Forum 2016 Examines Movers & Shakers with Flexo Game Changers

Ross and Engelberth
Ross and Engelberth

FORT WORTH, TX—ATRAC, cassette tape, CD, MP3, streaming. In a handful of words, Forum 2016 co chair Paul Teachout charted the course of listening to music. He used that as a lead in to the first Monday session at Forum 2016: Flexo Game Changers, chaired by Nicole Ross, Kodak product solution manager and Joel Engelberth, Esko FIQ team leader.

Engelberth and Ross began by asking the audience to stand and then sit down if they had been in the industry for less than five years, then 10, then 20 and so on. The last standing flexographer, the mustached “Butch Reese”—who bore a striking resemblance to FTA Flexo Hall of Fame member Paul Lancelle—approached the stage and proceeded to talk about the days of practicing flexography “before it was known as flexography.” He lamented the advent of the photopolymer plate, he tried to smoke on stage, he boasted about his ability to get a press up to a blazing 250 fpm.

"Michael Mazurworth"
“Michael Mazurworth”

Reese walked off, leaving the stage to Engelberth and Ross. The chairs again polled the audience, asking who enjoyed reading charts and crunching numbers early in the morning. Suddenly, a self professed nerd who introduced himself as “Michael Mazurworth”—and who also resembled Lancelle—approached the stage to talk about his yesteryear ways of measuring and analyzing data. His favorite invention? The Excel spreadsheet. The most detrimental? Two individuals—Hall of Fame members Mark Mazur and Mark Samworth—because their work to improve measuring and data analysis “took away our pixie dust.” Mazurworth then left the stage, to “get back to his numbers.”

Flexo Game Changers officially began with Cyber Graphics’ Manufacturing Projects Manager David Smith, who gave a look at game changers in plate making. He started with flat top dots, explaining their flavors and key benefits. Combining flat top dots with high resolution imaging, Smith said, yields a truly game changing technology, enabling:

  • Imaging microscopic surface features and holding them
  • Printing perfect solids
  • Imaging rounder dots and keeping them
  • Enabling smoother fades to zero
  • The ability to maximize the process color gamut
  • Reduced anilox volume
Smith
Smith

On the topic of specialized raw materials, Smith singled out inherently flat top plates for their reduced workflow and equipment constraints, texturized plates for their improved ink transfer and consistency, and unique chemistries like plates optimized for LED exposure or made softer for white.

Integrated systems, Smith said, automate workflows and operator dependent tasks, which reduces errors and frees up employees for other tasks. After following an integrated system from raw material to finishing, he asked if this created lights out automation. Displaying a quote from Bill Gates, he drew attention to the fact that automation can magnify the existing state of a workflow—an efficient one will be more efficient; an inefficient one will be more inefficient.

Speaking second was Bart Wright, North America print specialist at InterFlex Group, who discussed wide web game changing technologies on the materials front. That includes plates with new materials (echoing Smith), inks with stronger pigments that enable faster press speeds, special effects to appeal to customer preferences and cushion tape. The two biggest changes Wright said he’s seen to wide web presses are changeover (“We want a NASCAR mentality”) and speed.

Wright
Wright

Tying everything together, Wright said that it is important to have knowledgeable press operators, and Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications & Tolerances (FIRST) training can provide that crucial material.

What’s next for corrugated? Flexo Concepts President Kyle McLaughlin asked that question to the audience as he launched into his discussion. Speaking to that segment, he singled out three change drivers:

  • Big box retail
  • Versioning
  • Sustainability

These trends are affecting change in all areas, but the ones most affected, he said, are ink delivery systems, machine improvements, substrate and drying options, and digital. On the topic of machine improvements, McLaughlin said vacuum transfer is giving printers a higher level of registration accuracy and is a game changing technology. Similarly, direct drive servo motors have allowed corrugated printers to have better registration control.

The traditional corrugated substrate does not hold an image well, McLaughlin admitted, but said modern substrates and drying options are allowing for single pass, maximized gloss levels and improved color brilliance. UV curing, slowly creeping into corrugated, provides a number of advantages as well.

McLaughlin
McLaughlin

And the dreaded “D” word—digital—made an appearance. Not as impactful as it has been in the label market, McLaughlin said flatbed machines are automating processes, improving speeds, enabling versioning and, in general, “making a difference.”

Batting cleanup was John Crammer, GM and CFO at Best Label, and an FTA board member. He carried the spirit of the session to the narrow web market. UV LED curing’s advantages were the first topic of discussion, as Crammer offered a list of operational advantages:

  • Instant on/off
  • Fewer serviceable parts
  • Long lamp life

Crammer says that at his company, many prior pain points in the operation are UV LED’s “sweet spot,” leading to an “amazing transition.”

"I haven't been to the shop in two weeks—I use my iPad."
“I haven’t been to the shop in two weeks—I use my iPad.”

Moving on to quick change die technology, Crammer played a video that depicted a changeover, barely able to finish his sentence before the operation was completed. The same went for a demo of quick change sleeves. “Servos do it all,” he said: saving settings, automating setup, and remembering fine tuning that operators perform after the servo has done most of the work. Echoing the beginning of the session, Crammer also lobbied for FIRST certification.

As Crammer left the stage, there was a third interloper. This time, a golfer looking for the shuttle to the course, came on stage. Also a Lancelle doppelganger, he identified himself as a company executive who hadn’t been to the shop in weeks, opting to monitor things via his iPad. He said FIRST Certification was a game changer in training his operators.