Narrow Web & Label Reporter
- Published: June 01, 2007, By Edited by Deborah Donberg, Associate Managing Editor
Upgrading Brings Savings
TAIWAN — Wen Lung Printing Industry Co. prints labels, and the company reportedly has been printing them lately with a 33% improvement in productivity and more than 3% savings in material usage. The reason? A modified STS butt splicer (pictured) and STR turret rewinder, both from Martin Automatic and both of which were retrofitted on an existing letterpress press for nonstop productivity.
Because space was a problem, the supplier designed each unit with a built-in air turn bar to allow them to be installed perpendicular to the press line. The STS splicer also features a tension isolation dancer for improved web tension control on the press, which is more than ten years old.
Supplier Information:
Martin Automatic — PFFC-ASAP 312. www.martinautomatic.com
IMDA Competition a First
SCOTTSDALE, AZ — The In-Mold Decorating Assn. announces its first annual awards competition. The 2007 competition will recognize the industry's best in-mold-labeled packaging and in-mold-decorated durable products.
Winning entries will be chosen based on creativity in design, engineering, and innovation in the following categories:
- Best Part Design
- Best Thin Wall Packaging
- Best Injection Mold Packaging
- Best Blow Mold Packaging
- Best IMD Durable Product
- Best Label Design
Entries must be received by July 2. Award winners will be recognized at IMLCON07, being held October 10-12, in Scottsdale.
For complete information visit www.imdassociation.com/resources/imdarulesentry.pdf or contact Ron Schultz at 480/473-0301.
EMA Paper Tackles Change
ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Envelope Mfrs. Assn. (EMA) is offering a paper entitled “Competition and Change in Envelope Manufacturing: Dealing with Global Trends.” The authors are EMA president and CEO Maynard Benjamin and Anders Davidsson, CEO of the Bong Group in Sweden.
The paper addresses how customers are understood and assessed in terms of their value to a company. Included are examples of how other industries have reacted to changes in their customer value proposition.
Key are ten factors that will change the way competition occurs as the envelope industry moves toward a market that is more influenced by global factors shifting consumption, as well as having a significant impact on the economies of developed nations.
The paper is free to EMA members and available for purchase by non-members for $50. Contact Kim Moses at 703/739-2200 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Joint Warranty Announced
STOW, OH — MACtac Graphic Products and Triangle Digital INX, San Leandro, CA, have partnered to develop a guaranteed system of media, solvent-based inks, and overlaminate for use with Vutek and Nur printers.
MACtac product manager Kristi Young says, “We are now able to give the printer and end-user the complete assurance that finished graphics comprised of MACtac IMAGin digital media overlaid with Permacolor overlaminate films when printed with Triangle Digital PicturePerfect inks are going to perform well together for up to three years.”
Recycling RFID Materials
ANSONIA, CT — Connecticut Metal Industries has opened a new facility designed to handle in-plant scrap for the packaging industry. In addition to recycling for all types of production scrap, including foils, laminates, plastic films, and containers, the facility will include equipment to recover materials from all types of RFID scrap, including labels and ID cards.
The company will purchase and process RFID substrates, antennae, chips, and finished labels as well as ink scrap and other types of production waste. It also plans to recoup metals and plastics from ID badges, smart cards, and magnetic strip cards.
