The Converting Curmudgeon
The Converting Curmudgeon is a regular reality check into the true value of all that impacts the management and growth of your business.
Real recovery or more "cope and change?"
A TLMI-hosted Webinar Feb. 23 (with the above title) will look at the domino effect of economic downturns on everything from consumers to label and packaging printers’ operations. Set for 2 p.m. Eastern, the Webinar will feature printing-industry veteran Joe Webb as he discusses the economy and what lies ahead for manufacturers and consumers. He’ll will also present his forecasts and ...... Read More
Comments (0)Is live chat a good idea for your Website?
“Ask Max” is the newest addition to the customer services available on the Fife, Tidland and MAGPOWR Websites of web-handling components provider Maxcess Intl. From the three home pages, you can click on the link (shown below) and chat live with a company representative. Converters and package printers can get anything from a quick answer to an immediate question to information on pr ...... Read More
Comments (0)The nitty-gritty details on cool packages
Just returned from judging the 2010 AIMCAL Metallized & Coated Product competition, and once again, it was great getting into the nitty-gritty detail of the design and converting of the entries. Without naming names, here are descriptions of what I personally think were some of the cooler products. LEFT: AIMCAL competition entrants await judging. A drink-pouch SBS carton laminated with metalli ...... Read More
Comments (0)In the On Deck Circle
As we enjoy our January Thaw in Chicago (temps in the 30s), here are some of the stories you’ll see in this month’s print issue’s 2010 Machinery Applications Watch: OH-based Eclipse Film Technologies is a one-of-a-kind converter of MDO (machine-direction oriented) films that epitomize source reduction. Admiral Packaging retires an older flexographic press, replacing it with ...... Read More
Comments (0)Packaging M&As to rebound in 2010?
It’s clear that 2009 was another down year in terms of packaging-industry mergers and acquisitions due to a laundry list of reasons. BMO Capital Markets’ just-released 5th annual report, “Mergers and Acquisitions in the Packaging Industry: 2009 Annual Deal Review,” provides the nitty-gritty on our field’s M&A activity by sector, geography, acquirer type, size ...... Read More
Comments (0)Will light-emitting wallpaper replace light bulbs?
Coaters, laminators and other specialty-substrate converters: Listen up. Revolutionary light-emitting wallpaper could replace light bulbs in only two more years. The opportunities for new business in this breakthrough field are wide open. That’s the claim of UK start-up company LOMOX, Ltd., which says its OLED materials can be coated onto thin films and used to cover walls, creating light-e ...... Read More
Comments (0)A meal on an envelope
Remember when envelope adhesive came in only one flavor: glue. Then came minty ones. Now, thanks to J&D’s MMMvelopes,™ you can enjoy the taste of freshly fried bacon the next time you need to mail out those pesky mortgage or utility (or in my case, college-loan) payments. From the same innovators who brought the world BaconSalt, the mailers not only look like bacon and come in a ...... Read More
Comments (0)How Green Was My UK Trip
Having finally recovered from the longest jetlag ever (I was still waking up at 3 AM for four days), I think I’m coherent enough now to comment a little on my recent trip to England and Scotland. We visited our older daughter, Carina, for her Master’s degree commencement at the University of Manchester, before touring that city, Edinburgh and London. Understatement No. 1: The British ...... Read More
Comments (0)The greening of converting
To be in the package-printing and converting field today and not have a good understanding of the ins and outs of sustainability is to be hopelessly behind the curve. If that comment sounds a little insulting to you, good, because for the future of your business, being green must become as important a part of what you do every day as just about everything else. Not an afterthought, not a “m ...... Read More
Comments (1)How Procter & Gamble will use printed electronics in their packaging
P&G principal scientist Kenneth McGuire gave attendees at last week’s Printed Electronics USA event an inside look at some of the consumer-electronics applications that the global CPG company is investigating for its products and packaging…many of which will used flexible printed electronics (PE) and OLEDs, among other things. PE will create new markets for P&G to tap, he sai ...... Read More
Comments (0)What printed-electronics leaders are working on now
I had lunch Wed. with two leaders on the bleeding edge of tomorrow’s printed-electronics products and applications. During Printed Electronics USA in San Jose, CA, I met with both Intel research scientists Yuri Sylvester and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) senior director of business development John Knights. PARC, a recent spin-off of Xerox, is working with DARPA (the US Defense Advanced ...... Read More
Comments (1)It's not your father's twinkling gift card anymore
Printed Electronics USA starts Tuesday, and I’m looking forward to another preview of the coolest gadgets and energy-harvesting components made possible by tomorrow’s flexible, printed electronics and photovoltaics. This technology is truly a new market for coaters, laminators, narrow-web printers and other converters. According to conference organizer IDTechEx, more than 2,250 organ ...... Read More
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