing, platemaking and converting were Emerging Technology Session Chairs Mike Buystedt, XSYS Print Solutions, and Joe Tuccitto, Anderson & Vreeland. They introduced Michael Rudolph, DuPont Imaging Technologies; Gerald Steinwasser, Muhlbauer Inc.; Dale Patterson, Eastman Kodak Co.; Lothar Wefers, Stork Prints Austria GmbH; and Hartmut Sandig, HELL Gravure Systems.
Flint Group’s Mike Impastato introduced attendees to a series of testimonials by printers/converters who have achieved sustainability in their workflow, namely: Rick Huntoon, National Envelope Corp; Barbara McCutchan, Meadwestvaco Corp.; and Wayne Huttle, Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. Strategic challenges facing flexography took center stage at Tuesday morning’s Business Management session. Chairs Colleen Larkin-Twomey, MacDermid Printing Solutions and James Nelson, Great Lakes Packaging Corp., presided as more than four hours of frank discussion, permeated by hardhitting observations, captivated some 120 listeners. Speaking to generational differences was Dr. Noona Woolbright, Clemson University. Proofs and press performance was covered by Jean Ste-Marie, Smurfit MBI.
Speed and quality enhancements were addressed by Mark Van Denend of Print-Tech Associates. He announced that “High-speed, fast changeover presses have arrived,” then cited operating speeds of 3,200 fpm in production as having been realized. He also said that expanded gamut printing on a 90+-inch wide press with automatic length and registration is meeting with success. In-the-round (ITR) technologies will require no registered platemaking with registration being advanced through enhanced cylindricity and balance. The results: enhanced speed, changeover and throughput” With Forum 2007 winding down, Hank Welter, Exopack jokingly announced, “Once again the printer comes at the end and will have less time. That’s the way it always seems to work out.” Welter then said that his firm specializes in pet food packaging and described his biggest nemesis as “a little white dog.” He illustrated the claim with a series of photos speaking to difficulties holding dots and applications of principles that resulted in changes in color. The dog, of course was smoking and holding a gun. Welter maintained, “Communication—early and often—is the key to success. This is flexo’s time to shine!”
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