Converting Headaches? Get Relief at CPP EXPO's PFFC-Sponsored Technical Sessions
- Published: July 15, 2014, By Yolanda Simonsis
Are common printing and converting problems causing headaches at your converting facility? Paper, Film & Foil Converter (PFFC) offers pain relief with a full slate of 17 conference sessions addressing a complete gamut of technology issues and concerns. Our sessions are offered on September 28—30 at Graph Expo/CPP EXPO at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
Take a look at what PFFC has assembled from the comprehensive Course Guide below, then REGISTER for the sessions that can help you solve your problems hosted by a team of technical experts, including Tim Walker (TJWalker+ Assoc.), Mark Miller (Coating Tech Service, LLC), Dr. Dene Taylor (SPF-Inc.), Dr. Kelly Robinson (Electrostatic Answers), Mary Schilling, (Schilling Inkjet Consulting), and Vince Cahill (VCE Solutions).
This Course Guide lists only PFFC-sponsored sessions offered according to speakers with times and room locations. For other sessions, visit: www.cppexpo.com
TIM WALKER OF TJWALKER+ASSOCIATES. . .
. . . is author of PFFC's "Web Lines" column and "Tim's Web Lines" blog. Tim is president and web handling consultant for TJWalker+ Associates with 25 years of experience and will present the following six sessions:
C01 The Secret of Web Tension: Follow the Strain
Sunday, September 28, at 10:30 A.M.—12 P.M.
Room 504C
Reduce your waste from curl, mis-registration, and wrinkling.
Key Take Aways:
1. Learn the first step to diagnosing these waste sources.
2. View the small errors in your equipment from the perspective of the web.
3. Since many materials are not very stretchy, small things make a big difference.
The machine direction control of a web is usually described as tension or speed control, but what is important to you web, your registration, and your lay-flat, is web strain. Learn about this secret side of web tensioning and how understanding material and equipment contributions to web strain is the first step to solving most web handling problems.
C04 What tensioning plan makes sense for your product/process?
Sunday, September 28, at 2:00 P.M.—3:30 P.M.
Room 504C
If tension isn’t right, not much else goes right. If mama ain’t happy, noboby’s happy.
Key Take Aways:
1. Learn to map out your process tension.
2. Understand the three approaches to creating tension and when they make sense.
3. Learn the value of tension zones and when more zones are needed.
Good tensioning reduces waste from breaks, distortion, scratching, wrinkling, mis-registration, and poor roll formation. To get tension under control you have to understand how your system works. Learn to map out your system and understand best practices of tension zone strategy, speed vs. torque control, open vs. closed loop control, and dancer vs. load cell roller feedback.
C16 Wrinkle-Free Web Handling: Stop the Cause
Monday, September 29, at 2:00 P.M.—3:30 P.M.
Room 504C
Wrinkle waste can cripple any process, especially thinner and wider webs.
Key Take Aways:
1. Learn how to diagnose wrinkle causes by their visual clues.
2. Learn to eliminate the causes to stop wrinkle waste.
When wrinkles show up in your process waste can go from a modest level to 100% waste. Product and process trends to thinner, wider, and stiffer materials can all push you over the cliff to excessive wrinkle waste. The solutions lie in understanding causes and remedies. Learn how to identify and remove the mechanisms of wrinkling.
C19 Wrinkle-Free Web Handling: Anti-Wrinkle Devices
Monday, September 29, at 4:00 P.M.—5:30 P.M.
Room 504C
It’s remarkable when $0.25 of tape can stop $25,000 in waste.
Key Take Aways:
1. Understand how and where to tape rollers to stop wrinkles.
2. When tape doesn’t work, what is next?
When wrinkles get the best of you, because the cause is difficult to understand or eliminate, then anti-wrinkle devices are the solution. Learn all the anti-wrinkle methods, including the science taping rollers, the benefits of air lubrication, optimizing bowed rollers, and more.
C22 Under Pressure: How Material Properties Contribute to Roll Tightness
Tuesday, September 30, at 8:30 A.M.—10:00 A.M.
Room 504C
Winding can ruin a perfect product, whether during forming the roll or aging inside the roll.
