"Color in Focus” Shatters Attendance Records, Capacity Crowds Fill Rooms, Exhibit Area

FTA put “Color In Focus” before an audience of nearly 300 flexographers during last week’s (Oct. 10-12) annual Fall Conference. The assembly consisted largely of printers; but suppliers, prepress technicians, consumer product companies, educators, and students were represented as well.

Co-chaired by Mark Mazur, DuPont Packaging Graphics and Dan Collins, Berry Plastics; the event was staged at the Marriott Union Station, St. Louis, MO., where 14 speakers and 34 conference exhibitors/sponsors kept the conversation and networking continuous.

• Attendance records were shattered.
• Presenters were lauded for their attention to detail.
• Capacity crowds filled the rooms.
• Sold-out exhibit floor.

Speakers were: Mark Mazur, DuPont Packaging Graphics; Richard Black, All Printing Resources; Mark Samworth, EskoArtwork; Steve Upton, Chromix, Inc.; Roy Bohnen, Epson America, Inc.; Robb Frimming,Schawk Cincinnati; Al Bowers,RR Donnelley; Jay Sperry,HAVI Global Solutions; Kelly McCathran, onlineinstruct.com; Son Do, Rods and Cones; Sean Teufler, Harper Corporation of America; Randy Freeman, QuadTech, Inc.; Paul Brauss, Mark Andy, Inc.; Hans Deamer, Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corporation;

The 34 conference exhibitors included: 360 Imaging Inc.; 3M; Advanced Vision Technology (AVT) Ltd.; All Printing Resources, Inc.; Anderson & Vreeland, Inc.; Beta Industries; BST Pro Mark; CGS; Channeled Resources; Chromix, Inc.; Color Management; Correct-Touch Graphic Arts, Inc.; DuPont Packaging Graphics; Eastman Kodak Company; Erhardt+Leimer, Inc.; EskoArtwork; Flexo Wash LLC; GTI Graphic Technology; Harper Corporation of America; Lohmann Technologies; MacDermid Printing Solutions; Mark Andy Inc.; Matthews Brand Solutions; MCS; MicroDynamics; OEC Graphics; Pitman; QuadTech; RotoMetrics; The Provident Group; United Mineral & Chemical Corp.; Wilson Manufacturing; XericWeb Drying Systems; and X-Rite / Pantone.

At its conclusion, attendees couldn’t help but to keep talking about what transpired. Greg Collins, C-P Flexible Packaging commented, “Great, detailed overview of color, from start to finish.” Mike Huey, Harper Corporation of America added, “Great sessions!  Great speakers! Fantastic presentations! “One printer exclaimed, “FTA’s Fall Conference was packed with relative information that can be used on the floor. Everything said was valuable, up-to-date, insightful and highly relative to my job.”

That assessment was shared by others.  One printer cited, “Positive energy.” Another singled out, “clear, easy-to-understand points,” and added, “I could listen all day! This was a very good conference. It was focused on one specific topic—color—and that is very useful in my job.” 

“Incredible,” is how Melissa Self, Vitex Packaging, described the proceedings. Tom Philips of Yerecic Label proclaimed, “Seeing the results of implementing specifications and protocols from substrate to press, prepress and design-- on a large scale--was inspiring.”

Jim Kennedy, Clear Lam Packaging, stated, “Fall Conference was very insightful. It had great content, excellent takeaways, good market information on flexible packaging and productivity inputs; plus good material on troubleshooting for FIRST and TEST.”

Exhibitors also voiced praise. “Harper found it to be the best attended FTA Fall Conference in years. The speakers were excellent. It’s always nice to have an opportunity to network with co-suppliers and customers, but the best is meeting new prospects. Thank you for organizing an excellent conference and we look forward to attending the Annual Forum in San Antonio.” Commented Neil Surber, Harper Corporation of America.

From an educational standpoint, Michele Surreaus, an instructor at Appalachian State University, commented, “Wow! All sessions were very engaging and interesting. They offered great balance and real-world data. The proceedings were awesome and contained so much useful information.  Fall Conference filled in a lot of gaps, some I did not know I had about basic color theory. I can’t wait to share what I learned with my students!”

And finally, consumer product company representatives pointed to awesome detail on Wal-Mart’s Packaging scorecard and how the plan was created. One said, “Great, practical knowledge. Tons of  information. Informative and thought -provoking.”  Another CPC said, “We got the message. Packaging development is a process from sourcing to destination.”