Better ways to better days—It requires “Tradition Reimagined,” and “Building on the Future,” the central themes of FTA’s FORUM & INFOFLEX 2023.
The collective mission for both events, which take place April 16-19 in Columbus, OH: Help printers make it happen, ignite their passion and enthusiasm for what they do, explore prudent, practical and precedent-setting process control techniques that facilitate printing to the numbers and achieving quality, consistent and predictable package print.
In short, advice set to be rendered from auditorium and exhibit hall podiums, as well as face-to-face in hundreds of trade floor booths will hone-in on maximizing efficiencies, minimizing downtime, labor force development, waste management and energy conservation opportunities.
Critical to the comprehensive needs assessment is attendee engagement and networking. Simply put, sharing perspectives of stakeholders from all aspects of the packaging development chain can be used as a starting point in creating our future. Step one: “Get up close and personal.”
Here, FORUM 2023 Chair Laura Wright of CSW Inc and Co-Chair Jason Cagle of MacDermid Graphics Solutions present both the argument and justification for why you should and must be there. It’s drawn from their personal FORUM and INFOFLEX experiences.
FLEXO Magazine: FORUM 2023’s theme is “Tradition Reimagined.” Talk about some of the ideas and concepts that went into choosing that theme, and what it brings to your minds.
Laura Wright: This is an industry that likes to pay homage to its history and to the great individuals who have helped flexography develop into the precise printing method it is today. Many of the sessions at FORUM 2023 will acknowledge tradition but then ask the audience to think about how different our industry is today from what it was in the past. For example:
- We need new solutions to deal with a changing workforce
- Printers continually express a need for greater efficiency and methods for reducing costs
- Top priority actions must revolve around the requirement to attract a younger workforce and mentor leaders of the future
These are all key themes underlying the presentations in 2023.
Our last FORUM session, “Flexography: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow & Beyond,” will tie it all together with inspiring presentations that apply the concepts of system integration, automation, artificial intelligence and digitization to our industry.
Photo courtesy of Infinite Impact
FLEXO: A large percent of FORUM 2023’s presenters are printers. What does their involvement on stage add to the conference experience? What are some of the topics they’ll be discussing?
Wright: Time and again, our membership has asked to hear from printers. They are the heart, soul and mission of this Association and they are the ones who bring it all together and make it happen.
They will be discussing topics like collaboration with CPCs and vendors throughout the supply chain, new automation methods in the print process, and finding and keeping great employees.
FLEXO: The suppliers, CPCs and other experts speaking at FORUM: What do they offer the printer who will be in attendance? How will sharing their perspectives inspire continuous improvement?
Jason Cagle: This year, we have a great mix of not only experts from suppliers and CPCs, but also representatives from converters. FORUM is a breeding ground for emerging technology as well as collaborating on current challenges we face within the flexographic industry. I love the fact that all parts of the industry can come together to share their knowledge, experiences and guidance for attendees who are trying to tackle some of the same topics we will be discussing.
Projects, technologies and troubleshooting techniques that we will be talking about represent a mix between current and emerging ideas. Sharing perspectives of stakeholders from all aspects of the packaging development chain can be used as a starting point for projects converters are working on tackling in their own plant.
FLEXO: As a single entity, how will FORUM 2023’s nine sessions address printers’ self-identified needs to automate, innovate and educate? What will they be able to take back to their home plant?
Wright: I love that you’re asking what they’ll be able to take back with them. This has been my mantra to the team as we’ve begun to develop the sessions. It’s important that we make the sessions worth attending. Past attendees have asked for practical ideas that they can implement when they get back to the office or pressroom.
Each session has been challenged with offering a tool or method to satisfy those needs to automate, innovate and educate. The tool may be as simple as a form for evaluating print quality, a list of terms and definitions to help educate, or it could be the outline of a communication process to meet the customer’s print needs.
FLEXO: “Maximizing efficiencies” is a frequent call to action, and it seems to be a core component of FORUM 2023’s agenda. What strategies and solutions will be discussed that might encourage printers to act and engage? How can the promise of those strategies being revealed drive both interest in, and attendance to, the event?
Cagle: It’s no secret that the current economic backdrop has presented numerous challenges for our industry; from inflationary impacts and raw material shortages, to maintaining a full staff of employees—there has never been more focus than now on maximizing efficiencies. The majority of brands’ main focus right now is just keeping product on the shelf. This results in converting needing to run faster and more efficient to keep up with demand.
At FORUM 2023, we will be taking a deep dive into maximizing efficiencies for color management, automated technologies, training your staff efficiently, and so much more.
FLEXO: Sustainability, waste management and energy conservation are also high on printers’ priority lists. Many link all three under the sustainability banner. How and where will these challenges be addressed? What will be the takeaways in that area?
Wright: Sustainability has been a hot topic around the world for a while now. We’ve seen renewed interest in the US over the past couple of years and felt that it deserved its own session this year—the first technical session at FORUM.
