BOHEMIA, NY—From formats to forecasts, Flexographic Technical Association’s ever-evolving stature, reinforces its commitment to member engagement. The good news here seems to be confidence abounds. Printers continuously express optimism that performance metrics are holding up.

For example, FTA’s quarterly Pulse Survey revealed that 70 percent of respondents are experiencing moderate to strong growth. It also voiced expectations that artificial intelligence and hybrid press platforms will be the technologies impacting most heavily on the business in the immediate future.

Data-driven decision making, long espoused by FTA, continues to win favor in the marketplace.  Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications and Tolerances (FIRST) methodologies do as well. Printing to the numbers, as we say, is becoming synonymous with best practices.

FTA Technical Conference, happening as you read this, drives those points and others home. Artificial Intelligence takes a prominent place on the agenda; Overall Equipment Effectiveness does too. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are in focus and becoming more appreciated.

Technical innovation is being lauded. Most notably, talk in the marketplace centers on winners of FTA’s 2025 Technical Innovation Awards. That said, Techkon has a prominent position on the FTC program.

FLEXO addressed Techkon’s SpectroVision, fully automated color measurement system in its July/August edition, offering what some saw as a prelude to this month’s live briefing. Ditto for Rossini’s Fast Bridge sleeve adaptor.

With sustainability front of mind, our early look at how XSYS’ utilization of renewable raw materials in flexo plates, supports converters in adopting production practices that deliver quantifiable environmen­tal gains to brand owners looking to reduce the carbon footprint of their packaging, encourages further investigation

And this very month, strategic placement of the 2026 Excellence in Flexography Awards Brochure, situated adjacent to an article detailing how DS Smith and partners are defining excellence, reminds us of what we’re all about.

Plus, speaking of all that is new, exciting and destined to shape the future of package printing and converting, FTA Technical Conference’s Exhibit Guide, stretching across 15 pages, introduces supplier business partners into the conversation, emphasizing the technologies they want to talk about and the benefits they make available to printers/converters.

Networking of that magnitude defines FTA, speaks to its culture and its members collective resolve to get better at what they do. Such enthusiasm is highly contagious! Take advantage of all the experience offers. Immerse yourself in the action. Use the resources of your association to your and your plant’s advantage