SCHAUMBURG, IL—Nine INX International Ink Co. customers experienced great success at the recent 2017 Excellence in Flexography Awards. Recognized with 20 gold, silver and bronze awards, the majority of these printers have INX in-house ink dispensers that allow them the flexibility to handle a wide variety of work. All told, the printers earned six gold, six silver, seven bronze and one Best of Show honors.
“I have been involved with many of these customers for more than 15 years. It is a coordinated effort where they put a lot of effort into pursuing these awards and take pride in the achievement,” said Bob Ramsay, technical manager for INX International Ink Co. “Our plant and lab people are vested in this effort. They do an excellent job to help our customers achieve success and be recognized by the industry.”
Prolamina, a division of ProAmpac with facilities in Wrightstown, WI and Walden, NY, led the way with four awards. It captured gold in the mid web category, a gold and silver in mid web, and an award for self promotion. WestRock in Adams, WI experienced across-the-board success. It scored with a gold for combined corrugated, and had a silver and bronze for preprinted linerboard. Great Northern of Chippewa Falls also earned silver in the combined corrugated arena.
“With the dispenser system, customers have our 23 series water dispersion colorants and a large number of different standard or specialized extenders to choose from. Most involve some variation of the SpH approach as determined by the needs for the particular stock that is being printed,” remarked Bob. He noted its highly pigmented color provides absolute maximum versatility in dispenser applications. It is used for diverse applications on a variety of substrates.
“For corrugated,” continued Bob, “most direct print accounts use our INSTAR process system and the NpH overprint. WestRock was one of the first direct print, high-end corrugated printers and INX’s first dispenser installation when they were Castle Rock more than 25 years ago. ProAmpac has a long history of winning awards, especially with printing high-end retail bags.”
Four envelope category customers accounted for nine of the awards, with MackayMitchell and Cenveo each taking home three apiece. MackayMitchell of Minneapolis won gold and a Best of Show award for the Paralyzed Veterans of America Tropical Flowers Envelope. It also won another gold and silver. Cenveo Envelope of Altoona, PA, captured a gold and two bronze awards. Tension Corp., Palatine, IL, walked away with two bronze and Priority Envelope, Plymouth, MN, scored a silver award.
“We have a majority share of the envelope business, and growth in that segment is derived from the increased capabilities to do work that once belonged to offset,” informed Bob. “The Cenveo award pieces used Soft Touch OPV inks, which are modified for envelope applications. Most of our envelope accounts use some variation of the SpH process systems.”
Specialty packaging printer Hart Industries, Owings Mills, MD, earned silver in the mid web category. On the label side of the business, Label Tech in Merced, CA. earned a pair of bronze awards, one each in the mid web and narrow web divisions. Bob indicated they used the AquaTech 131 process extender, a special SpH version created by INX’s branch facility in Santa Fe Springs, CA.