Gallus Inc.

The demand for screen printing is on the rise—and could be the ticket to a blockbuster summer for package printers. By Chris Bauer IT LAYS DOWN ink thicker than the British accents of the Red Coats in the movie "The Patriot." The eye-catching graphics it produces grab your attention faster than Renee Zellweger in "Me, Myself & Irene." It's much quicker than any of the bulging characters in "Big Momma's House," and the quality work it produces will definitely keep your business afloat—unlike George Clooney's doomed Massachusetts swordfishing boat, the Andrea Gail, in "The Perfect Storm." Of course screen presses are not usually associated

Combination presses continue to gain popularity. See what the experts say is the right combo for your shop. By Chris Bauer PACKAGERS can be on top of their market's mountaintop one day, just to find themselves outdated the next, with newcomers climbing up quickly. Competition for niche markets can be fierce, and you must have the equipment to win the battles for survival. This fight goes on in the package printing industry, as new packages demand new production methods. According to Mark Herrmann, president and CEO of Comco, "We are part of an industry in transition. Today's printer is being asked to create more

Letterpress printers should stay sharp on options in combination process, web widths, and overall press design. By Susan Friedman Package printers who have grown sleepy at the helm of traditional letterpress operations should perk up: developments in various combination platforms, wider webs, and in-line designs could offer new business opportunities. The potential for specific printing processes to partner with letterpress appears intriguingly open-ended. According to John Little, president of Nilpeter, UV screen and hot stamping are its most common complements, with UV screen typically used to lay down a solid white background or solid borders. John Warwick, sales director at Ko-Pack, reports his company's

Will web offset ultimately gain greater quality or efficiency momentum? By Susan Friedman You've got to hand it to offset for being such a well-rounded printing process—the printing equivalent of a person who's attractive and athletic, with a good personality to boot. Web offset, of late, has brought many positives to many package printers. Eric Short, president of RDP Marathon, confirms web offset's continuing ability to satisfy on multiple counts with his prediction that this process will be strongest in both high-volume and high-quality package printing applications in the coming year. Several recently introduced presses appear poised to make this prediction come true, but

North American First Place Awards 1. Flexo, Line/Prime Northwest Flexo Specialties, Lynnwood, WA Columbia Wine Labels 8 waterbase and matte UV spot varnish colors. 380-440 lpi laser-engraved anilox. 55# metallized silver paper foil. 130 fpm for 6 hours. Double bump red & black for opacity. Passed 2,000 rubs on a Sutherland rub tester Mark Andy 7" 2200; Cyrel .067 plates; RotoMetrics dies/cylinders; AKZO Nobel inks; Fasson substrate; Praxair anilox 2. Flexo, Line & Screen, Tone/Prime Adams Label & Tag, Surrey, BC Kiona, 1997 Cabernet Merlot Varnished on a second pass. 175 line screens; 125 fpm; 3 colors plus gold foil stamp & UV varnish

Package printers are just now beginning to see the light at the end of a long tunnel of confusing, and often ill-fitting file formats. by Terri McConnell Even dynamite could not have changed the face manufacturing infrastructure of the printing industry more than the advent of desktop publishing and the subsequent adoption of PostScript. Up to that point, prepress automation was directed by a handful of highly-specialized equipment suppliers who built color electronic prepress systems (CEPS) around laser-powered film output devices. CEPS were, for the most part, closed, proprietary environments—not a big problem as long as the origin and form of printing content were

Narrow-web letterpress, screen, and gravure pressmakers and printers show off their specialties and gauge the competition. by Susan Friedman Letterpress: quality still rules Letterpress hasn't lost its high-end lustre, but its marketshare may be vulnerable to claims of improved quality at less cost by other processes—particularly flexo. "For years we've been rotary letterpress, and flexo has been 10 paces behind," says George Noah, V.P. at Lewis Label Products. "Now flexo is one pace behind, and nine out of 10 buyers can't tell the difference." Noah estimates Lewis Label now prints 50 percent of its work with rotary letterpress—a level that was formerly as high

Screen material suppliers address vignette and metallic ink printing challenges, and look toward digital prepress compatibility solutions. by Susan Friedman With a wide-open attitude toward changing needs, screen material suppliers are addressing everything from larger pigment ink problems to process printing prospects, to compatibility with more presses. With nickel sleeve constructions, the byword is stability. Stork Rotaform's line of Rotamesh rotary screens, which are produced in the round, feature a 100 percent nickel, non-woven material that is electroformed to create walls and holes, along with a smooth surface inside and outside. "Most other rotary screen materials are woven with the same materials typically used

Three European printers show the diverse usage avenues one versatile press—the Arsoma EM 410—can take. By Susan Friedman Landscapes, languages, driving on M-roads vs. the autobahn—all are differences one would expect to encounter when visiting England and Switzerland. But three label printers operating in these countries reveal further contrasts. On the surface, they are like-minded: Each is wrestling with constrictive price pressures, and none want to get so caught up in productivity that they lose sight of quality level goals. Contrasts crop up in their growth strategies, which may involve new or existing customers, specialization or diversification, innovation or investment. The Arsoma EM 410

Spectrum Label further establishes its dominance as both a label printer and a narrow-web flexible packaging converter by winning an unprecedented third Best of Show. By David Luttenberger With its entry "Gia Vi Pho Ga," a flexo-printed flexible bag, Spectrum Label Corp., San Carlos, CA, became the first package printer to win three Best of Show titles in packagePRINTING's Excellence Awards competition. Spectrum Label previously won Best of Show honors in 1998 and 1994. Spectrum's entry, which also took First Place honors in the Flexible Packaging, Film/Foil, Flexo (process) category, was selected by judges from among more than 450 entries representing the best and