Where will the next generation of flexographers come from? That question was among those pondered by members of the Flexographic Technical Association during the organization's 46^th Annual FFTA Forum, co-located with tabletop exhibition Info*Flex 2004, April 25-28. Held this year in Dallas, at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel, the theme, in a reference to Texas, was "Think Big. Think Flexo." Converting was an Info*Flex 2004 exhibitor and, as a member publication, was also privileged to send a delegate to the educational conference itself.

The event kicked off with the Awards Banquet on Sunday night. In addition to the prestigious Excellence in Flexography printing awards, accolades were given to members showing leadership in the areas of technical innovation, environment excellence and graphic design. Harper Corp. of America also handed out its Harper Schools of the Year awards (For a complete list of winners, see page 10 or look on the FTA Web site: www.flexography.org)

Beginning April 26, the concurrent educational programs began. Session tracks for Monday included Tag & Label, Flexible Packaging and Paperboard. An extra session in the afternoon, called Fundamentals, covered the basics and was geared toward the beginning flexo professional. Speakers addressed process control for the flexo process, color control, standardization of anilox roll inventory, doctor-blade technology, and time reduction for flexo setup using SMED.

Tuesday's tracks included an extremely well attended Prepress session, Inks and Coatings, Corrugated/Preprint, Towel and Napkin, and an afternoon session on the principles and application of FIRST, FTA's quality-control standards. Wednesday's General Session wrapped up the conference with remarks from Forum Chairman Ken Lowden, a presentation on FTA's Phoenix Challenge student competition, and a panel discussion among the Excellence in Flexography Best of Show winners on what it takes to be the best.

Although the subject matter of the conference sessions extended to every aspect of flexography, a few themes resonated: the urgent need to apply standards and quality-control techniques to flexography, in order to continue to gain ground on rival print methods gravure and offset; the importance of mastering new techniques in prepress and platemaking that offer advantages in efficiency and print quality; and the continuing need to find, recruit and train new flexo professionals, beginning in high school.

In addition to its acknowledged leadership position in flexographic education, FTA has established a number of work-study based programs, student flexography competitions such as the Phoenix Challenge, scholarship programs, and other fellowships aimed at encouraging students to find out more about flexography as a career, to learn more about the job market, investigate employers, and hone their skills in competition with others.

One recently-announced fellowship is a collaboration between FFTA and Sun Chemical Corp. Called the 2004 Sun Chemical Corp./FFTA Flexographic Research Fellowship, it is the first fellowship devoted to graduate-level studies in the field of flexographic printing.

The fellowship will provide five stipends for research. One $10,000 non-renewable fellowship will be awarded each year for a total of five years, to a different individual in the graphic arts.

Perhaps the greatest commitment made by the FTA to the future of flexographic education is through the Phoenix Challenge. Established in 1998, this international flexography skills competition allows students currently enrolled in high school programs across North America to compete for scholarships. According to Phoenix Challenge chairman Bettylyn Kraft, "Over the past years, the competition has been fine- tuned and now has grown to offer not only trophies for placement in each area (press, prepress, platemaking, math, and overall comprehension), but also scholarships to the winning two-person team to support their future education in flexography. The Harper Flexo Cup is the ultimate award that travels yearly to the top-scoring team."

The next FTA Forum and Info*Flex exhibition is set for March 20-23, 2005, at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Orlando, FL.