Key Take Aways:
1. Winding is a complicated process dependent on both equipment and product design.
2. Wound rolls are not like fine wines, they rarely get better with age.
3. Understand what makes one product easier to wind than another.
Winding good rolls can create mysterious and confusing results. Wind two different products on the same winder with the same settings and one roll will be hard as a rock and the other roll with be so loose you can’t get it off the machine.
C25 Winding Process Variations: Why Roll Quality Varies
Tuesday, September 30, at 10:30 A.M.—12:00 P.M.
Room 504C
One bad apple can make the whole bushel seem bad. What cause only some rolls to be bad?
Key Take Aways:
1. Learn the how to diagnose roll defects.
2. Understand how crossweb thickness variations affect winding and web quality.
Have you ever shipped a series of rolls to your customer of the same product, from the same winder and winding conditions only to have them reject half of them (but the other half are fine)? How can the same-same-same conditions create happy vs. unhappy customers? Join this seminar to find out common answers to these mysteries, plus bring your own winder mysteries and questions and we’ll try to send you away with answers.
For more information, contact Tim Walker at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 651-686-5400.
MARK MILLER OF COATING TECH SERVICE, LLC. . .
. . . is author of PFFC's "Coating Matters" column and "Mark's Coating Matters" blog. Mark is a technical consultant and CEO of Coating Tech Service with 20 years of experience and will present the following two sessions:
C02 Hot Melt Coating Technology: Thinner, Faster, and the State of the Art
Monday, September 28, at 10:30 A.M.—11:30 A.M.
Room 504D
If coating patches of fluid is critical to your product application, then understanding the fluid dynamics involved will reduce the development time. Fluid is expensive and some coated products require a reduction in waste to meet the economic needs of the industry. Whether you coat batteries, solar panels, or other printed electronics, this presentation is for you.
Key Take Aways:
1. Acquire and understanding of the fluid dynamics involved when coating patches
2. Learn what is current state-of-the-art hot melt coating technology for various industries.
C11 Intermittent Coating
Tuesday, September 29, at 8:30 A.M.—9:30 A.M.
Room 504D
There is a limit to how thin and fast a hot melt adhesive can be coated. What are these limitations, and how can you push coating technology to this edge and succeed?
Key Take Aways:
1. When coating hot melt adhesives, discover what technical considerations there are to ensure success.
2. Learn the economies of scale required to coat tapes and labels faster and thinner.
For more information, contact Mark Miller at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 715-544-7568.
DR. DENE TAYLOR OF SPF-INC. . .
. . . is author of PFFC's "On Print" column and principal of Specialty Papers & Films, Inc. with over 20 years experience. He will present the following three sessions:
C06 3D Inkjet Printing for Production
Sunday, September 28, at 2 P.M.—3 P.M.
Room 505A
Need a 3D inkjet printing encyclopedia? While inkjet is familiar and already occupies a substantial niche, 3D inkjet adds a new dimension to your company's capabilities.
Key Take Aways:
1. The range of 3D printing
2. How 3D inkjet works
3. Examples and applications of inkjet products
4. Opportunities and limitations
5. Printing and manufacturing—they are very different
6. What you have to build on for successful entry
C14 Finishing Options for Digital Printing Presses
Monday, September 29, 10:30 A.M.—11:30 A.M.
Room 504D
Want to add digital to your printing capabilities? Have you thought how it will impact not just print management but your finishing work flow, too? Integrated lines that complement digital functions—like spot coating and laser die-cutting--are great values, but don't forget existing equipment already on the plant floor.
Key Take Aways:
1. Range of integrated processes
2. Integrations for books, booklets, folding cartons and labels
3. Overcoating—continuous and spot
4. Adding real 3D features
5. Customer value
C20 Digital Printing for Packaging and Labels
Monday, September 29, 4 P.M.—5 P.M.
Room 504D
Are you a commercial printer watching packaging and label print opportunities pass you by? Digital printing can be your winning ticket to enter this arena, especially now that brand owners understand its value and how to use it.
Key Take Aways:
1. Digital print technologies suitable for labels and packaging
2. Examples of high productivity presses and printers
3. Strengths and limitations of the various technologies
4. Matching products and presses
5. Comparison to conventional press
6. Review of printed samples
For more information, contact Dr. Dene Taylor at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 215-862-9434.
