Adjusting to the harsh reality of a prolonged economic downturn, companies have had to brace for the uncertainty by taking extraordinary measures in their operations. These have included reducing R&D and marketing budgets, delaying or cancelling new equipment acquisitions, slashing benefits & salaries, and ultimately reducing the size of the workforce. With millions of people still unemployed or underemployed, (and more facing long-term unemployment than even during the Great Depression), the effects ripple throughout every segment of the economy. You cannot watch a newscast without hearing stories of rampant mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures sending home values spiraling and financial institutions reeling. The travel, recreation, and restaurant industries limp along, while auto sales have yet to show significant signs of improvement. The Federal government faces possible shutdown, while State budgets are stretched to the breaking point from reduced revenues and increased demand for services.
With countless suppliers drastically scaling back inventories, printed newspapers in decline, and written correspondence being rapidly supplanted by electronic, the print industry has been anything but immune. And while optimism abounds about the eventual recovery, that optimism has yet to fully transition into confidence. There are signs of improvement: presses being sold, orders picking up, and the glaring realization that it is time to replace some of the talent lost in the economic whirlwind. In many cases, companies’ attempts to cut the fat, ended up going far deeper. For those who survived the cuts (this time), pressure to continually do more with less and uneasiness about the security of their own positions (or that of their family members), has led to anxiety, increased stress and plummeting job satisfaction.
Do you feel like a balloon that is ready to pop? Do you liken your job to being a rubber band pulled so hard and in so many directions that you are about to snap? If you rush from one critical situation to another with cell phones in each hand and a beeper on your belt, it is a good possibility that you are so focused on fighting fires that you miss the bigger picture.
If you can’t always see the forest for the trees, you should have been at the December meeting of the FTA Great Lakes Group. Held at Fox Valley Technical College’s Bordini Center, the speakers went to great lengths to put things into perspective for the audience. What is important to be successful? What does it take to gain a competitive advantage? How do you drive out waste, improve quality, and reduce make-readies? How do you prevent the fires from starting in the first place? How do you make a significant positive environmental impact? How do you satisfy your customers so they keep coming back?
Seeing the plate for the dots
For Tim Reece of All Printing Resources, a key to consistent repeatable print quality is consistent plate quality. Plate quality results from interaction of processing variables including exposure, washout or dry removal times, post exposure and detack. Rather than fighting with the system by guessing, Tim advocates using the clues you are given to diagnose what went wrong and how to fix it. Those clues are measurable quality indicators such as:
- · plate thickness and relief
- · dot size and uniformity,
- · box ratio (height of dots divided by width – ideal ratio is 1:1 with +/-10% tolerance, while a 1.2:1 ratio indicates elongation or a slurred dot)
- · circularity (pixilation vs. smoothness of the radius – ideally .9 to 1.1)
- · dot and area % (physical and optical dot size) – A discrepancy of more than 2% indicates an ink transfer problem.
- · plate hardness
To control these characteristics, you need to be able to measure them. Everything typically starts with a visual inspection of the plates or print samples. Aided by a loupe or scope, the human eye identifies any obvious red flags that indicate a potential issue. At that point, it is time to break out the tools of the trade.
A black and white transmissive densitometer used in laser set-up insures it is operating at peak performance. Laser setup is based on several factors: plate thickness, focal length, type and reflectivity of the black mask material, cleanliness of the lens and aggressiveness of the laser. Using a loupe and the human eye, a visual inspection of a 50% Euclidean screen shows a perfect checkerboard effect. If the laser is running with too much power or the drum is turning too slow, the laser ablates more material than you want. In this scenario, a 10% dot will be much larger than a 10% dot. If, on the other hand, the laser is running at too low of a power setting or the drum is rotating too fast, the laser will not ablate away enough material and the 10% dot will be smaller than desired. Tim recommends verification of laser performance on a weekly basis.
Micrometers measure plate thickness and relief. Variation in plate thickness or variation from standard points to a probable drying issue. Excessive relief (as indicated in the box ratio) results in slurred dots (particularly fine highlights) as the shoulders do not properly support the peaks. The plate analyzer measures box ratio, circularity, dot percentage, etc.
Plate relief is important for several reasons. It is desirable to have a deeper plate relief for solids than screens. You may want significant plate relief such as .03 if you are running solids with reversed out type. If, on the other hand, you are imaging a screen, you want less relief to insure proper support for the highlights.
Measuring raw material insures it is consistent in thickness across a given plate. You may also want to measure it because the material is subject to normal process variation from batch to batch. Material that comes in at .068 thickness may be labeled as .067 material. If it comes in to your facility at .068, that is its optimum thickness. That tells you that when it comes out of the drier at .068, it is properly dried. Additional drying at this point only wastes time and could be detrimental to the plate material. Material that comes in at .066 would not be properly dried at .067 and would require additional drying time.
