The Adcote™ line of solvent-based adhesives for packaging laminations has a new addition—Adcote 812 and 577. Adcote 812 laminating adhesives are FDA-compliant for high-temperature applications, including retort, and can be used on exiting equipment. They are also said to provide for attractive economics versus traditional aliphatic isocyanate retort chemistries. Adcote 577 adhesive is one of a handful of adhesives that resist aggressive foods like flavored coffees. It can also be used for the outside layer or retortable structures to laminate polyester to foil, or nylon to foil.

Rohm & Haas Adhesives & Sealants, 847/649-3800, fax: 847/649-3760, www.rohmhaas.com

ULTRASTAR® is an ultra-brilliant silver metallic ink for flexographic, gravure and rotary screen-printing and packaging, labels and cartons. ULTRASTAR is said to produce eye-catching "foil-like effects" and delivers an optical appearance. This provides an alternative to using costly metallized substrates or foil stamping, reports co.

ECKART America, 800/556-1111, fax: 440/354-6224, www.eckartamerica.com

The 3281A double-coated adhesive tape features a silicone PSA on the air side of a 0.5 mil clear polyester film carrier and an acrylic PSA on the liner side; with a paper liner and differential release coating. Allowing the bonding of silicone materials to non-silicone substrates, this tape can be die-cut and the liner will stay in place during lamination and conversion, reports co. This adhesive tape is designed for products where the liner must be attached until it is time for removal and then it peels away.

Tyco Adhesives, 800/248-7659, fax: 781/440-6276, www.tycoadhesives.com

This co. provides a wide range of flexographic printing inks including water- and solvent-based formulations. These inks are said to exhibit high color strength and the water-based systems are formulated with very low levels of VOC's. The inks can be pumped via a wide variety of pumping systems including centrifugal and peristaltic. Air-operated or electrical pumps to satisfy this requirement are available.

Bell-Mark Corp., 973/882-0202, fax: 973/808-4616, www.bell-mark.com

RotoPure™ and RotoPure™ Ultra are high-performance, solvent-based laminating systems designed to print on a wide range of film substrates and structures. Both products utilize the co.'s proprietary polymer technologies, which eliminate the need for toluene disocyanate (TDI) and tin-containing compounds. These components have been dropped to improve product safety in food packaging without reducing pressroom performance. Both ink systems are said to be ideal for use in stand-up pouches and other flexible packaging applications.

Sun Chemical Ink, 800/933-7863, fax: 708/562-0580, www.sunchemicalinks.com

NACOR® 38-503A is a waterborne adhesive designed for prime label applications. Optical clarity and superior water- and humidity-resistance properties make 38-503A ideal for prime labels, decals, clear film over-laminating and industrial tapes, says co. High heat resistance makes NACOR 38-503A ideal for hot ambient condition applications, while dry film components of this adhesive comply with the compositional requirements of the FDA Indirect Food Contact Regulation.

National Adhesives, 800/797-4992, fax: 609/409-5699, www.nationalstarch.com

PureScreen is a new line of UV screen inks with silicone-free and wax-free formulations. All hazardous and chemically suspect materials have been eliminated from all PureScreen inks. For converters this means you now have a screen ink that is safer to handle and can be overprinted with the co.'s PureFlex UV inks or its Versifilm Plus water-based film ink, reports co.

Water Ink Technologies, 800/426-4657, www.waterinktech.com

The OPTIMISER™ ink dispensing system is a completely automated, electronically controlled canister-based system that fills ink ducts mechanically. Sheetfed and web printers can now maintain a consistent level of ink at all times and concentrate on printing rather than replenishing ink. The ink system monitors ink in the fountain, dispenses ink from a canister directly to low spots in the duct, and replenishes the ink supply where necessary. OPTIMISER canisters contain less than two percent residual waste at the end of a print cycle, and overall ink waste is reduced by 80 to 90 percent.

Flint Ink, 734/622-6362, fax: 734/622-6131, www.flintink.com

This co. introduces a new series of water-based, self-crosslinking adhesives that eliminate the need for catalysts. These products' single-component technology enables them to replace two-part systems for many laminating applications, including film-to-film lamination. The adhesives have excellent adhesion to various treated films, including polypropylene, metallized polyester, clear vinyl and acetate film. This series of adhesives uses waterborne polymer technology containing no VOC's and they are nontoxic.

Basic Adhesives Inc., 800/394-9310, fax: 718/366-1425, www.basicadhesives.com

FlexOnic™ is a cationic ink system specially designed for use in shrink sleeve and other secondary food packaging applications. It is said to offer excellent properties when printing on papers, films and foils. This co. also offers Hydrofilm 4000™, which is a water-based alternative in inks for shrink film. Hydrofilm 4000 was designed for a wide variety of materials including PE, PP, BOPP, PVC, PET, and Polyester. It is available in two color strengths, and is said to exhibit excellent printing properties. Uvocard-L™ is a new high performance UV offset ink system for plastic card lamination and exhibits high color strength, with 20 percent higher pigmentation than other products, says co.