DR. KELLY ROBINSON OF ELECTROSTATIC ANSWERS. . .
. . . is author of PFFC's "Static Beat" column and "Kelly on Static" blog. Kelly is president of Electrostatic Answers with 25+ years of experience and will present the following three sessions:
C08 How Do Static Dissipators Work (and Where Should They Be Installed)?
Sunday, September 28, 4 P.M.—5 P.M.
Room 504D
What are the shock points in your printing and converting operations? How do you install a static dissipator properly in order to prevent sparks that ignite flammable solvents, cause machine control errors, shock operators, and damage sensitive coatings such as silicone release layers?
Key Take Aways:
1. Live demonstration showing the neutralization of change on a Van de Graaf generator and sewing needle
2. Perspectives on performance versus cost of various static dissipators
3. How to install static dissipators to control static at the source of corona treaters, nip rollers, and unwind rolls
C15 How to Control Static to Prevent Fires
Monday, September 29, 10:30 A.M.—11:30 A.M.
Room 505A
Fire works are fun. . . just not on your converting line. How do you get your static under control?
Key Take Aways:
1. What are fault tolerant static control systems?
2. How can a fault tolerant static control system be applied to printing and converting?
3. What's the role of a static bar that fails?
4. What are specific implications for gravure coating and flexo presses?
C21 Static Control Best Practices for Printing and Converting
Monday, September 29, 4 P.M.—5 P.M.
Room 505A
Learn how to prevent static fires by employing best practices on your printing and converting line. Prevent accidents that harm operators and damage property as well as sensitive materials.
Key Take Aways:
1. Prevent problems involving contamination from airborne particles and label blocking
2. Review best practices for slot-die coaters, gravure caoters, and flexo presses
3. How to dissipate static at the source, including unwind and winding rolls, corona treaters, and nip rollers
For more information, contact Dr. Kelly Robinson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 585-737-4396.
MARY SCHILLING OF SCHILLING INKJET CONSULTING. . .
. . . is the owner of Schilling Inkjet Consulting and works as a consultant with all the elements of the digital process—from conventional and inkjet technologies to fluids and substrates. She will present the following session:
C07 Print Quality and Color Control for Printed Packaging
Sunday, September 28, 4 P.M.—5 P.M.
Room 504C
Trying to achieve color and print matches across multiple packaging mediums and various print platforms? You're not alone. Packaging is not just paper, but with the ease of inkjet, it has expanded into films, plastics, metals and other various mediums. This new technology of inkjet (aqueous and UV) and toner can make color consistency with conventional preprint and post print more difficult. Find out why.
Key Take Aways:
1. Different base CMYK ink hues
2. How inks react differently to various surfaces as well as dry or cure
3. Variables that have been added to processes
4. How to control process colors printed with or without preprinted whites for cross platform and surface color consistency
For more information, contact Mary Schilling at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 317-861-8874.
VINCE CAHILL OF VCE SOLUTIONS. . .
. . . is president of VCE Solutions, with over 30 years of experience providing consulting and brokering of business relations for the printing industry. He will present the following two sessions:
C12 Developments in Printing RFID Tags and Other Smart Packaging Solutions
Monday, September 29, 8:30 A.M.—9:30 A.M.
Room 505A
Bone up on the status and developments in RFID and other smart packaging and printed electronic identification systems and technologies.
Key Take Aways:
1. Drivers of RFID tags and other printed electronics technologies that enhance packaging functions
2. A comparison of available methods for printing, functions, and limitations
3. Estimates of current use
4. Projections for market adoption to 2024
C18 Developments in 3D Enhancement for Printed Packaging and Advertising
Monday, September 29, 2 P.M.—3 P.M.
Room 505A
Need more packaging umpf to capture consumer customers' attention? Want to convey higher product value? Digital 3D enhancement methods may be the answer for product packaging and printed advertising formats.
Key Take Aways:
1. What 3D effects are available for finishes, raised lettering, and images?
2. Braille and ADA requirements
3. Available equipment and systems
For more information, contact Vince Cahill at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 717-762-9520.