Handheld micrometers are cheap, but hard to use and direct contact can affect the reading. A bench micrometer is limited to the distance of the throat so cannot take readings across a wide plate. An optical micrometer is non-contact, but is more expensive and accuracy is subject to operator variation.
Plate analyzers are useful in measuring dot quality, which has become much more important as digital imaging has begun to proliferate. The flat top dot is much easier to measure than a rounded or pointed top of a digitally imaged plate. As such, the defaults for instruments measuring dot area are not in agreement. Tim says that if you have multiple locations, it is more importation to be consistent than precise because you are not going to have inter-instrument agreement so he encourages use of the same type of devise in all facilities.
Plate analyzers don’t measure plate thickness and relief and they can’t tell you if you exposure units are set up or operating properly or if plates are properly exposed. What they will so is measure dot size and determine if those dots are uniform. If there is less than 10% standard deviation of the dot size, the plate is considered to be good. If there is more than 10% deviation in dot size on the print, you can work back from plate to mask to file in order to identify where the issue is occurring. Once identified, you can make adjustments to laser power or drum speed, or simply clean the lens. Plate analyzers also identify circularity issues. For instance, good circularity on the plate that does not show up in the print indicates a dirty plate or an ink transfer issue that could result from inadequate drying, unbalanced driers, or inadequate detack.
A durometer gauge measures the hardness of the plate. Durometer readings affect how the material prints: impression, halo, ink release capabilities, the hardness , durability and tackiness of the plate, as well as the affinity of the plate to pick up the ink and its ability to release it. UV-A and UC-C light meters take measurements to insure proper crosslinking of monomers, elimination of tackiness, and to compensate for declining bulb efficiency over time.
UV-A meters insure proper operation of UV-A lamps for optimum crosslinking of monomers so plates hold up to long pressruns. Reduced output can be compensated for with added exposure time. UV-C meters verify the performance of UV-C lamps to insure they properly remove tackiness.
Armed with readings from each of these measurement instruments, the operator is no longer shooting in the dark. Readings provide clues to the source of problems. Adjustments made on a timely basis reduce make-ready waste, defective finished product and unnecessary premature replacement of plates.
Seeing print from the CPC’s perspective
To give a point of reference for what is important today, Allen Marquardt from Kimberly Clark Corp. put it into a historical perspective. Thinking back just ten years, virtually everything was analog with either a round AM or FM dot. Presses were running fast if they got up around 900 fpm. 6-8 hours was pretty routine for a changeover. 133 line screens were cutting edge and “light – standard – dark” press approvals were common.
Just ten short years later, digital is everywhere. Dots have taken on many new shapes with plate screens often exceeding 175/in. Presses can exceed 3000 fpm although they rarely approach those speeds in production.
Oh, and one other little detail, the spectrophotometer has replaced the human eye for critical color control. It is amazing how far we have come in such a short time. Gone are the days of eyeballing the color as the human eye is an inaccurate judge of color. The press-side “Dixie cup magic” has been replaced with agreed upon color specs verified by a color measurement device.
Even the mechanical systems have improved dramatically. With cartridge style press stations, rail systems and cantilevered sleeve mounting systems, it is now possible to be setting up the next job while the current one is still running. Robotics reduce setup time and allow for a safer, faster and quieter pressroom. Automated color control is being combined with vision systems to insure proper impression and registration, and identify defects on the fly. We have even gotten to the point where reactive spectrophotometers are stationed on-press and linked to auto-feedback and adjustment mechanisms. All of these help reduce setup times from hours to minutes, while improving consistency and driving out waste.
There is no doubt that the pace of change is quickening. It makes you wonder where we will be in another ten years. But while we are enamored with all of this technology, Allen is quick to point out that we cannot overlook the fundamentals. While presses may be to the point that they almost run themselves, there still exists a critical need for a highly skilled, well trained workforce. To avoid what he sees as degradation of print on the shelf, we have to stave off the erosion of technical understanding in our organizations. Training is crucial, especially when the top press operators are promoted up the ladder. As operators are replaced, there is all too often an erosion of technical understanding in the “backfill of talent”. New operators don’t understand how to troubleshoot graphics and that lack of understanding shows up in the print.
Allen said he would rather work with a company that has well trained talent even if their equipment is thirty years old than someone with brand new state-of-the-art equipment loaded with all the bells and whistles, but operators who don’t understand the process and know how to troubleshoot graphic issues. When you are “pushing the limits of physics”, which everyone seems to be doing these days, you can’t afford to have the operators’ understanding limited to where the start button is located. If the goal is to get more ink down faster with better placement control, (and getting it to dry without plugging up plates or anilox), using front and back print on multiple layers with built-in security features and so on, the way to achieve that goal is through training.
If the goal is simply to put down the correct amount of ink predictably and repeatedly, you need to “run by the numbers”. Allen strongly advocates implementation and adherence to the Flexographic Technical Association’s FIRST (Flexographic Image Reproduction Standards and Tolerances) program as a means to faster setups, reduced waste and greater consistency.
