Impressive figures marked the Italian FlexoDay 2018, which year after year sets new records in attendance and expectations and which, with no less than 480 participants, once again proved to be the event of reference for the flexographic printing sector in Italy. Numerous delegates attended also from outside of Italy, making the international presence felt especially at the afternoon session organized by the Italian Technical Flexographic Association (ATIF) in partnership with FTA Europe, the European umbrella Association for the Flexo Industry.
This edition was also a first-time event for Marco Gambardella in his new role as President of ATIF. Gambardella chose to stress above all the need for growth, including from the standpoint of the training of human resources in a community undergoing steady development such as that of flexo printing. He was also pleased to announce that a student from the technical institute in Saronno (VA) “IT Grafica e Comunicazione Scuola Padre Monti” was the recipient of this year’s Best Student in Flexo award, now in its second edition. Supporters of the initiative are ATIF member I&C and Masterpack, the company hosting the student for an internship.
As always, the observations and technical contributions offered by the speakers in the course of the day’s proceedings were many and innovative. Dupont presented an outline on technologies (screening in flexo printing), while Rossini focused on materials, exploring the use of carbon fibre in the manufacture of sleeves. Finally, Uteco illustrated a market research project on the requirements of packaging producers and on the state of the sector, with particular reference to the impact of the new printing technologies, such as extended gamut and digital printing. Likewise much appreciated was the speech of Barilla on its vision of sustainable packaging and on the prospect of a zero-impact future.
ATIF presented the new technical document on anilox rollers, which the Technical Committee of the Association is working on. It was also the desire of the Association to devote a moment to illustrate the state of the art of ATIF’S technological centre. In the afternoon international session, the spotlight was on SweFlex, the Swedish flexographic association, a newcomer to the European network FTA Europe, that outlined the opportunities offered by its own training centre which, together with those of the other flexographic associations in Europe, will contribute to providing a wider-ranging offer to all European printers.
Finally, Hamillroad (UK) presented its offering of screening technologies for flexo, while the printer Wipak Iberica (Spain) illustrated its production capabilities and the new technologies it is offering to the packaging market.
Flexo Day 2018 was supported by Dupont, Rossini, Uteco (Platinum sponsors), Biessse Tape Solutions, I&C, Kba Flexotecnica, Kodak, Lohmann, Mavigrafica, Omet, Simonazzi, Tesa (Gold sponsors) and by 3M, AV Flexologic, Edigit, ETS International, Heidelberg, Inglese, Tadam, Ulmex, Z-Due (Silver sponsors).
Video: https://youtu.be/4tCCBiqtjgk
