Your future may be digital

Mark Spaulding: Editor in Chief -- Converting Magazine, 4/1/2001

Where will you be June 6 and 7? For the future of your company, the answer should be at the "Digital Printing for Packaging" conference, sponsored by Pira Intl. and Cahners Printing, Packaging and Converting Group.

Digital printing is ready to significantly impact the packaging industry. This two-day event at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont, Ill., will offer a comprehensive look at digital technology and its effect on packaging, package printing and the converting business overall.

We've gathered a host of industry leaders to present their insights and real-world experiences. I'll be chairing the first day's session, and Mike Hancock, managing director of Pira Intl. will chair the second day. Joseph W. Webb, a partner with our publishing group's research arm TrendWatch, will moderate the entire program, lending his unique ability to stir up the audience with lively Q & As.

Keynoting the conference is Mary Ann Falkman, editor-in-chief of our sister publication Packaging Digest. Along with examples of commercial applications of digital printing, Mary Ann will report on exclusive research by PD and Converting into how packagers are using digital print and what future opportunities they see for it.

Day One is devoted mostly to how brand owners and packaging buyers (your customers) are using digital printing. Bob Scherer, president of converter CL & D Digital, highlights this topic. His company was one of the first to use digital printing back in 1995 to help customers produce labels and flex packs.

Next up is a parade of end users including pharmaceutical-maker Eli Lilly, medical-device packager Johnson & Johnson and consumer-products giant Philip Morris. The special challenges for and probable future requirements of drug packagers will be detailed. Henry Dante, senior staff engineer for Philip Morris, will describe the development of a real-time, online digital-printing system and its implementation at his company.

Day Two is the converters' chance to shine. David Patterson, commercial director for U.K.-based folding-carton printer ADS Graphics, will illustrate his digital experience and its future role in the market. How to generate demand for digitally-printed packaging while ensuring a proper ROI will be the lesson provided by Stuart Martin, marketing manager for Simpson Label Co. And Phil Edwards, president of digital printing technology for converter Fort Dearborn, will explain the benefits of using e-commerce to optimize workflow. He should know: Fort Dearborn has five (count 'em, five) digital presses currently in operation.

A look ahead at tomorrow's digital-print technology through the eyes of suppliers Xeikon, Digital Print, Mark Andy, Spectra, Belcom North America and Indigo wraps up the conference.

You can't afford not to be on the cutting edge of digital printing. So, check out the conference's Web site at www.digitalpackagingconference.com, register online, or call 888/901-1397, and we'll see you there this summer.