Consumables-Substrates - Paper

TAMPERE, Finland—UPM Raflatac has been ranked at the top in the latest Vendor Matrices released by ABI Research. The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets. Two recently published Vendor Matrices assess RFID inlay manufacturers that offer passive HF (13.56 MHz) and UHF inlays. UPM Raflatac scored highest in the RFID Passive HF Inlay Vendor Matrix, followed by Tagsys and Texas Instruments. In the UHF matrix rankings, UPM Raflatac occupied second position, right after Alien Technology. Vendors are assessed by ABI Research on the parameters of innovation and implementation

TAMPERE, Finland—UPM Raflatac recently celebrated the opening of its new North American pressure-sensitive labelstock manufacturing facility in Dixon, Ill., about 100 miles west of Chicago. The new $100 million facility will offer UPM Raflatac’s full product range of paper and film label products and features the company’s latest proprietary technical solutions in both the coating and finishing areas. With its end-to-end automation, UPM Raflatac expects the Dixon factory will be the most innovative labelstock production and distribution facility in the industry. “Our mission is to continuously develop our product offerings and service concepts and provide substantial value to our label printer customers,” says

TAMPERE, Finland—UPM Raflatac recently celebrated the opening of its new North American pressure-sensitive labelstock manufacturing facility in Dixon, Ill., about 100 miles west of Chicago. The new $100 million facility will offer UPM Raflatac’s full product range of paper and film label products and features the company’s latest proprietary technical solutions in both the coating and finishing areas. With its end-to-end automation, UPM Raflatac expects the Dixon factory will be the most innovative labelstock production and distribution facility in the industry. “Our mission is to continuously develop our product offerings and service concepts and provide substantial value to our label printer customers,” says

MOBILE, Ala. and MIAMI—Xanté and SMART Papers have teamed up to offer a collection of SMART Papers’ premium heavy stock and specialty papers for use on the new Xanté Ilumina® 502 digital color press. As a result of this collaboration, Ilumina digital press owners will be able to offer their customers a wide variety of substrates previously unavailable for short-run applications. Ultra heavy paper print work, traditionally the province of large volume offset printers, can now be achieved affordably and with the highest quality, on demand in the short-run digital world. The Xanté Ilumina 502 Digital Color Press occupies a unique place in

MILWAUKEE—Tailored Solutions Label Traxx™, print business management software for flexographic narrow web label printers and converters, is celebrating its 15th birthday in 2008. In the 15 years since Label Traxx was introduced to flexographic narrow web label printers and converters, more than 300 printers rely on Label Traxx to monitor their operations and to provide timely data with which to make key management decisions. Discussing the 15-year milestone, Tailored Solutions president Ken Meinhardt commented: “When David Porter and I introduced Label Traxx in 1993, we hoped it would be a moderate success in the Milwaukee area. We never dreamed that label producers

SAN FRANCISCO—Kovio, Inc., a privately held Silicon Valley company, has introduced an all-printed high-performance silicon thin-film transistor (TFT), a key building block that will enable the integration of electronics into everyday things. Kovio has demonstrated low-cost all-printed silicon TFTs with mobility of 80cm2/Vs, which significantly exceeds the performance of previously reported all-printed TFTs using either organic or inorganic semiconductors. Based on nanotechnology and materials science, Kovio developed the electronic equivalents of color inks for graphics printing. These functional electronic inks include silicon, doped silicon, metals, and insulators. Combining functional electronic inks with high-resolution graphics printing technologies, Kovio has printed high-performance silicon TFTs at a

What an experience! I had the pleasure—mixed with an immense measure of pride—of watching two of my daughters compete in the ING New York City Marathon earlier this month, along with about 39,083 other runners. The runners come in all shapes and sizes from the professional men and women who run at a stunning pace, to matronly grandmothers in the wheelchair division. I even saw Zorro and SpongeBob. (I saw him twice at the same location, so I think he must have lapped everyone.) Business is often compared to sports because of the direct analogies that can be made—the competition, team work, preparation, strategies, tactics,

The Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) has had the bright lights of the stage shining on it for these last two months. In September, the association held its 2007 Technical Conference. Following close behind (especially for the TLMI staff who perform yeomen’s work in pulling these events off), the Annual Meeting takes center stage on the beautiful Kohala Coast of Hawaii. TLMI’s Technical Conferences always provide a wealth of information on important topics impacting the industry. This year’s conference, co-chaired by Art Yerecic of Yerecic Label and Mike Buystedt of XSYS Print Solutions, again hit the mark. It included a variety of sessions

Today’s leaders in the label industry are a diverse group. Some are entrepreneurs seeking opportunities in a dynamic, yet highly competitive market. Others are second-, third-, or even fourth-generation leaders of family-run businesses. Still others have worked their way up the ladder, having started with no preconceived notion that the tag-and-label industry was where they would make their marks. John Pedroli, president, North America for CCL Label, Inc., falls into the latter category. Although he didn’t start his career in the tag-and-label industry, today he manages the North American operations for CCL Label, a company John Hickey—TLMI chairman of the board and CEO/owner

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—RSI ID Technologies (RSI), a leading manufacturer of RFID antennas, inlays and tags, announced its new channel-centric market strategy for North America. RSI will focus on expanding both current and potential channel partner relationships in North America, which furthers the development of RSI’s recently announced global channel strategy. “Over the past 7 years, we have made substantial investments in people and assets to build unique technical and operational capabilities,” said Wolf Bielas, president and CEO of RSI ID Technologies. “RSI has a tremendous amount of experience and a broad product offering that will benefit the entire RFID industry and help support our