FORUM 2023 Session Spotlight
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Flexography: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Session Chairs: Rory Marsoun, Esko and Marek Skrzynski, CSW Inc
The Slate of Panelists:
- Chuck Slingerland, Durst Imaging Technologies
- Jill Tapia, Cornerstone Strategic Branding
- Birgit Plautz, GMG Color
- Garrett Taylor, SOMA
- Heathe Luetkens, HYBRID Software
- Nathan Rank, AV Flexologic
- Brian Cook, MacDermid Graphics Solutions
The rubber plate as an ink carrier used in flexographic printing was patented more than 150 years ago.
It then took another 100 years for flexography to be adopted as a common name amongst the many print methods used today. Since its inception, the initial rudimentary quality of flexography has changed tremendously and has been continuously enhanced by evolving technology and the curiosity of people who dare to disrupt and change the industry status quo.
These pioneers come from various disciplines, heritages and educational backgrounds. Still, together they form a unique group of creative and motivated people who, by combining art and science, accelerate the development of flexographic printing much faster than those seen in other competing technologies.
Today, the flexographic industry must continue to evolve and adapt as our world changes, and new design and technical challenges emerge. During FORUM 2023 and, more specifically, the “Flexography: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” panel discussion, we will review how some of our past knowledge and experiences guide us forward, as well as how the new ones will need to be learned and gained.
We’ll moderate a panel of forward-thinking experts from different segments of the packaging development cycle. Panelists will bring their viewpoints on how today’s technologies and methodologies will reshape, enhance and challenge our industry in the future. While remembering our past and recognizing today’s challenges, they will discuss and identify emerging trends and explore thought-provoking ideas that may soon become our reality.
The ongoing entrepreneurial spirit embraced by flexographers worldwide created a printing market worth $107.4 billion in 2020, which is expected to reach $124.6 billion by 2026. Flexography today provides brands and their customers with a more comprehensive selection of substrates and packaging forms. From paper, corrugated board and plastic film to more advanced combinations, flexography, like no other industry, using water-, solvent- or UV-based inks, can produce a wide range of budget-friendly flexible and rigid containers for many applications.
This interactive session will try to showcase some other evolving forms and functionalities of packaging that flexography may incorporate in the future and review possible manufacturing challenges associated with their production.
Panelists will discuss the need to continue the digital transformation of our entire industry. This started three decades ago with the onset of the digital revolution. The shift from mechanical and analog technology to digital electronics, and the introduction of personal computers, provided an additional development boost for many of flexography’s internal and external subsystems. Since the late 1980s, the increasingly growing role of prepress in the packaging development cycle led to its transition from an individual and universal graphic station to a complex and often interconnected (via intranet or internet) system of specialized yet complementary platforms.
Close and timely collaboration, often via internet portals and/or emails, between all stakeholders has become necessary for professional engagement. Several older “marvels” of past technologies, like fax machines and instant messaging devices, have become absolute. A positive correlation between the digital transformation of desktop publishing and its impact on flexographic print production was rather apparent and, therefore, should continue. The question is: How?
The development of specialized computer-driven structure design, color-proofing systems, advanced algorithms used in color separation tools and screening, as well as the digitalization of photopolymer plate production, led to a dramatic increase in overall speed and efficiency.
Similar technical advancements in screening, ink and anilox technologies, doctor blades, mounting systems, and presses allowed flexography to significantly increase print resolution and the size of its achievable color gamut. This has had a great impact on design, allowing for more complex imagery, depth of color, removal of large trap lines, and allowing for type to move from spot colors to built colors.
This is especially important in today’s competitive environment for brands to have a strong shelf presence. These factors, combined with faster, automated and more sustainable print production, created a definite competitive advantage over its offset and gravure rivals. However, today’s technical advancements, fueled by the principles of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, will continue reshaping flexography into the future, as an ultra-efficient, fully integrated and automated industry.
We may need more than our past experiences and willingness to embrace changes to make such a transition successful, especially since many printers and prepress providers today are struggling with aggressive deadlines, high material and energy costs, shortage of supplies, ever increasing safety awareness and qualified employees—let alone retention of them. The requirement for the next generation of flexographers will also be discussed—Employees who, like the FTA Hall of Fame, will continue challenging our industry status quo and act as catalysts for change.
The new “changemakers” of flexography will ensure our industry’s vitality, progress and success. Their understanding of new concepts like “system thinking,” “3D visualization,” “rapid manufacturing,” “computational design,” “Internet of Things” (IoT), “machine-to-machine” (M2M), machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) as well as the ability to recognize and adapt to new, disruptive technologies across the entire design and manufacturing cycle will be at the core of this session’s agenda.
Lastly, the panel will attempt to point out some of the organizational transformations and social changes associated with, and necessary for, implementing these new ways of working (e.g., working remotely, educational requirements, computer literacy, etc.) as well as needs for new managerial approaches and training.
Learn more about all FORUM 2023’s sessions and register to attend the conference at forum.flexography.org.