By Mark Cisternino

The flexo industry has come together at the Annual Forum since 1959. And, this time, to celebrate FTA's Golden Anniversary. An exciting part of our annual ritual is the announcement of the FTA award winners, honoring everything from printing excellence to technical and environmental innovation to the lifetime of achievement in the Hall of Fame induction. The FTA President's Award is another important distinction that is presented each year to individuals who have distinguished themselves in ways that have positively affected our organization and its membership. Although there are no preset criteria against which individuals are evaluated, the selection process simply strives to recognize and thank a few individuals a year for their strong sense of volunteerism related to important industry initiatives.

Over the past year, our management team has grown to know our first President's Award recipient, Greg Collins of C-P Flexible Packaging, quite well as he has fulfilled his role as Strategic Planning Initiative (SPI) Chair with a great deal of persistence and fervor. Greg accepted this challenging role last year as FTA launched Phase II of this important organizational endeavor to re-define the Association's value to its membership. Those that know Mr. Collins can attest to the fact that he never does anything halfway! From the very beginning, Greg has demonstrated outstanding organizational skills in driving this project forward as he has worked tirelessly to broaden its industry recognition and acceptance through an intensely deliberate process of gaining a greater degree of FTA member involvement on the nine market-specific leadership councils. He has worked extremely hard to assure that the total project stays on course and on schedule as he works very closely with the core set of FTA board leadership that make up the SPI Management Team to assist the individual Councils and their leaders in the effective management of their respective groups.

Having participated in many a meeting run by Greg, I can attest to the fact that the sessions are not only very well organized and effective, you can also set your watch by them as he never wavers from his scheduled timing noting that, "We're all very busy and I want to respect the fact that your time is valuable." It's worth noting that, in addition to very actively fulfilling his role as SPI Chair, Greg is also the FTA Chair-Elect and will assume the role of FTA Chairman of the Board at next year's Forum. Your contributions are many and our gratitude to you is sincere. Thanks for all you do Greg!

Our second President's Award recipient this year is sort of unusual. In fact, I can't recall ever presenting an award to a company "team" as opposed to an individual! The General Mills Brand Design Prepress Organization has developed a unique packaging graphics supply chain with their in-house photo studio, seven design partners, prepress partner and global print partners that pushes the capabilities of flexo printing to the limit. Some 10 years ago, with the release of the Premiere Edition of Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications and Tolerances (FIRST), General Mills-one of the leading members of the consumer product company (CPC) graphics community-made the internal decision that it was going to embrace this new industry document to the fullest, as it began incorporating FIRST principles within the company's overall supply chain. Through this collaborative workflow, General Mills is producing some of the best flexible packaging in the industry, maintaining the integrity of the design as well as providing printable files that can go on press with little trouble and achieve consistently predictable results. The management tools and monitored metrics developed by the Prepress Organization, fully incorporating the FIRST doctrine, assure consistency and repeatability and confirming the same superior graphics on every package produced. The communication among the printer, prepress provider and the CPC has been described by chain members as "superb" given a monthly quality report from General Mills serves as a feedback loop further ensuring ongoing quality and consistency throughout the process. Our thanks to General Mills for its strong endorsement and utilization of FIRST!

The final 2008 recipient was actually already presented his award last year at the Australian FTA (AFTA) Forum yet we will honor him just the same this year. Anthony Dalleore from MacDermid Printing Solutions in Melbourne Australia has been a venerable flexo good will ambassador representing our friends "down under" for the past 10 years. He serves AFTA as its volunteer Secretariat and has worked diligently to help position the industry training packages to help its membership increase its knowledge base in the Asia Pacific market. In striving to fulfill this ambition, Tony sees it as a personal goal to bring the worldwide FTA associations closer in line with each other to bring a unified message to the flexographic industry. An absolute pleasure to work with…we are very fortunate to have a man like Tony representing our vital global partner so well!

Previous Winners
2007   Frank Anthony, Chattanooga Times Free Press   Neil Harrelson, Schawk, Inc.   Sam Ingram, Clemson University   Ray Pitsch, Kimberly-Clark Corp. 2006   David M. Haradon, The Haradon Group   Michael Impastato, Flint Group   Steve Smiley, Vertis Inc. 2005   Leo Suokus, George Brown College   Ian Hole, Esko Graphics   David Lanska, Stork Materials Technology, Cellramic Division 2004   Bettylyn Krafft, Krafft Printing Systems   Joe Tuccitto, Dunwoody College of Technology 2003   James Brown, Sealed Air Corp., Cryovac Division   Guillermo Colin, United Engravers (CR Consulting de México)   Jean Jackson, Allison Systems Corp. 2002   Howard Vreeland, Sr., Anderson & Vreeland, Inc.   Mark Samworth, Artwork Systems   Andy Anderson, Anderson & Vreeland, Inc.   Mark Mazur, DuPont Imaging Technologies 2001   John McDonald, Lipson Alport Glass & Associates   Tony Bath, EFTA-UK Ltd. 2000   Dave Horsman, Canflexographics, Inc.   Arleen Neustein, Excelsior Transparent Bag Mfg. Corp.   Ron Schroder, Williamson Printing Materials Ltd.		1999   Jim Feeney, Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp.   Bill Troost, Peel Plastics 1998   Georgia Harper-Ehrenberg, Harper Corporation of America   Jeff Randazzo, Imaging International 1997   Denny McGee, Comco International   Katherine Harper, Harper Corporation of America 1996   Steven Cushner, DuPont Co.   Jerry Howell, Central Piedmont Community College   Bob Davison, American National Can Co. 1995   Alan Leeson, Spectrum Label Corporation 1993   Tony Bart DuPont Co.   Al Bowers, American National Can Co.   Charlie Brown, Topflight Corp.   Page Crouch, Clemson University   Ken Daming, Mark Andy, Inc.   Yates Downes, Spectrum Label Corporation   Alan Leeson, Spectrum Label Corporation   Daryl Leeson, Spectrum Label Corporation   Ray Moore, Mark Andy, Inc.   Bruce Riddell (2), Spectrum Label Corporation   Chip Schiffenhaus, Schiffenhaus Industries   John Wallace, Mark Andy, Inc. 1991   Charlie Brown, Topflight Corp.   Luigi Carraro, Carint Srl   Fred Shapiro, P-F Technical Services   Frank Siconolfi, Matthews International Corp.