MacDermid Printing Solutions

RESTON, Va.—Major industry players in the digital sector have shown their support for the upcoming GUTENBERG & DIGITAL OUTLOOK, April 28 - 30, 2005 at the Los Angeles Convention Center by offering digitally-oriented educational sessions as part of a special program originated by Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC). Large, digital products firms like Hewlett Packard, Adobe, Quark, Xinet and others have thrown their support behind this newly refocused event, lending visibility and credibility along with the expertise they bring with their participation in the educational portions and exhibit floor for the West Coast event. Hewlett Packard has shown their strong support for the West

DARMSTADT, Germany—The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press, and Postpress (CIP4), Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF) and NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies (NPES) today announced a one-day, one-time "JDF Developers Tutorial" that will be held on Sunday, April 24th, 2005 at PIA/GATF's headquarters in Sewickley, PA in conjunction with the CIP4 members' Technical Meeting and Interoperability Meeting April 20th-30th, 2005. A similar JDF Developers Tutorial was held in January at Heidelberg's headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany and it was a very successful event - leading to the decision to bring the event

Innovative™ Creative Packaging Solutions combines a drive for perfection with state-of-the-art packaging design, printing, and converting. The result is an advanced one-stop folding carton shop. INNOVATIVE™ CREATIVE PACKAGING Solutions lives up to its name. For the past 20 years, the South Plainfield, N.J. company has been on the cutting-edge of high-quality folding carton design, printing, and converting. Led by President/Chief Executive Officer Shawn Smith, Innovative has taken a progressive approach towards producing defect-free folding cartons. With a willingness to invest in new, state-of-the-art equipment and a business philosophy of "Do it right the first time!," Innovative has become a prominent player in producing folding

Advanced Prepress Graphics Flexo prepress tradeshop producing Cyrel high-definition flexo plates and film. Visit www.flexoprepress.com Agfa Offers the Thermostar P970-ideal for VLF applications-and the Thermostar P971 thermal imaging plate. Visit www.agfa.com ANDERSON & VREELAND Complete selection of digital prepress systems and conventional photopolymer plate processors and plate mounters. Platemaking materials include a broad range of solvent and water-wash sheet photopolymer, liquid photopolymer, rubber compounds, matrix and accessories. Visit andersonvreeland.com BASF Corp. Offers full line of nyloflex®, nyloprint® photopolymer printing plates, platemaking equipment for flexographic, letterpress, gravure applications; and K+E inks for sheetfed, web offset printing. Visit basf.com/printingsystems Beta Industries The Betaflex 334

The key to a high-performance, flawless flexo printing plate is time—imaging time, processing time, and drying time. by Kate Sharon, Associate Editor EMERIL LAGASSE IS a thorough chef who doesn't take shortcuts when preparing his mouth-watering cuisine. He never skips over the most tedious of cooking chores, and he never forgets to "take it up a notch" or add a "bam!". As flexo platemakers take it up a notch to meet today's demands for faster turnarounds, shortcuts can quickly spoil the key ingredients consumer product companies need most to build their brands: accurate and consistent color. The platemaker's role is more important than ever

With benefits stemming from the improved quality of digital plates, CtP for flexo is making its presence known. by Tom Polischuk, Editor-in-Chief WITH COMPUTER-TO-PLATE (CtP) technology for flexographic printing nearing its pre-teen years, its benefits are having a significant impact throughout the industry. These benefits are derived from the elimination of film and the on-press efficiencies stemming from improved quality plates. Frances Cicogna, packaging segment marketing manager for Agfa, points out a major difference between the current state of CtP for flexo vs. CtP for offset. "Computer-to-offset is a direct-image process in which the plate is exposed via the laser. Computer-to-flexo uses a digital

Inkjet has stamped its place in commercial printing, but will it ever mean more than coding and marking in package printing? by Kate Sharon "DIGITAL" IS THE buzzword in package printing today. There's digital printing, and even some diecutting, anilox engraving, and platemaking processes have been digitalized. But digital printing—specifically inkjet—is on the minds of many in the industry, and everyone wants to know how the new technology stands up to its conventional counterparts. Inkjet basics More and more inkjet products, designed for packaging applications, come to market each year. While the technology itself attracts attention, its big price tag and muted capabilities often

LGInternational's Lon Martin can add packagePRINTING's TLMI 2002 Converter of the Year Award to a long list of accomplishments. FOUNDING ONE SUCCESSFUL company is difficult enough, but starting all over and building a second company from scratch might be more than one person could handle. Not so for Lon Martin, LGInternational's founder and CEO. He has two business successes included in his long resume in the label printing industry and would be a good case study for the risk/reward equation—the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Mike Dowling, TLMI president and president of CL & D Graphics has seen Martin's success story first

Flexo plate costs aren't likely to decrease dramatically until platemaking production is made fully digital. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor PLATE EVOLUTION WILL always set the stage for further development of flexographic printing. But with the invention and advancement of "newer, better" systems and materials, inevitably comes the demand for "cheaper." Unfortunately, as plate manufacturers and prepress providers alike testify, a dramatic decrease in flexo plate prices won't be feasible until processing and production become substantially more simplified. Better conventional plate processing There are various methods for improving efficiency within the flexo platemaking process as it exists today. A primary cost-reduction strategy involves

Today's improved ink jet technology offers an impressive mix of color accuracy, media versatility, and affordability. by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor ALL PROOFS ARE not created equal. Nor should they be. The range of proof requisites varies from printer to printer, and from production stage to production stage. While newly developed digital halftone systems get closer to ultimate color matching (see next month's PrePress article for more details), ink jet-based digital proofing comprises the all-round best solution for many prepress programs. Suppliers' keen interest in developing both drop-on-demand and continuous ink jet devices testifies to contone's strong foothold within the packaging market. On the