If Duke, the talking Golden Retriever in those Bush's Baked Beans commercials, had been there, he'd surely have howled his approval as Surgoinsville, TN-based printer Mundet Tennessee won Best of the Best honors in the 2008 Golden Cylinder Awards from the Gravure Association of America (www.gaa.org).

Thirty-seven winning entries were recognized at the group's Sept. 10 awards ceremony. The past year's best examples of gravure capabilities in packaging, product, publications and supplier innovations were chosen.

Mundet Tennessee's entry for “Bush's Grillin' Beans” (above) was also submitted in the Paper Labels/Wrappers category. The converter used its 10-unit Bobst Schiavi (www.bobst-group.com) gravure press to apply process and logo colors, true metallic gold, high-gloss black, and matte and gloss varnishes; a foil stamp outlines the Bush logo. Labelstock from New Page (www.newpagecorp.com) was printed with Sun Chemical (www.sunchemical.com) inks.

Film Flexible Packaging: For the new “pop chips” package (right), Hong Kong's Mayor Packaging Enterprises (1968) Ltd. (www.mayor.com/hk) used an in-register matte varnish to achieve the matte look with registered glossy areas. Technicians provided sharp reproduction of the photos as well as precise registration for the matte varnish. At the last station of the 9-unit gravure press, operators had to accurately calculate the matte varnish to achieve the correct contrast of matte and glossy on the film surface.

Film Labels/ Wrappers: The Seal-It Div. of Atlanta-based Printpack (www.printpack.com) produced shrink labels for Agro Labs Naturally's line of nutraceutical beverages (left). Earthfirst® PLA film from Plastic Suppliers (www.plasticsuppliers.com) was printed in up to nine colors on a Bobst Rotomec gravure press. The process was praised by the judges for better ink consistency and resolution, higher-quality output, and better vignettes and process colors.

Paperboard: Packaging Corp. of America (www.packagingcorp.com) of Lake Forest, IL, printed the 15-lb Miracle-Gro folding carton (right) for customer Buddy's Plant Plus Corp. in a one-up image on a 52-in.-wide web on a Cerutti gravure press. Cylinders took anywhere from seven to 12 hours each to engrave. The complex image was printed in four fine-screen process colors, plus a metallic silver, match blue and water-based coating. The judges agreed that tight registration and color control ensured the impeccable detail and color balance on the package, adding the superiority and high quality of the gravure process are clearly evident in the design. MeadWestvaco (www.meadwestvaco.com) supplied the paperboard substrate that was printed with Sun Chemical inks.

Film Flexible Packaging: With a palette of match colors laid over a metallic substrate, detailed illustrations with multicolored lines and delicate vignettes, pouches (left) for Green Mountain Single Origin coffee were printed by Fres-Co System USA (www.fresco.com) of Telford, PA. The packaging, which consists of four separate films, including a plant-based layer replacing a polyester internal layer, achieves product protection, ease-of-opening, graphics presentation, and machinability on packaging equipment. It was reverse-printed in eight color with Siegwerk USA inks (www.siegwerk.com) on a Cerutti gravure press (www.cerutti.it).

Packaging Up to 26-in.-Web, Any Substrate: Letica Corp., which designed its promotional package (left) as a holiday gift for loyal customers, notes that the decorative label from Cincinnati-based converter Multi-Color Corp. (www.multicolorcorp.com) was applied using a Therimage® substrate in a flameless heat-transfer process. By eliminating the pre- and post-flame requirement, flameless preprinted labels allow for safe, economical decoration in a more eco-friendly way. The labels, offering good product resistance, UV-light stability, and compliance with packaging safety standards, were printed with polyamide-nitro, solvent-based gravure inks on a Bobst Champlain press.

Film Labels/ Wrappers: Decoration for bottles of Noble 100% Pure Tangerine Juice is a second example of PLA-based shrink-sleeve labels (left). Converted by SleeveCo., Inc. (www.sleeveco.com) of Dawsonville, GA, the Earthfirst label film matches the PLA-resin bottle and closure so that the entire container could be considered “compostable.” Gravure printing on a W.R. Chesnut Engineering (www.chesnuteng.com) press with Sun Chemical inks reproduced the lifelike tangerine images on the front and side of the label and created distinct delineations between text and graphics, said the judges. The amount of lettering required tight registration to make it legible; the bright colors complement the juice, which is visible through cutouts at the top of the label.

Packaging Technical Innovation: Hartsville, SC-based Sonoco (www.sonoco.com) developed its new SmartSeal™ technology to provide an innovative flexible structure with a built-in opening and reclosing feature, letting consumers avoid having to repackage the product to maintain its freshness (left). The SmartSeal technology uses a lamination of at least two flexible films in combination with pressure-sensitive adhesive and precision scoring. The bag's outer layer is gravure reverse-printed and laminated with p-s adhesive to an inner heat-sealable layer. The outer and inner layers are then precision scored in register to create the opening feature. When the outer layer is peeled back, a perimeter of p-s adhesive is exposed and used to reclose the package. The winning example, an Oreo-cookies wrapper for customer Kraft Foods, was printed on a Cerutti gravure press using Flint Group (www.na.flintgrp.com) inks.