At the Center of It All: FLEXO Magazine’s 2016 Year in Review

Honors & Awards

In the annual crowning of extraordinary packaging, 110 honors were given out in the Excellence in Flexography Awards. That total comprised 38 gold medals (six of which were also named Best of Show), 36 silver medals, 34 bronze medals, one self promotion award and one special achievement. “Year after year, I am so impressed with the quality of work flexographers do on a daily basis, that I wish we could give out more awards,” commented Mark Mazur, a member of the judging committee and an FTA Flexo Hall of Fame member.

FTA’s fearless leader for 15 years and a part of the association for more than double that, President Mark Cisternino became the 54th inductee to its Flexo Hall of Fame. Rising all the way from the mailroom, with stints as associate editor of this very magazine, marketing manager, director of programs and marketing, and vice president, it’s no exaggeration to say he has had a commanding hand in every significant FTA initiative, event or project in recent memory.

California Polytechnic State University was named the overall winner in The Phoenix Challenge College Competition. Its team consisted of Nickolas Azevedo, Isabella Baldwin, Aislinn Bryan, Hannah Giorgi, Natalie Jones, Lindsay Mitchell, Leeanne Morris and Reina Stephenson, overseen by adviser Colleen L. Twomey. Two students from Waukesha County Technical School—TrishaLee Bull and Colin Schleicher—won the high school competition.

Nina Davis of Clemson University was awarded the $13,000, first place Rossini Scholarship prize for her proposal to study ink sequence in expanded gamut printing and its effect on color gamut. She will present the findings of her research at Forum 2017.

For his work uniting the various FTAs in Italy, France, Benelux, the U.K. and Spain into the umbrella organization known as FTA Europe, with the goal of sharing technical information, data and experiences, Sante Conselvan of GAMA International was the recipient of the FTA President’s Award.

Three technologies, from three different companies, each won a Technical Innovation Award:

Kendall Packaging Corp. won the Sustainability Excellence Award. The printer’s myriad sustainability efforts, which include recycling and bailing all its film scrap, replacing mercury vapor lights, and installing a clean switch incinerator, added up to a meaningful impact on the environment. An honorable mention went to Specialty Printing, LLC for its list of efforts to go green, among them reducing energy consumption by upgrading an air compressor, hiring an ink technician to lower ink usage and rebuilding a distiller.

Signature Events

The first annual Emerging Leaders Golf Outing teed off March 5 at The Golf Course Fossil Creek in Fort Worth, TX. On the eve of Forum and INFO*FLEX, more than 100 flexographers—some new to the industry, some veteran—played 18 holes and talked shop at a post event reception.

“It’s not about what’s now—it’s what’s next.” With those words, Paul Lancelle offered a one sentence preview of what was to come across four days of FTA’s Annual Forum and INFO*FLEX. This year’s events, from March 6-9, saw nearly 2,000 flexographers travel to Fort Worth, TX to hear and see what technologies, advancements and revolutionary ideas are shaping the industry’s future. Berry Plastics Corp.’s Jennye Scott returned to co chair the event with Nilpeter’s Paul Teachout.

The bar was set high, but attendees still left Cowtown with expectations exceeded:

  • 96 percent rated speakers very good or excellent
  • 86 percent rated topics very good or excellent
  • 89 percent assigned Forum an overall rating of very good or excellent

Praise was heard from all demographics, from newcomers (“Being my first FTA event, this was a wonderful experience”), to premedia (“If your job is prepress… you should be attending Forum”), to visitors outside the U.S. (“Coming from overseas, it was very impressive to see the work being carried out by FTA in raising industry standards”), to industry veterans (“As the torch continues to be passed onto the younger generation, this venue is very strong”).

New for this year’s event was the Forum Sampler, which gave FTA printer/converter members access to day two of INFO*FLEX and the Flexography 101 and 102 sessions that closed out Forum. The package proved a success, drawing a number of first time visitors to the events.

Attendees had equally good things to say about INFO*FLEX. “We have been attending INFO*FLEX for more than 25 years and this was the best one ever!” exclaimed one visitor. Survey numbers confirmed that comment wasn’t an outliner:

  • 96 percent rated the show’s length very good or excellent
  • 90 percent deemed exhibitors very good or excellent
  • 74 percent met a new vendor they intend to do business with

On the other side of the tabletop, INFO*FLEX exhibitors were happy they came to show their products:

  • 96 percent said exhibiting was beneficial to their organization
  • 94 percent met new potential customers
  • 91 percent rated attendee quality very good or excellent

The Solutions Theater, where attendees can take a break from walking the show floor and listen to educational presentations, featured 14 unique discussions spread across two days. The format, which saw numerous sessions reduced to standing room only, will return in 2017.

