• CR carton wins top OK from Uncle Sam: Lake Forest, IL-based Colbert Packaging Corp. says its PharmaDial™ carton has achieved the F=1 child-resistance rating, the safest US government rating awarded by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. PharmaDial is a senior-friendly, child-resistant packaging solution for pharmaceuticals. It provides ease of opening for seniors with the added security and safety benefits of child-resistant packaging.
• Getting customers "pouches in a flash:" Alcoa Flexible Packaging, Richmond, VA, launches its Pouch Express™ rapid-response printing program. Pouch Express provides pharmaceutical manufacturers with gravure printing from the Alcoa Flexible Packaging Downingtown Ctr. on small quantities (as little as 3 million sq in.), within six weeks. Ten industry-standard Alcoa Pharma-Pouch™ specifications, designed for gel-caps, capsules, powders and tablets, are available for surface printing.
• Eco-friendly foodservice wraps ahead: Hood Packaging Corp., Burlington, Ontario, Canada wins a license to convert EarthShell Packaging® biodegradable foodservice wraps in North America. Hood anticipates commercial production of EarthShell wraps will begin this quarter. Hood has equipment capacity to produce approximately $10 million in foodservice wraps a year, and will be assessing the need for additional capacity.
• Safety is king at Stevenson: Chicago-based Smurfit-Stone Container's Stevenson, AL, mill recently achieved one full year and one million hours without a recordable incident as measured by OSHA. It is the first time the mill has attained either mark. The Stevenson mill annually produces approximately 830,000 tons of corrugating medium and employs about 430 people. The mill has partnered with OSHA as a Volunteer Protection Program Star site since 1994.

A new white paper, "CTP Platemaking: Understanding the Real Costs," presents in-depth research with users of computer-to-plate technologies and looks beyond the cost of equipment and plates to gain a true understanding of the "total process costs associated with operation of a CTP solution." The white paper, released by Charlottetown, PEI, Canada-based researcher J. Zarwan Partners, examines costs of plates and processing from leading vendors including Agfa, Fuji, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Presstek and Western/Lastra.

The move to CTP has increased the productivity and efficiency of package printers by simplifying production and streamlining workflow. Despite the cost savings achieved by moving from traditional film-based platemaking to CTP, there are still in most cases significant costs incurred in getting the plate from the platesetter to the press. The white paper identifies and highlights some of these often-neglected costs and summarizes the experiences of printers using different types of digital plates.

In conducting the research, J. Zarwan Partners spoke with 63 printers of various sizes who employ products from all of the major manufacturers and process types. The study gathered detailed information about their plate and chemistry use and costs. Key findings: Chemistry can account for as much as 30 percent of the price of the plate, and there are additional hidden costs that can bring the total cost of platemaking even higher. This represents a significant financial element that many printers are not adequately taking into account in their business models.

"The typical printer can spend $40,000 to $100,000 per year on chemistry and related items," says Zarwan. "Our research revealed that many, if not most, printers tend to underestimate the total cost of chemistry, processing, and maintenance."

The white paper also explores the emergence in the marketplace of chemistry-free CTP solutions which offer the printer both the ability to migrate to CTP solutions without the cost burdens of conventional chemistry-based CTP and a more environmentally-friendly printing operation.