“Sustainable Business, Sustainable Planet” will help attendees see a possible path toward more sustainable business practices and waste management. They’ll learn how to apply this to their operations, in light of current legislation—no matter what their role in the process is.
FLEXO: Plant managers say they are looking to automation in everything from their workflow to production line equipment to lessen their dependency on labor. How will FORUM 2023’s sessions speak to this issue, as well as modernized approaches to employee recruitment, retention, training and professional development?
Cagle: This is a great question and one that many leaders are facing today: maximizing output while minimizing headcount. FORUM 2023 is a great place to hit both topics head on.
Opening Monday morning will be a session titled “Find ‘Em, Train ‘Em, Keep ‘Em: 21st Century Flexographer,” focusing on explaining how technical flexographic education, including new training methods that are key to professional development, as well as a cornerstone to employee recruitment and retention.
Additionally, as Laura pointed out, closing out FORUM on Wednesday is “Flexography: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow & Beyond,” which will focus on the evolution of specific areas of the flexographic workflow and how automation will mold the future. I don’t want to give away what we have in store, but you won’t want to miss it!
FLEXO: Quality improvement—from concept and design, to output and execution—is driving performance strategies in every element and at every step of the packaging development chain. How will FORUM 2023 shine a light on what measures need to be addressed where, when, and why, along the packaging development path?
Wright: Print quality is addressed throughout the sessions and will be a focus of the Flexo Quality Consortium (FQC) session, which will present the results of the FQC Plate Life Indicator Project.
The purpose of the project is to determine the effect of change in an easily measured plate property on print quality, allowing savings of both time and money. This session will also address other ways to measure and anticipate print quality, as well as review new and proposed standards that will affect print operations.
And, of course, it goes without saying that FTA’s Awards Banquet, set for Sunday night, recognizes exceptional print production work, while allowing FORUM attendees to enjoy a fine dining experience and salute individual accomplishments of peers who work so hard, day-in and day-out, to advance our industry and secure flexography’s stature as packaging’s print process of choice.
FLEXO: No FORUM would be complete without covering topics like printing to the numbers, controlling color, adopting standards and specifications, and measurement and data collection. How will FORUM once again reinforce the importance of these best practices?
Cagle: I don’t know about you, but I also get excited when we are able to preach about “running to the numbers.” As a supplier who consults with many different printers around the world, our lives are much easier when printers run to the numbers set forth by industry standards.
At FORUM 2023, we will not only be discussing advanced color theory principles that will help you hit and maintain those numbers, but also how the data generated can add value to your production—maximizing your efficiencies, minimizing your downtime and reimaging how you control color.
FLEXO: When you think about “reimagining” the flexographic workflow, INFOFLEX immediately comes to mind. As the site of 200 + exhibitors showcasing the newest technologies for package printing, what are attendees in for when they walk the show floor?
Wright: Lots of positive energy and a release of pent-up ideas! Let’s face it, we’ve all spent the past year re-imagining what we do. Like other industries, we’ve experienced a time of changing perspectives, as so many business factors have shifted.
From hiring and motivating employees, to supply chain issues and rising costs, to fluctuating levels of demand, our world is not the same. What better way to vent about this and find some great solutions than to talk with your peers, outstanding suppliers and even friendly competitors who are facing the same issues. “Talk the talk” and “walk the walk” at FORUM and INFOFLEX! Maximize your ROI!
FLEXO: With exhibitors catering to every piece of the flexographic workflow, how can printers utilize INFOFLEX 2023 to its full potential?
Cagle: INFOFLEX is a great time to see new technology up close and personal. Utilize all the experts with the various suppliers. Don’t be afraid to pull multiple suppliers into the same conversations. Take advantage of having everyone in one spot. Benefit from multiple points of view.
FLEXO: FORUM has served as a pivotal event for the flexographic industry for more than 60 years. How does it continue to inspire new directions and assist in molding the future of package printing and converting? How will the conference embrace its six-decade legacy while promoting progress and looking forward?
Wright: Some of us hate the idea of looking back and see it as a waste of time, but history, as a log of our collective experience, accomplishments and failures, is a steppingstone to the future. There will be nods to the past throughout the conference, as we help the audience find better ways to manage the present and create the future.
Just a warning, we may encourage selectively abandoning the past, in order to better embrace the future.
FLEXO: Finally, based on your own familiarity and involvement with FORUM and INFOFLEX; what’s the most rewarding aspect of the conference and exhibition experience that brings you back year after year?
Cagle: Everyone’s job is running in a million different directions right now. Whether you’re working two jobs by covering a vacant position, jetsetting across the country every week, or working overtime to make sure production gets out the door, it can be grueling at times.
It is extremely rewarding to take a step back from our day jobs, connect with industry friends, and witness the passion and enthusiasm our membership has for our industry. FORUM and INFOFLEX are reminders of why we do what we do every day… Traditions reimagined!