A gloomy weather forecast was no match for the second annual Gary Hilliard Memorial Golf Tournament. Forty-seven golfers came out for the event, held Sept. 22 at the Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury, MN. The 18 holes were followed by a dinner reception. Russ Snyder, David Smith, Dave Henney and Gary’s widow Ellen Hilliard were the winning foursome.

Fall Conference 2016 saw nearly 400 flexographers turn out at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, KY for three days of “improving today” and “envisioning tomorrow.” Chairs Eric Frank of KBA-Flexotecnica and Sean Teufler of Siegwerk USA presided over an agenda that featured a look at cutting edge flexography, courtesy of a drupa recap and discussions with this year’s three Technical Innovation Award winners, as well as ways to better skills immediately with adherence to FIRST and an understanding of the basics. Afternoons were spent at the 68 company strong tabletop exhibit.

Association Happenings

More than 200 individuals completed Level III of FIRST Certification—FIRST Prepress Operator, FIRST Press Operator or FIRST Implementation Specialist Certification.

Always striving to improve, nine webinars were held throughout the year—one more than in 2015. The webinars, which are free for FTA members, tackled topics like understanding G7, the basics of inks and expanded gamut color profiles.

The Emerging Leaders Committee embarked on a comprehensive generational study of the industry’s younger workers, seeking to better understand who they are, what their backgrounds are, what they are drawn to and frustrated by, and where they see themselves going. The study is due to be completed in early 2017, with the results being distributed to FTA members.

A number of changes were made to the FTA Board of Directors and FFTA Board of Trustees. Howard B. Vreeland, Jr. began his tenure as FFTA Chairman of the Board. Mary Sullivan and Alexander James were named FTA Chair Elect and FFTA Chair Elect, respectively. And Johnny Dye, Brad Elledge and Kim Madigan joined both boards. Beyond Forum and INFO*FLEX, there were a number of other notable industry related events in 2016. FTA’s senior leadership walked all 19 halls of drupa, the association staffed its own booth at Labelexpo Americas and once again joined the PACK EXPO International Partner Program. SuperCorrExpo was also a must attend for FTA representatives.

Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications & Tolerances (FIRST) 5.1 was translated into Spanish and made available through Grupo Novaro. And with everything FTA did throughout the year, flexographic businesses took notice: 169 new companies joined the association in 2016.

Looking To 2017

FTA celebrates a pair of anniversaries next year:

  • 2017 will see Forum & INFO*FLEX—the latter of which turns 35—return to their usual schedule, taking place April 30 – May 3 at the Sheraton Grand Phoenix, and May 1 – May 2 at the Phoenix Convention Center, respectively, in Phoenix, AZ
  • Fall Conference 2017 heads to St. Louis, MO, from Oct. 9-11. Its theme will center on FIRST turning 20

A new addition to the FLEXOGRAPHY 101 booklet collection will be released. “An Introduction to Color Fundamentals” will explain how humans perceive color, describe basic color models, the electromagnetic spectrum and color comparisons.

FTA’s stable of online courses is set to expand with the addition of FLEXOGRAPHY 101 – Anilox Handling & Care. The self paced course will cover the proper handling methods for an anilox, types of aniloxes, how they are produced, new and existing technologies, and guidelines for care and maintenance.

FTA will be holding a series of Flexo Seminars, free to all members, throughout 2017:

  • First up is a joint seminar with PIA of Southern California on Jan. 25 at Fullerton College in Fullerton, CA. Topics address flexible packaging for narrow web and include press configurations, substrates, coatings and adhesives, and ink systems
  • A Southeast Flexo Seminar is set for March 23 at Uteco’s Technology Center in Kennesaw, GA
  • The Midwest Flexo Seminar will take place in late spring—May, or June—in or near Green Bay, WI
  • Finally, A Mid Atlantic, or I-95, Flexo Seminar will be held in September

As we head into 2017, FTA and FLEXO Magazine will continue the spirit of Forum’s theme: #TrendingNow