LPI, New Berlin, Wisconsin, a provider of custom packaging and graphic finishing solutions and part of the S. Walter Packaging Group, has announced an agreement to expand significantly its high-end digital packaging and enhancement capabilities with the purchase of multiple large-format presses that will be the first of their size in North America. LPI has partnered with Park Afek, Rosh Ha’Ayin, Israel-based Scodix to purchase the Scodix Ultra 6000 Digital Enhancement Presses, the first of which will be installed at LPI’s New Berlin location in July 2021.

The announcement comes as more companies look to distinguish their brands with distinctive packaging solutions that include custom high-end enhancements and finishes. LPI’s expanded capabilities with the new presses allow for more highly detailed, short run and data-variable personalized projects with tactile applications such as embossing, foil, metallic effects, glitter and specialty finishes. A key advantage offered by this advanced technology is a large-format press that can accommodate 29 x 41-inch sheet sizes.

Mike Draver, senior vice president and general manager for LPI, said being able to offer digital enhancement at a 41-inch sheet size creates a viable solution for customers to experiment with different graphic and variable imaging techniques to enhance their marketing and brand equity. As a Safe Quality Food-certified facility, LPI also values the increased compatibility for its food-based markets and customers.

For more information, visit www.lpipossibilities.com.

The Association for PRINT Technologies (APTech), Reston, Virginia, has announced that registration is open for its new master class, “Master the Art of Selling.” The second course in APTech’s new-for-2021 Master Class series, the six-week course is a high-impact sales coaching program for companies and professionals in the printing industry who need to learn or refresh their sales performance and expertise. The class begins May 19, 2021, and runs through June 23 with one live session per week. Participants also can opt to include customized one-on-one sales coaching to complement the virtual class sessions.

“Master the Art of Selling” includes weekly live classes and coaching option with Leslie Groene, president of Groene Consulting. Groene’s roots are in the printing industry in Southern California, and she consults with leading companies across the country in diverse industries with sales teams that may be underperforming, missing top-line revenue or other goals, and need to strengthen their skill sets.

The six-week master class covers everything sales teams should fully master to create a powerful, collaborative and successful sales operation:

• Week 1 – Goal Setting and Building Your Success Plan
• Week 2 – Adapting Your Selling Style
• Week 3 – Relationship Selling
• Week 4 – Prospecting Planning and Execution
• Week 5 – Overcoming Objections and Closing
• Week 6 – Selling Tools and How to Effectively Use Them

Each session is interactive, with plenty of opportunity for live discussion and answers to questions. This course’s target audience includes commercial printers, manufacturers, suppliers and service providers. Attendees will leave this course with an actionable knowledge base, the right skill sets and an understanding of the goals that they should be working towards for each area of the sales organization.

The one-on-one sales coaching opportunity allows the sales rep to focus on identifying key accounts, creating account strategies and developing effective selling cycles. Groene anchors the sessions to the participant’s most important current opportunities. She builds their disciplines, skill sets and knowledge in whatever sequence will have the greatest impact for that individual. She will equip each individual with the skills to deal with complex environments, demanding customers and high-value opportunities. The six coaching sessions will be conducted at mutually agreed-upon scheduled times and last 30-minutes each.

APTech President Thayer Long said APTech is delighted to provide this opportunity for print businesses to experience the benefits that Groene’s expert coaching can bring to their sales operations and, ultimately, to their bottom lines. APTech encourages companies to invite their leadership and anyone involved in the sales process to attend this course, which is essential for any organization that wants to maximize its sales operations.

Groene said this course will build a foundation that will help salespeople understand their sales goals, perform better and master the right skill sets for their job.

The registration fee is $399 for APTech members and $499 for nonmembers for the full six-week master class. A discount also is available for multiple class seats for people from the same company. Email Julie Shaffer at jshaffer@aptech.org about this offer.

The one-on-one, private individual sales coaching opportunity offers six private coaching sessions via online interface, along with the class, and is available for members at $999 (master class + coaching) and $1,249 for nonmembers (master class + coaching).

For more information and to register for the “Master the Art of Selling,” visit www.bigmarker.com/series/aptech-master-art-of-selling/series_summit.

Muller Martini, Zofingen, Switzerland, a supplier of postpress finishing equipment, has introduced five machines and is set to showcase them at Printing Expo ready for virtual.drupa. The company has designed a large two-story showroom to accommodate its state-of-the-art equipment, plus a hospitality suite where visitors can learn more.

The additional machines include a Sigma Line III digital book block solution, an Alegro perfect binder and a Publica Pro perfect binder, a Ventura MC 160 sewing machine and a Diamant MC Digital bookline.

