One of the main events of the year for converters involved in coating, laminating and metallizing—and the suppliers who cater to them—took place Oct. 24–27 in Charleston, SC, when AIMCAL (The Assn. of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators) put on its annual Fall Technical Conference at the historic Francis Marion Hotel. The southeastern location, combined with an uptick in the business climate, may have pushed attendance for the event up to 265, a new record according to the trade group.

Held concurrently with the 18th Intl. Vacuum Web Coating Conference, AIMCAL's fall tech event offered the latest web coating and laminating conference sessions from leading industry consultants, as well as representatives from AIMCAL member companies who presented original research and technical product updates.

Among notable sessions in the Web Coating and Laminating track were two presentations by Converting technical editor Dr. David Roisum. The first, Thinking Thin, dealt with the challenges of thin substrates and was punctuated by Roisum doing multiple sit-ups as he talked ("Thinking Thin"—get it?), and the second, Nip Impressions, which dealt with using nip-impression paper as a tool for product troubleshooting.

This year's John Matteucci Technical Excellence Awards (the organization's annual monetary Best Paper awards) were bestowed on one paper in each technical track. For the Web Coating and Laminating side, the winning paper was Drying Considerations for Coatings Applied to Thin Films, given by Dan Bemi of MEGTEC Systems (DePere, WI). In the Vacuum Web track, the winning paper was Nanostructured Multilayer B4C/B9C AND Si/Si0.8Ge0.2 Films For Advanced Detector & Thermoelectric Applications, presented by Peter M. Martin of Pacific Northwest Laboratory (Richland, WA).

The technical sessions were joined this year by two "lunchtime tutorials." Growing Your Business in a Mature Market, presented by Frank Perkowski of Business Development Advisory, was a frank discussion of our slow-growth, mature market, and a roadmap, using real-world examples, showing how converters and suppliers can find opportunities for growth, and strategic options where they didn't seem to exist.

The other lunchtime session was the much-anticipated debut of the AIMCAL Defects Lexicon. The culmination of two years of effort by top engineers and scientists in the web coating industry, combined with contributions from leading associations and web inspection companies, the lexicon is a way of standardizing web defect identification. Features include: a troubleshooting guide, glossary of terms, standardized classification system, hundreds of detailed electronic images, and causes and cures for common web defects. Also, the electronic lexicon can be customized with the user's own defect records. A feature walk-through of the product and more information is available on the AIMCAL web site: www.aimcal.com.

The first two evenings of the October conference were highlighted by receptions and tabletop exhibits in the main ballroom of the Francis Marion Hotel. The combined events, always a feature of the AIMCAL fall conference, gave attendees, converters, and suppliers a chance to meet informally, discuss suppliers' exhibits, reconnect with colleagues and discuss the industry in a congenial atmosphere.

Mark your calendars for AIMCAL's Winter Management Meeting, March 16–20, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, Bonita Springs, FL. More info: 803/802-7820, fax: 803/802-7821, www.aimcal.com.