Speaking as the voice of the customer, Allen puts it quite eloquently, but succinctly when he says he is not impressed when print shops rush to ‘look busy’ making adjustments on press when he walks in. He is impressed when he asks the operator specifics about press settings and spectro readings and the operator knows the answers. He would rather see the press running in control with a knowledgeable staff sweeping the floors to keep busy. It is simple. If you ever needed a perspective on what’s important to your customers, Allen nailed it in 13 words: “I come in with a signed proof. You match it. I buy it”.
A perspective on sustainability
While waste reduction was an integral component of Allen and Tim’s presentations, sustainability involves more than reducing waste. It also involves doing something productive with the waste that is generated. By finding new uses for waste materials, they are diverted from landfills and become a renewable source of raw materials. With everyone focused on sustainability, the trend is for brand owners to place more and more pressure for sustainability throughout on every part of the supply chain. From processes to products to facilities, sustainability is integral to the way business is being conducted.
While there certainly is a focus on reducing energy consumption, the fact is that energy use in the United States is growing by 12700 megawatts per year. A megawatt used to be adequate to fuel about 1000 homes, but as energy intensity has grown with more computers and electronic devises in use, a megawatt is now only able to supply about 800 homes. With demand growing on such a massive scale, incredible pressure is placed on the energy industry to respond.
When weighing options for energy solutions to meet growing demand, there are several factors to consider. You need to look at cost, (i.e. coal is cheap, natural gas fluctuates and renewable (solar/wind) are high priced for the energy realized). You need to consider social acceptability (coal rates poorly due to environmental ramifications, nuclear has safety and waste byproduct issues, whereas solar and wind are viewed as positive for the environment). A third issue is renewability.
Rolando Sanz-Guerrero of Greenwood Fuels, says there is no “silver bullet” to meet this huge demand curve. Keeping up with growing energy demand requires multiple solutions. One partial solution is to generate power from the waste byproducts of the printing industry. When coated, treated and laminated papers and films, as well as matrix waste is formed into fuel pellets, these materials have adequate density to produce power comparable to that achieved from burning coal. The pellets are a renewable source of energy for commercial and municipal facilities that complies with stringent air quality regulations, burns cleaner than coal, and requires no major retrofit to burn in coal-fired equipment.
In the US, we burn 1.2 billion tons of coal per year. While fuel pellets will not replace the coal, they are a great way to supplement coal energy and use materials otherwise destined for landfills. Calvin Frost, CEO of Channeled Resources, said his plant in Marathon County generates nearly 1000 tons per month of “byproduct” (fuel pellets) and the company is 98.5% landfill free.
Dave Robinson, also of the Channeled Resources Group says that recycling of print byproducts has been going on for many years through a combination of landfill avoidance, reclamation of non-recyclable coated, treated and laminated papers and films, and release liner recycling (either through traditional recycling methods where it is ground up and repulped or rewound and reused). Matrix waste is a major component in fuel pellet production as the adhesive materials help bind the pellets together while the paper products produce good amounts of heat energy. Other materials include pressure sensitive paper, poly-coated paper, polypropylene, polyethylene and polyester films, packaging materials and non-woven products, as well as waste paper, carbon paper, tapes and other materials. Materials typically come in compacted or bailed. All materials are tested for qualification purposes looking at btus, metals and sulfur content, and elimination of materials that would give off chlorine.
The primary suppliers for the pellet raw materials are label and flexible packaging producers. Dave said the printers do pay a dumping fee similar to what they would pay at a landfill, but they are diverting material from the landfill and generating a renewable energy source. He said the cost for transporting the material to Greenwood Fuels depends on the distance it needs to be hauled. For those companies near a Greenwood facility, recycling is either cost-neutral or slightly cheaper than disposal. He said, though, that for printers/converters that use this approach, the benefit comes as a differentiator and selling point in their being able to state in the context of a sales presentation, that their company diverted (for example) 100,000 pounds of waste material from the landfill to renewable energy in a given month. This is a great alternative for people that are already paying to get rid of these materials, but with an unsustainable approach. As landfill costs continue to rise, and pressure for sustainability continues to grow, clean fuel will become an even better choice.
As Chairman of the FTA Great Lakes Group, it is a pleasure to put these meetings together. I would like to personally thank our speakers. Each meeting, we are privileged to hear from some of the top experts in the flexographic industry. I would also like to thank our hosts, in this case Fox Valley Technical College, for providing such fine facilities for our meetings. We greatly appreciate our food sponsor, Actega-WIT, and the door prizes provided by Harper Corporation of America, Flint Group, All Printing Resources, Mekelburg Consulting LLC, D.J. Lanska and Associates LLC, Tesa Tape, MacDermid, and the FTA. Your contributions made for another enjoyable, entertaining and informative holiday event.
