• In rolls and sheets: Charlotte, NC-based converter J.R. Cole Industries expands its printing capacity with new capital equipment. To support its beverage-market customers, the company's Labeltec Plant installs a new 8-color, servo-driven roll-label press from Multi Print Systems. JR Cole's Southern Converters Plant installs a new quick-changeover, 6-color plus coater Heidelberg USA sheetfed-offset press for expanded carton-printing capabilities. JR Cole serves customers in the personal-care, HBA, beverage, consumer electronics and household-products markets.
• BC converter goes gearless: Western Concord Manufacturing, a flexible-packaging and specialty films converter in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, purchases a new Novoflex® XS CI-flexo press from Lincoln, RI-based supplier Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp. The 52-in. wide, 10-color press has a gearless drive, designed for fast changeover and consistent quality at maximum speeds, W&H says.
• Audax to acquire CFC: Chicago Heights, IL-based holographic and specialty coated-film manufacturer CFC International, Inc., signs a letter of intent May 3 to merge with an affiliate of Audax Group, a private equity firm, in a deal worth $109.4 million. The proposed transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including completion of due diligence and the negotiation and execution of a definitive agreement, CFC Intl. says. It expects the merger to close during the third quarter of 2005.
• Digital print really hits its stride: Label and package printer Fort Dearborn Co. installs a seven-color, roll-to-roll HP Indigo ws4050 digital press at its King of Prussia, PA, facility for printing prime labels. The system joins three other HP Indigo 4000 series presses installed at Fort Dearborn sites in Elk Grove Village, IL (for shrink sleeves and unsupported films), Fountain Inn, SC (for paint-can labels) and Hull, England (for paint and prime labels). Fort Dearborn serves top consumer product companies in the US.
• A new moniker: The new name for the merged ANI Printing Inks and BASF Printing Systems is XSYS Print Solutions. Pronounced as "Exsys," the new moniker is meant to represent the company's "extensive" product range and its "systems" to serve customers, says Peter Koivula, chief executive officer of the Stuttgart, Germany-based supplier.
• Driven by advances in high-barrier film and pouches, demand for meat-product flexible packaging will rise 4.7 percent a year, says a new study Cleveland-based market researcher The Freedonia Group, Inc. Pouch gains will result from increased penetration of retort pouches for processed products in both consumer and foodservice markets.

Radio frequency identification tag manufacturer UPM Rafsec (Tampere, Finland) will build a new state-of-the-art RFID tag-production facility in Fletcher, NC. The investment further strengthens UPM Rafsec's role as a prominent supplier of RFID tags globally and bolsters its position in North America where demand for EPC-compliant (electronic product code) RFID tags is growing dramatically, the company says.

The new facility will specialize in converting high-quality UHF (ultra high frequency) tags and is located near UPM Raflatac's US pressure-sensitive labelstock production facility. Raflatac and UPM Rafsec belong to UPM Labelstock Business. The investment is part of a $24 million investment program which, when fully implemented, will enable an annual capacity of one billion RFID tags. The new factory will begin operations in fourth quarter 2005.

"This investment will reinforce UPM Rafsec's leadership in the global RFID market. We estimate the demand for RFID tags to grow strongly especially in the US market," says Heikki Pikkarainen, president of UPM Labelstock Business. "At UPM Rafsec, we aim to be at the forefront of RFID market development by providing quality RFID tag products in large quantities."