2006-06-01
‘Nu’ From Phototype
Despite the many advantages it brings to package printing, flexography has traditionally suffered from significant quality challenges, due to the way the ink is applied to the substrate. NuDot, a proprietary flexographic screening technology from Cincinnati-based Phototype, is designed to eliminate printing problems arising from dot gain and uneven ink lay by improving the way ink is transferred from plate to substrate. Before NuDot, says Socrates Rettos, NuDot product manager, “A single plate could print a good solid or a good highlight, but it couldn’t do both.” NuDot’s primary challenge, therefore, was to achieve optimum solid densities and deliver excellent reproduction of shadow tones without over-impressing
A Dog’s Tale on RFID Standards
By definition, “standards” is “fulfilling specific requirements as established by an authority, law, rule, custom, etc.; a guiding principle.” However, I can state without equivocation that sometimes the pursuit of standards can literally go to the dogs. When discussing this matter with TAGSYS’ Chief Technology Officer, Alastair McArthur, he instantly recalled his experience with his children’s pet bulldog, Oscar. It seems Oscar has had an encounter of the closest kind with RFID. As an unsuspecting pup, the French bulldog was injected with an RFID tag. The use of RFID for the identification of companion animals, referred to as micro-chipping, is a very mature
At Your Service
Wide-web printers are facing a transforming marketplace. The changes, however, are in many ways advantageous for printers. To gain perspective on the evolving wide-web printing industry, packagePRINTING recently asked suppliers about the marketplace and how they are responding to demands for enhanced equipment. pP: What is your business climate like in terms of customer interest and sales? Johannes Stickling, vice president, BHS Printing Machinery—BHS has enjoyed continuous and sustainable sales growth over the past decade. The packaging industry has viewed BHS as a preeminent leader in terms of technology, print performance, and system capability specific to the inline production of packaging products. The packaging
HANDLE WITH CARE
Every package printer strives to produce packaging of the highest quality for its customers. Aiding in that effort is today’s higher anilox roll line counts. Line counts upwards of 1,000 have given printers the ability to reach realms of quality impossible with older, lower cell count aniloxes. The only drawback to these higher counts is the delicate nature of the anilox cells, which can be easily damaged during cleaning. This is a conundrum printers need to consider and take seriously if they plan on reaping the full rewards attainable through these newer rolls. “Higher count anilox rolls, in response to the need for higher
Hi-Tech World
Technology is a key driver of change and opportunity. It’s probably been that way since the beginning of human history, but I wasn’t around back then to know for sure. I do know from what I’ve seen in my lifetime and from what I remember about history, technology advances have been at the root of some of the greatest societal changes of all time. Even though colossal changes of that magnitude don’t come along in every generation, technology plays a key part in our everyday lives. It is also true that technology advances are coming at a faster and faster clip. This issue of packagePRINTING
Products
More spot color with less cost and greater freedom The new Kodak Spotless Printing Solution Version 2.0 provides a wider spectrum of spot colors with greater flexibility for marketers and a more efficient production process for printers. Spotless software enables graphic communications providers to simulate spot colors with process inks, delivering the marketing and production value of spot colors without the spot color ink costs. The Spotless printing solution also does away with native file editing and eliminates the need for reformulation or proprietary inks. The next generation Spotless printing solution adds the ability to generate 5- and 7-color screen tint recipes in addition
Special Inks Make Cents
Specialty inks are just that—special. They can perform a multitude of functions for a package or its contents—from protection to jazzing it up, providing enhanced value in form, function, or both. In discussing this topic with Bob Lorenz, vice president of business development for Sun Chemical, what comes across loud and clear is the excitement that this category can generate, even when looking at the specialty inks that are more functional in nature. Sun Chemical offers a full gamut of specialty inks that can meet virtually any need. One can just imagine a brand manager sitting across from Lorenz as he runs down
Standards and Converting Equipment
Standards and RFID Converting Equipment Standards and their impact on smart label converting equipment is questionable, according to machine manufacturers. Much of today’s RFID converting technology can produce tags and labels of a variety of frequencies. However, there are a few points to consider when looking to purchase RFID converting apparatuses. First, it’s important to remember that, while notable advances have been made in smart labels and their construction, RFID in general is still a developing technology. This means converters need equipment that can develop along with the progress made in RFID. “Converters should purchase converting equipment that permits them to evolve with the on-going evolution of
The Dish on Dots
Most screening technologies work well. Every prepress workflow presents a multitude of screening options. Beyond these simple assumptions, however, questions proliferate. Is AM screening the right choice, or is FM better? Will transitional screening supplant them both? What are the tradeoffs? How tight a process control window can the printer operate within? The answers to these questions vary from market to market and from one print discipline to another. What is certain is that the right choice of screening method can help printers in their quest for differentiation. It can also have an impact in the pressroom, based on its runnability. Screening
Top Tag & Label Converters — Shrink Label Leader
Seal-It, Inc. is focused; its only business is heat shrinkable films. Under the entrepreneurial leadership of President and CEO Sharon Lobel, the company is celebrating 20 years of success and intends to stay at the forefront of the shrink label market for many years to come. Lobel started her business in 1986 as a one-person operation, literally working out of a guest room in her house. Having worked previously with a contract packager that provided tamper-evident products for private label businesses, she understood the demands of this relatively new industry. Lobel’s goal from the beginning was for Seal-It to manufacture its own labels and
Tyco Electronics teams with Graphic Solutions for state-of-the-art RFID equipment
HARRISBURG, Pa.—Tyco Electronics’ Global Application Tooling Division (GATD) announced that it has collaboratively worked with Graphic Solutions International LLC to provide them with a unique RFID Inlay assembly system. This piece of equipment will assemble semiconductor chips, surface mount devices, and printed batteries onto a continuous web of printed antennas, adding radio frequency identification (RFID) capability to tags and labels. Working closely with Graphic Solutions (GSI) to customize a system to meet their exacting specifications, Tyco Electronics provided a reel-to-reel system that allows GSI to mount flip chips, surface mount devices (SMDs), and printed batteries on a continuous web of printed antennas and conductive traces.
