Flexographic Awards honor top industry achievers

Published: May 01, 1995

The 1995 Flexographic Technical Association Awards Competition honored the best of the industry based on degrees of printing difficulties and execution levels.

The 1995 Flexographic Technical Association Awards Competition brought 786 entries with 97 winners and four best of show at its annual competition held in Long Island, NY.

The competition honors the top technical achievements of the flexographic industry. Each entry was examined by two separate teams of judges; one set determined the degree of difficulty of the printing, the other evaluated the level of execution. The reasoning here is that some substrates are more difficult to print on, some techniques are harder to accomplish, etc.

Judges for the competition included: Dave Akin, Menasha Corp.; Anthony Bart, E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co.; Barbara Clouse, Teepak Inc.; Alfred Heimlich, Uniflex Inc.; Edward Herter; Flexi Printing Plate Co.; John Kienzle, Propheteer Line; Robert Kindorf, Percy Kent Bag Co. Inc.; Phillip LeJeune, Werthan Packaging Inc.; Gene Mallows, Privateer Ltd., William L. O'Haver, E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., David Recchia, Polyfibron Technologies Inc.; Glenn Sanders, Stone Container Corp.; Jim Sloggatt, Kelleigh Corp; Valerie Tomiello, Gar-Doc Inc.; Bruce Underwood, Teepak Inc.; and Robert Wilson, Pioneer Balloon Co. In addition, awards committee members Al Bowers, J. P. Buckley, Dale Bunnell, Bruce Riddell and Henny Salmaggi also stepped in as judges.

"Judges at the FTA Competition are deemed to be the experts in the industry," John Kienzle said. "And I also look at it as a chance to gain a better understanding. of how the whole process works."

A list of the first and best of show awards follows.

[] Post Cocoa Pebbles Cereal Box--paperboard, process. Submitted by Somerville Packaging. Art techniques used: electronic. Type of press used: in-line. Type of plate used: photopolymer. Plate thickness: 0.067. Inking system: doctor blade. Mounting system: Opticala. Types of inks used: water. Sequence of printing: all ceramic--pebbles brown (360), process yellow (600), pebbles orange (200), process magenta (600), process cyan (600), process black (500), fluorescent green (280), varnish (280). Hours run: 18. Press speed: 475. Screen count: 133 lpi. Comments: Previously run litho, then converted to flexo.

[] CITGO Eagle Sticker--film, process. Submitted by: Label Art Inc. Art techniques-used: electronic. Type of press used: in-line. Type of plate used: photopolymer. Plate thickness: 0.067. Inking system: doctor blade. Mounting system: video. Types of inks used: water. Sequence of printing: all ceramic--yellow (700), magenta (700), cyan (800), screen black (400), match gold (300), black (300), uv varnish (200). Hours run: 15. Press speed: 135 fpm. Screen count: 150 Ipi. Comments: Additional dryer added to press to completely dry the black reverse on vinyl.

[] Black & Decker Coffee Maker Box--preprinted linerboard process. Submitted by: Westvaco Flexopak. Art techniques used: electronic and manual. Type of press used: central impression. Type of plate used: photopolymer. Plate thickness: 0.045. Inking system: doctor blade. Mounting system: optical. Type of inks used: water. Sequence of printing: all ceramic--yellow (550), magenta (440), cyan (550), line yellow (330), grey (330), process black (550), varnish (150). Hours run: 4.86. Press speed: 510 fpm. Screen count: 133 Ipi. Comments: Job replaced spot label. Customer was looking for high quality graphics over entire box.

[] COSTA Gourmet Tomato Box--corrugated process. Submitted by: RandWhitney Container Corp. Art techniques used: electronic. Type of plate used: photopolymer. Plate thickness. 0.125. Inking system: two-roll and doctor blade. Mounting system: mechanical and with pin registration. Type of inks used: water. Sequence of printing: all ceramic--cyan (500), yellow (500), black (500), o. p. v. (500). Screen count: 85 Ipi. Comments: The same set of films that made the proof also was used in making the plates. The predictability of flexo post print to a high-end proof is close to being achieved.