Adrian Mayr, head of project management and corporate marketing, said Printing Expo’s virtual exhibition is giving the company a unique platform to showcase its latest machines. Everyone is looking for new ways to communicate, and Muller Martini is convinced the company benefits most from a mix of physical and online interaction with its audiences. The Printing Expo platform can showcase machines to the widest audience. Muller Martini’s participation in Printing Expo’s 3D visual browsing experience is already having a positive impact on its business, according to company officials. The demand for customization and personalized printed products is driving interest in the company’s latest range of finishing equipment.

Muller Martini worked with Printing Expo’s design team to create the showroom. The company’s 3D graphics have been rendered on a “real world” scale into the Printing Expo space. Visitors will find Muller Martini’s latest machines plus detailed information on the technical capabilities of the equipment.

Muller Martini’s ultimate goal is to present a complete product portfolio online. For more than 70 years, the company has provided machines and system solutions to the graphic arts industries. It is renowned for its high-quality engineering and innovation and its continuing development of new systems to meet the ever-changing market requirements.

Wayne Beckett, event director, said Muller Martini’s success at Printing Expo is an example of the benefits of taking the broad overview of all the possibilities at this time. Companies that see the advantage of utilizing virtual, as well as physical, resources to market themselves and engage with their audience are benefiting from continual engagement. Printing Expo was not designed to replace live events but to complement them. Beckett added that Printing Expo is seen as an ongoing opportunity for companies to invest in a digital asset that can be used for their own digital marketing campaigns, like virtual.drupa.

For more information, visit www.printing-expo.online.

RadTech, the nonprofit for UV/EB technology, has announced the winners of the 2021 RadLaunch Awards, which will be presented during an Awards Zoom Program, 3-4 p.m. EDT on April 28, 2021.

In addition to recognizing four RadLaunch winners, the judges offered a special Unique New Technology Award to recognize a potentially disruptive formative composites process.

The Awards Zoom Program, moderated by Darryl Boyd, US Naval Research Laboratory, and Mike Idacavage, Radical Curing LLC, is supported by RadTech members, its sponsors and RadLaunch platinum sponsor Azul 3D, and will feature short presentations by each award winner.

2021 RadLaunch Award Winners

Biomass Derived Chromophores for Radiation Curing
Prof. Jayaraman Sivaguru et al., Bowling Green State University, and Gregory Carroll, Ph.D., NRC Senior Research Associate at the Air Force Research Laboratory

The vibrant colors that enhance Nature’s elegance play a critical role in various chemical and biological processes. Translating these colors, which are dictated by the presence of chromophores, to curing technology is challenging as it requires rational manipulation of excited-state properties.

Jayaraman Sivaguru, Ph.D., the Antonia and Marshall Wilson Professor of Chemistry and Associate Director, Center for Photochemical Sciences, at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, is leading the effort in collaboration with Gregory Carroll, Ph.D., NRC Senior Research Associate at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Sruthy Baburaj, graduate student at Bowling Green and Sheila Asiago, PhD candidate at Bowling Green, as they explore translating biomass derived compounds that can be fine-tuned for radiation curing with both UV and visible light.

The biomass derived compounds are fine-tuned to feature photochemical properties superior to the conventional compounds featuring similar chromophores. Sivaguru’s team is working on translating these novel biomass derived compounds as curing systems with high efficiency.

Mighty Buildings

A construction technology company based in Oakland, California, Mighty Buildings is innovating the construction industry by creating beautiful, affordable and sustainable homes using 3D printing, advanced materials and robotics automation. Co-founders Alexey Dubov, Sam Ruben, Slava Solonitsyn and Dmitry Starodubtsev aim to unlock productivity in construction by combining 3D printing and prefab, making construction more sustainable, efficient and affordable.

The company’s large-scale 3D printers use a proprietary thermoset composite material that the co-founders invented, Light Stone Material (LSM), that can be 3D printed and that hardens almost immediately thanks to a UV-curing process, while also maintaining cohesion between layers to create a monolithic structure. LSM is four times lighter than concrete, has a high thermal resistance and is watertight, sturdy and fire resistant. This 3D printing technology allows Mighty Buildings to produce modular houses and building components much faster than traditional construction.

Mighty Buildings has a near-zero waste production process, preventing 1,100 – 2,000 kg of CO2 emission per 3D printed home. Committed to achieving Net-Zero by 2028, the company is 22 years ahead of the construction industry. Certified under California’s Factory Built Housing program to build units using 3D printing, the company is the first company to achieve certification under the UL 3401 standard for evaluating building structures and assemblies. Mighty Buildings is backed by notable international and Silicon Valley tech investors, including Khosla Ventures, Zeno Ventures and Y Combinator.

3D Printed Ceramic Resins
Tethon 3D

Tethon 3D, Omaha, Nebraska, manufactures universal UV photocurable ceramic resins that are used in numerous SLA, DLP and other vat polymerization 3D printers, and has an R&D facility that formulates custom additive manufacturing UV curable materials. Executive chairperson Karen Linder, Trent Allen, CEO and Gregory Pugh, CTO, lead the company to produce high quality ceramic materials for diverse industrial, consumer and design industries.

