Ever since a Chinese court official named Ts'ai-Lun invented paper (not papyrus) back in 105 A.D., scientists, engineers, printers and end users have made improvements to this ubiquitous manufacturing material. One of the latest in that long line of innovators is Vancouver, WA-based converter Portco Packaging.

Portco's contribution to the advancement of paper isn't so much the paper itself as its beautification via high-quality flexographic printing and its application to flexible packaging. "We made a conscious effort five years ago to really focus on paper as our primary substrate," explains Portco president Macy Wall. "We thought—from a contrarian standpoint—there was a real opportunity in paper that was not being properly served. We look back now and see that in this market, there's way too much capacity in film."

Founded in 1929 as a twisted-paper handlemaker for carryout grocery bags, Portco produced everything over the years from Hula Hoops to swimming pool covers to extruded plastic pipes. Today, Portco has returned to its roots in paper converting, specializing in printed rollstock, tissue/towel overwraps, and multiwall bagmaking for the prepared food, building products, fresh potato and nursery markets. It serves customers primarily in the Pacific Northwest as well as California and western Canada.

"One of the things we have to offer our customers here is quick turnaround that they can't get from suppliers in other parts of the country," Wall says. "People don't want to wait for shipments to arrive from Minnesota or Missouri."

"Here on the West Coast, there's also a real focus on organic food products," adds sales manager Linda Malmstadt, "and a lot of organic food companies want to see their products packaged in sustainable resources like paper."

To meet these demands for rapid turnarounds (and the shorter runs of numerous SKUs that every converter nationwide is facing), Portco Packaging has made several changes lately. Last fall, it opened a new 50,000-sq-ft facility in Toppenish, WA (near Yakima), focusing on bagmaking. That site houses one 4-color stack press, now retrofitted with a PCMC eXtreme dryer (www.pcmc.com). It removed an existing sheeter from its headquarters' plant in Vancouver, so that the space could be used for printing.

That emphasis is illustrated by Portco's January 2005 installation of a new Comexi FB2108 gearless CI-flexo press (www.comexi.com). The 56-in., 8-color sleeved press is teamed with a BST Pro Mark Genius video web-inspection system (www.bstpromark.com) and a Melme Sistemas (Spain) ink concentration controller for high-level color management, auto-registration and print quality. The press also employs Tidland shafts and Performance knifeholders for in-line slitting (www.tidland.com) and Fife Polaris DP-20 web guides (www.fife.com).

Originally, managers looked at in-line presses for their fast changeover capabilities, says vice president Bryan Williamson, but web widths were too narrow for the vast majority of Portco's customers. "That led us to the sleeved, gearless CI presses to run multiple impressions across the web," he says.

"We purchased the Comexi based on a growing demand for increasing graphics and print quality requirements along with speed-to-shelf," says Wall. "It provides reduced setup, lower waste, consistent run-to-run quality and the ability to print finer line screens. Because there aren't many people focused on using paper as their primary substrate, we find that we know something about it now. It takes some special talents that aren't necessarily being developed today."

Portco meets the quality challenge of flexo printing on paper through a variety of methods, including close working relationships with vendors. "We partner with vendors that are very savvy in the flexographic industry," says production manager Rich Castillo. "We deal with people out there that can bring what they learn to the table for us here."

Trials held earlier this year had the aim of helping Portco move its current flexo-on-paper standard higher. Pamarco 900-line-screen anilox rolls (www.pamarcoglobal.com) were tested to reach 150-line-screen printing while maintaining good ink density. "Achieving repeatability from beginning to end is a challenge that most film printers don't face because of the surface tensions and the surfaces of what they're running," explains Castillo. "We run from 17 lb. tissue to 80 lb. kraft paper. Ink density is everything on an open [uncoated] sheet."

Further strengthening its commitment to quality printing, Portco in-stalled an automated ink mixing and dispensing system from Southeastern Process Equipment & Controls (www.spec-inc.com) in February 2005. The 24-valve arrangement, using Sun Chemical inks (www.sunchemical.com), helps Portco achieve "a world of difference through standardization in color matching," Castillo says.

For Portco, the future of flexo-printed paper looks promising. Sales growth has been running 10–15 percent a year, and managers foresee a 25-percent increase in 2006. "As poly prices continue to increase, we may see more packaging in paper," says Williamson.

"I think there's some technical work to be done," adds Wall. "Meanwhile, there's a lot of business in paper that we haven't even touched yet. For a company our size, there's plenty of room for growth."