Akzo Nobel Inks, 763/559-5911, fax: 763/577-1467, www.aninks.com

This co. offers fluorescent inks that incorporate an exclusive formulation process that produces strong vibrant hues that help create eye-catching labels and packaging, reports co. This unique formulation process is available in a wide variety of florescent inks for printing applications, including flexo, rotary screen, offset and letterpress. The fluorescent inks are available in many colors, including yellow, orange, red, magenta, green, and cyan. The co. also produces a fluorescent pink that can be used as a fifth color in four-color process printing to enhance skin tones and extend the range of magenta hues in images. The inks have been developed using carefully selected pigments that are balanced with a diluent to produce these colors.

UVitec Printing Ink, Inc., 800/478-6330, fax: 973/778-5981, www.uvitec.com

INXScreen™ UV rotary screen white is a premium silicone-free UV/Energy curable ink. This ink was custom engineered by Nazdar, exclusively for and to INX specifications, for all rotary screen-printing units. This product has been specially formulated for use in combination printing, in conjunction with UV flexo and UV letterpress systems and without the need for press-side additives.

INX International Ink Co., 913/371-7117, fax: 913/371-7548, www.inxink.com

This co. releases its Version 10.0 of its materials and color management software for the Flexo and Gravure wide-web and narrow-web printing markets. The Material Management Software has a wide array of built-in tools, such as ink purchasing direct from an ink room computer to the supplier through built in e-mail order entry. The software can be used as a standalone desktop package with an entry cost of $1,275.00, or linked to a scale and pump hardware for automated ink manufacture.

Novaflow Systems Inc., 613/925-5926, fax: 613/925-5928, www.novaflow.com

This co. manufactures fully automated and computerized gravimetric dispensing systems, specifically designed for use with all liquid printing inks. These color dispensing systems offer splash free dispensing, on-shade color every time with batch to batch reproducibility. The dispensers have a unique valve design and self-learning control software that can dispense a 40 lb. batch with four components in under 2 minutes with 0.1 gram accuracy.

Stork Cellramic, Inc., 888/977-8675, fax: 414/357-0267, www.cel.storkgroup.com

This co. offers a tool-free, one-handed cartridge mount to change dull blades in seconds, which is exclusive to the co.'s Performance Series Knifeholders. Dull or worn blades can be changed off-line using interchangeable blade cartridges while the slitter continues to function. Tools are no longer needed during setup. Critical upper-to-lower knife settings are left intact because there is no longer a need to remove, remount and reposition the entire knifeholder. The removable blade cartridge is also 180-deg reversible, allowing the use of both sides of the anvil blade for longer life.

Tidland Corp., 800/426-1000, fax: 360/834-5865, www.tidland.com

The Ultra-slick Blade line is said to be the newest innovation in razor-blade slitting technology. This two component ceramic coating offers unsurpassed hardness and lubricity. Trials have shown improved wear performance and cutting quality along with a noticeable absence of adhesive build-up on the blade edge. Life increases of 10X have been seen over uncoated blades and 2-3X over other coated blades, says manufacturer.

Ceramic Technologies Inc., 800/258-8495, fax: 281/556-9244.

The Auto-Cut™ is designed using the co.'s Cushion Cut™ technology found on the Beast line of slitter holders. The Auto-Cut slitter holder system reduces set-up times over manual and semi-automatic methods and systems using on-screen electronic holder positioning. It also offers fully automated slitter holder male and female blade movement without removing the web and holds tight tolerances to help reduce waste.

EMT Intl., Inc., 920/468-5475, www.emtinternational.com

Endurium™ is a new line of slitter blades that are said to wear up to 10 times longer than standard carbon steel. Able to replace any conventional blade, including those used in all slitting and converting processes, Endurium industrial blades provide a long-lasting sharpness that results in more accurate cuts and significant reduction in downtime from blade replacements. Endurium is available in the slotted blade shape used in most applications. It is also available from stock with an optional ceramic coating for improved blade life, reports co.

Specialty Blades, Inc., 800/252-3371, www.specialtyblades.com

The ACU-SLIT™ is a line of custom-built slitter modules used either as add-ons or replacement units. Specified sizes up to 60 in. wide can be requested. Options include the type and quality of knives, and a choice of motorized or stub shaft for machine drive. These modules cut a wide variety of flexible materials such as film, foil, paper, nonwovens, foam rubber and other flexible materials.

Azco Corp., 201/791-1428, fax: 201/791-8420.

The CLB system (Center Linear Bearings) eliminates excessive knife side loading, and subsequent reduced knife life from misuse of dovetail rack-and-pinion arrangements. This system consists of a holder adapter mounted on a linear bearing way, two brake strips and a detent lever. The CLB system provides smooth positioning and solid braking of the knifeholder. It can be mounted directly to existing dovetail bold patterns requiring only a slight relocation of the holder beam.

Dienes Corp., 800/345-4038, fax: 508/885-3452, www.dienescorp.com