With over 1,000 customers in 40 countries, Tethon 3D serves clients in aerospace, electronics, defense, energy, biomedical and other industries that desire the physical properties of ceramics and the complex geometries made possible by 3F printing.

The company also sells a desktop DLP 3D printer optimized for highly viscous and/or opaque photopolymer composites, including ceramics and metals, and Tethon 3D offers proprietary resins for this printer. Tethon 3D accepts contracted service R&D projects to develop a variety of custom UV curable materials.

Multi-Color Visible Light Additive Manufacturing
Prof. Zachariah Page et al., University of Texas at Austin

A limitation to using high-energy UV/violet light in additive manufacturing is that degradation and attenuation narrow the scope of materials which can be used. While tapping visible light can open the door to more materials – including biological compounds, nanocomposites and materials with multiple structures – the photochemistry required for visible light has had unacceptably slow reaction times.

The research team led by Zachariah A. Page, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin, is developing high resolution stereolithographic 3D printing using different colors of low energy visible light to rapidly solidify resins. Key to the research is the team’s formulation of panchromatic photopolymer resins.

Utilizing visible light will enable “spectral control” – the ability to dictate the chemical reaction that occurs by the color of incident light used. This color-specificity provides the foundation for multicolor additive manufacturing (McAM) that will facilitate the fabrication of multi-material objects with unprecedented precision and functionality.

Unique New Technology Award

E-Beam X-Ray Cured Carbon Fiber Composites
Dan Montoney, Rapid Cure Technologies, and Anthony Berejka, Ionicorp+

The RadLaunch Unique New Technology Award will be presented to Dan Montoney, Rapid Cure Technologies, East Syracuse, New York, and Anthony Berejka, Ionicorp+, Huntington, New York, for their work developing and testing X-ray cured carbon fiber composites. Their work was supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

It has been shown that X-rays generated by high powered electron beam accelerators (already used for decontamination of mail for the US Postal Service since 2002 and for medical device sterilization) can efficiently convert (meth)acrylate formulations commonly used in radiation curable coatings into functional cured matrices for carbon fiber composites, notably as used in automotive components.

This use of high intensity X-rays was found to be more energy efficient in curing carbon fiber reinforced composites than commonly used thermal curing. By being non-thermal, this treatment permits the use of less-expensive molds and also eliminates issues that arise from thermal expansion-contraction during curing. X-rays were even shown to cure through embedded metal, permitting the fabrication of hybrid items with metal inserts, such as potentially hinges for composite doors or trunk lids.

To register to join in as the Emerging Technology Award winners are introduced and celebrated at 3 p.m. EDT on April 28, 2021, visit https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86886012865.

ITW Foils, with US headquarters in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and ITW Thermal Films, with US headquarters in Chicago Heights, Illinois, have united under one brand name, ITW ShineMark. Previously entwined with other ITW businesses in the Specialty Films Division, these two complementary global businesses were partitioned into their own division in 2020. The pairing allows ShineMark to more effectively serve the decorative and functional needs of the packaging, labeling and coding industries with foils, films, laminations and thermal ribbons. The new tagline, “Impressions that Last,” underscores the high-quality stamping and marking solutions offered to the market.

With full commitment from Illinois Tool Works and 75+ years of foils and TTR expertise, the ITW ShineMark Division has been investing in global facilities, equipment, personnel, training and R+D. This intensification is reflected in a pipeline of innovative and sustainable products. Likewise, a number of strategic alliances in converting and distribution have extended the portfolio reach.

Division VP and General Manager Barry Dauber, who took the helm last year, stated that 2020 displayed the Division’s vast capabilities. ITW Foils and Thermal Films’ success through the pains of lockdown, COVID-related disruptions and supply-chain challenges has proven that its globally-reinforced resources are well-positioned to serve customer needs even in times of global crisis.

Newly appointed Global Sales Director Frank Kelly echoed this confidence by stating that it was encouraging to join a division with such a robust product pipeline at a time when some suppliers are struggling. It is a testament to the ITW model of 80/20 focus, customer-centric innovation and decentralization.

Customers and industry partners will experience the brand transition to ITW ShineMark over the course of 2021. Updates to the website, collateral, packaging and signage have already begun.

For decades, the world’s leading brands have relied on ITW’s metallic, holographic, hot and cold foil products. Similarly, ITW’s portfolio of thermal transfer ribbons has long offered capability in a wide array of applications for shipping, date-stamping and traceability. The strength of Illinois Tool Works, the reliability of a globally redundant supply and a sharpened focus positions ShineMark to lead amidst the growing demands of the packaging, labeling and coding industries.

