San Antonio, Texas The sessions at this year's FFTA Forum 99 were packed with attendees as they sharpened their skills on everything flexo from digital prepress technology to color management to economics. Presentations made by DuPont, BarcoGraphics and PCC Artwork Systems concentrated on dot gain, advanced screening technologies and digital flexo.

Other sessions focused specifically on folding carton and corrugated. The corrugated session speakers included David Setzer of Borden Chemical, Lee Grantham of Mark-Trece Inc., Joe Schlinkert of Borden Chemical, Gerhard Eherding of VIP International, and Gregg Diethorn of SUN Automation. Subjects of the session included improving the printability of liners, coating recycled liners for value-added graphics and improving print quality through equipment retrofits.

Folding carton sessions included presentations by Flint Ink, MacDermid Inc., Perrigo Co., Eltromat Electronics, Kidder Inc. and Stork Cellramic.

According to one presentation by Susan O'Bryan Kenney of DuPont Cyrel(R) Packaging Graphics, packaging buyers are "recognizing flexo quality is improving rapidly," and "looking for consistency in print quality." Her research, attributed to a PIA/Gamis report, indicated an increase in flexo market share for folding cartons of 20% from 1996 to the year 2000, and an increase of 5% over the same year period for corrugated. She predicts opportunities for flexo growth in both corrugated and niche sub-segments.

Other positive changes for the industry were evidenced in a survey presented in the Forum 99 opening session. Survey information on anilox rolls provided attendees with updated information from 1989 to the current year. Respondents indicated an increase of 44% in the use of ceramic surfaces in wide web applications, and an increase of 23% in pre-print applications. The average changeover time for preprint applications was 45 minutes in 1989 and 26 minutes now. In wide web applications, changeover time was 56 minutes; today it is 17 minutes.