Stamp booklet "Forever" a winner in PLGA competition
Gravure group honors 31 print-quality entries at Miami operational conference.
By Editor in Chief Mark Spaulding -- Converting Magazine, 4/1/2008 12:00:00 AM
“There is not much more that can be said about perfection,” remarked one of the judges about this year's Best of Show winner in the Packaging & Label Gravure Association Global's Print Quality Awards competition. The object of his remarks: The USPS Forever stamp booklet (right), converted by Avery Dennison Security Printing Div. (Clinton, SC). Done in 10 colors on Fasson® two-sided stamp stock using Siegwerk C Type (www.siegwerk-ink-packaging.de/43.0.html?&L=1) solvent-based inks, the stamps were printed on a Dai-Nippon Kiko (www.dnp.co.jp) press. To make counterfeiting more difficult, the stamps use 300- to 400-line-screen engravings (supplied by WRE ColorTech [www.wrecolor.com]) and include the word “Forever” micro-printed on each stamp. Judges also recognized Avery Dennison's printing achievement, commenting that “it was not only necessary to keep each side in register but also front to back.”
The Forever stamp booklet and 30 other top examples of gravure-print quality were honored in late February at the group's 11th annual Operational Conference in Miami. Each winner in its own way exemplifies the “Fast Forward into The Future” theme of the event by showing off new technologies that lend themselves to the quality and consistency of gravure. The conference highlighted the integration of digital technologies to gravure, printed electronics and sustainability.
Overall, nine winners in seven end-use product categories were named in the International Print Quality area; 22 winners and five honorable mentions across eight categories were bestowed in the US Print Quality segment.
Flex packs love gravure
To broaden its outreach, two years ago the PLGA added the modifier “Global” to its name, and that expansion is paying off. The 2008 competition drew 40 percent more entrants this year, including those from Israel and Australia, as well as significantly more entrants in the flexible-packaging category due to “the revitalization of gravure printing for this field,” the judges said. Among the five entries recognized in the Flexible Packaging category:
Winning in the Pouches sub-category was the Tyson Chicken Fajita Kit (left) converted by Nordenia USA, Inc. (Jackson, MO). Reverse-gravure-printed in seven colors on 48-gauge polyester using Siegwerk ink and laminated to polyethylene film with solventless adhesive from Rohm and Haas (www.rohmandhaas.com), the pouch was converted on a Windmoeller & Hoelscher (www.whcorp.com) press. Judges remarked that the pouch “represents an excellent reproduction of the food. The eye-catching colors and illustrations along with the reversed-out type look good. The halftone images are excellent.”
A pouch, printed by Alcan Packaging (Joplin, MO) for McCormick Grill Mates Mesquite Marinade (left) won in the Foil/Paper Lamination sub-category. Using INX International (www.inxintl.com) gravure inks on a Bobst Rotomec RotoPak 3000-2 (www.bobstgroup.com) press, the pouch was printed in eight colors on 35-lb paper laminated to foil. Judges said the package displays “very nice illustrations of meat and all of the colors contrast well. The black type is very clear.”
Five entries also won honorable-mention awards this year. Complete details and photographs of all the winners are available at www.plga.com
Gravure takes the gold
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