July 2000 Issue
Buck Trends
The tag and label segment looks set to spend the most in 2000; flexo presses top printers' shopping lists. By Susan Friedman SUPPLIERS CAN BREATHE easier for another year. According to packagePRINTING's Annual Equipment Purchasing Survey, the majority of package printers have budgeted healthily for equipment upgrades, and don't intend to simply let this money languish in their pockets. One in four plan to increase spending on equipment by more than 25 percent than in 1999, and nearly one in five plan to spend up to 50 percent more. Twenty-two percent expect their budgets to mirror last year's totals. Price still rules package
Stealing the CTP Scene?
Flexo printers can achieve outstanding results using patented screening techniques and imagesetter calibration. By Terri McConnell Flexo packaging printers have long been fighting the war on dot gain. Depending on the process variables (dot shape, plate material, substrate, inks, etc.), a 2 percent screen dot on a conventional film or plate could gain to around 15 percent on press. If not adequately compensated for, this characteristic can severely limit flexo's ability to reproduce a full, rich color gamut with brilliant, detailed highlights and clean open reverse areas. The new photopolymer computer-to-plate technologies have certainly put an edge on flexo quality by conquering the dot
Virtual Organization
A computerized shop means an organized business. Find out what software is available for all areas of your operation. By Chris Bauer LONG GONE ARE the days of using a pegboard to track the production cycle of packaging jobs. Today it is imperative to have computer software in place not only to provide real-time tracking of jobs, but also for order entry, pricing, scheduling, fulfillment, data collection, inventory management, and estimating. There are a slew of computer management software companies out there serving the printing industry, yet the choices seem to thin out when looking for packaging-specific offerings. "Although there are roughly 80 [printing]