For more information, visit www.ITWShineMark.com.

A unique new business has been created to bring premier cold transfer and hot foil technologies to the North American folding carton and label markets. Four entities – Gietz AG based in Gossau, Switzerland, Vinfoil based in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, along with Chris Leary and Alex Balke – have joined forces to create Gietz-Vinfoil Americas. The company will be responsible for the sales and service of Gietz and Vinfoil machines in North America, and will be based near Chicago, Illinois. Gietz, a Swiss-based company founded in 1892, has experience in the US market since the late 1970s with about 150 machines installed.

Hansjörg Gietz, CEO of Gietz AG, stated that the Gietz brand is recognized for precision foil stamping and embossing, and along with the company’s HTF tray forming machine, it believes there is a lot of future potential in this market. Gietz AG started in 2018 to offer customers direct local services with Alex Balke of Gietz USA LLC. Now with Leary’s leadership and Vinfoil products, it is positioned to offer the complete range of foil embellishment solutions.

Vincent van der Heijden, president and CEO of Vinfoil, stated that Vinfoil, founded in 2007, has developed unique cold transfer solutions with revolutionary technology. Its patented Multiple Foil Use and Vinfoil Intelligent Foil Optimizing Software have already helped more than 75 customers achieve optimal foil savings, and further develop their cold transfer business. With the support and experience of both Chris Leary and Gietz, Vinfoil is confident it can work on sharing and showing all the great things of foil embellishments to the North American printing industries.

Alex Balke has over 12 years of technical service experience in this industry segment and will assume the role of technical director. Chris Leary brings 20+ years of equipment sales experience in the folding carton industry and will be the president/CEO of Gietz-Vinfoil Americas. Jody LeBlanc, with 25 years of industry experience, will also join the company and be responsible for operations and customer service. Spare parts and technical service of Gietz machines now will be handled through Gietz-Vinfoil Americas.

For more information, visit www.gietz-vinfoil.com.

On Feb. 1, 2021, Ross Hutchison took the reins as president of Overland Park, Kansas-based Universal Engraving, Inc. (UE) – a position held by his father, Larry, and his grandfather, company founder Glenn E. Hutchison. Universal Engraving is a renowned foil and emboss die maker.

Under Ross Hutchison’s leadership, UE will continue to revolutionize the embossing and foil stamping industry with new ways to maximize customer uptime, productivity and profitability. “Our guiding philosophy is to ‘never stop innovating,’” said Hutchison. “While the latest innovation may seem like the final step in a long journey, it’s in fact just the beginning of a new one. Innovation should be for the benefit of the customer, not just for the company doing the innovating.” Above all else, Hutchison wants to continue to provide unrivaled accuracy and timeliness for all of UE’s customer-partners.

Hutchison feels confident in achieving his goals by relying on the well-established Universal Engraving operations team, managed by Todd Rima (UE VP of operations and sales) and Austin Hutchison (UE VP of manufacturing-North America).

Larry Hutchison will continue to play a role in the business, while Glenn E. Hutchison will take a reduced role. This will allow Ross Hutchison to draw upon their resources and maintain the relationships they built with customers over the years.

Hutchison’s commitment to the family business and the foil stamping and embossing industry will help Universal Engraving continue to delight their customer-partners for generations to come.

For more information, visit www.UniversalEngraving.com.

BOBST of Switzerland, a supplier of equipment and services to packaging and label manufacturers, has announced that it has sold its 1,000th folder-gluer from its production site in India.

Mumbai-based folding carton specialist Ajanta Print Arts has taken delivery of the VISIONFOLD 110 A2, described as the ultimate all-rounder for folding-gluing.

Ajanta Print Arts is a third-generation family-run packaging company that produces litho-laminated, folding cartons, plastic cartons, blister cards and shelf-ready packs for the food, personal care, pharmaceuticals and FMCG markets.

Vivek Khanna, partner at Ajanta Print Arts, said the VISIONFOLD is ideal for the multiple packaging formats the company runs yet doesn’t compromise on quality and speed. Ajanta Print Arts trusts BOBST to deliver machines that meet its needs, while at the same time enabling it to support its customers with excellence at every level.

Bobst India operates from its 20,000 sqm world-class manufacturing site in Pune and employs about 400 people. Venugopal Menon, zone business director of sales, folding carton & corrugated board – Indian Subcontinent at Bobst India, said the VISIONFOLD was the ideal solution for Ajanta Print Arts, having ticked the boxes for all of the company’s needs in terms of performance, versatility, quality and efficiency.

Bobst India is delighted to have been able to supply the company with a machine that delivers on all its touchpoints. In addition, it is significant for the Bobst India team that the 1000th one has been purchased by an Indian company, while the folder-gluers it manufactures can be installed anywhere in the world.

For more information, visit www.bobst.com.