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2013 Forum & INFO*FLEX a Rousing Success! See you in Baltimore in 2014!

For the 1,600 attendees at FTA's Annual Forum, and INFO*FLEX Exhibition, the event checked all the boxes.

  • Location
  • Agenda
  • Venue—a sold-out trade floor that spotlighted advancing technologies designed to make printers better and more efficient at what they do
  • Open air networking with San Diego's waterfront as the backdrop

forum2013Discussion was interactive, fast-paced, lively. Print production experiences were shared. Results were analyzed. Continuous improvement was targeted. Eyes were opened to new technologies. Future business strategies were formulated and in many cases initial implementation actions were set in place.

To some the event is a ritual. To many the information exchanged is far from routine. This year, take-aways, as always, were numerous. Best practices were mapped out and detailed, step-by-step plans for process control, color management, automating workflows and forging flexography's future were developed and shared with all.

IF2013Four days, April 28-May 1, passed in a flash. The environment was stimulating. Halls of both the San Diego Marriott Marquis and Marina and San Diego Convention Center were filled with excitement as optimistic-minded flexographers stood united and determined to maintain their craft's position as packaging's print process of choice.

They, like the sessions they attended focused on food safety and certification, emerging technologies, process controls, automated workflows, consumer product company and print buyer demands, the expanded color gamut, doing more with four-color process, optimizing plate and press technologies, color and its capabilities, improving efficiencies and the value of skills training and reinforcement. In other words, staying relevant and current.

The central theme "Right Here, Right Now." While living in the moment, flexographers set their mind to getting it right the first time every time," and made it clear that they are aligned in both embracing and pursuing that passion.

For FTA and its members, that story has been evolving and unfolding for 55 years—and that milestone was marked at the organization's 54th Annual Forum and 31st Annual INFO*FLEX Exhibition.

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