The Converting Curmudgeon

You’ve got only 10 days to get yourself over to Düsseldorf, Germany, for what’s left of drupa 2012. Yes, in one sense, that’s saying quite a lot because any other trade show that started on May 3 would have long since been over with by now. But drupa’s not just another s...

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CPP EXPO 2012, held last week at Cleveland’s I-X Center, brought together about 125 exhibitors — many featuring new products for the package printing and converting field. Here are just a few: Beta LaserMike’s LaserSpeed® non-contact encoder helps converters accurately...

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Pretty much halfway between last year’s successful premiere of ICE USA (Intl. Converting Exhibition) and the next edition, I took part in a Steering Committee meeting on Tuesday for the 2013 show, along with nine other industry-advisory members. (Check out our team photo below). Set for April ...

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Today marks 30 days and counting until the opening of drupa 2012: world market print media, publishing and converting at the Fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany. The two-week trade show runs May 3-16 and fills Halls 1-17 plus outside areas on the massive site along the Rhine River. More than 1,8...

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2011 PLGA Global Domestic Best of Show Winner: Noni Maui Health sleeve label printed by Multi-Color Corp. (Batavia, OH) Yeah, there’s been a lot of “doom and gloom” from various industry pundits over the past 10 years about the continued  viability of rotogravure as a p...

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The spring 2012 meeting, trade show and conference session kicks into gear this week with the Flexible Packaging Assn. annual meeting in Scottsdale, AZ. Watch for my followup report next Monday. In the meantime, follow my tweets live from the program this Thursday and Friday. Here’s what&rsquo...

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Despite the protracted crisis in Europe and emerging concerns from China, two independent surveys commissioned by Grant Thornton revealed that executives have growing confidence in the US economy. First, the International Business Report is a survey of 2,800 global businesses. Among its findings: T...

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In the course of reviewing the 65 posts I wrote this year, I came across a pretty astonishing statistic: More than 26,000 readers came to either this site or WordPress to read The Converting Quarterly Website in 2011. The fact that readers are spending an average of 2½ mins. on each post page...

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While the snow begins to fly across parts of North America, the Converting Quarterly staff is putting the finishing touches on our 2012 Quarter 1 issue, which features a Market and Technical Focus on Thin-Film Photovoltaics and Thin-Film Batteries. We appreciate your enthusiastic response to our fir...

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After nearly a decade of “blue sky” thinking and demonstrations of only laboratory prototypes, last week’s Printed Electronics USA & Photovoltaics USA 2011 conference and tradeshow in Santa Clara, CA, brought out plenty of real-world examples of working technology, some of whic...

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