Now Accepting 2020 Membership and Conference Registrations
2020 memberships are now available! You can renew or become a new member by visiting this link. A recently added benefit for TAGA member is gaining access to every published paper from 1949 to 2019. By renewing or joining now, you will receive extra months of access to the papers in the Abstract Search. Read more about membership benefits at www.taga.org/membership.
The 2020 Annual Technical Conference will take place in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, March 15–18. Registrations are now being accepted. Visit www.taga.org/conference to learn more about the conference and registration options!
2019 Proceedings Available
Copies of the 2019 Proceedings book have been sent to members this month. We thank Canon USA for printing our books. The Abstract Search, https://www.printing.org/taga-abstracts, is up-to-date and the 2019 papers are available for those who have TAGA login credentials. Are you a TAGA member but don’t know your login? Contact TAGA Administrator John Bodnar at taga@printing.org.
Announcing New TAGA Program: Ask the Experts
TAGA continues to evolve, bringing updated and relevant benefits to its members. As part of this development, we are launching an Ask the Experts program to connect individuals with industry professionals. This formalizes the immense networking benefits that have long existed within TAGA and ensures that all have access to the TAGA knowledge pool. The following group of TAGA experts are well suited to address a wide range of questions regarding technology and future trends. Additional experts will be added as the program moves forward.
The current list of experts that will be available at launch:
- John Anderson, Miraclon Corporation
- David Biro, Sun Chemical Corporation
- Mark Bohan, Konica Minolta Business Solutions
- DJ Montalto, Canon USA, Inc.
- Dawn Nye, Konica Minolta Business Solutions
- Birgit Plautz, GMG Americas
- Wandee Poolpol, ECKART America Corporation
For more information on the experts and how to ask questions, please visit www.taga.org/ask-the-experts.
Quad/Graphics to Host Tour at Annual Technical Conference
Quad/Graphics has generously offered to host a tour of its Oklahoma City facility on Wednesday morning, March 18. The facility has more than quadrupled its size since it opened in 2003. Today it houses multiple gravure and heatset web offset presses, state-of-the-art imaging, and very capable finishing/mailing capabilities, including more than 15 high-speed saddle stitchers, making it the largest print production facility west of the Mississippi River. It produces vast quantities of magazines, catalogs, and retail inserts/flyers. The plant uses a degree of automation rare in our industry, particularly with regard to gravure cylinders and bundling/stacking. When you register for the conference, select this optional tour to go inside one of the world’s most progressive printers.
Featured TAGA Paper: Printability Analysis of Flexographic Printing on Compostable Films
Delivered at the 2019 Annual Technical Conference, Printability Analysis of Flexographic Printing on Compostable Films by Aran Hansuebsai and Samatcha Nawakitwong examines the challenges of printing bio-based materials that are becoming popular because of their sustainable characteristics. The research focused on printability when using water-based acrylic ink on compostable films produced in Thailand such as PLA/PBAT and PBAT/starch. Surface properties of these films were evaluated to observe how they affected print quality (density, TVI and tone reproduction) under certain conditions (running speed and anilox line screen).
Results revealed that print quality was greatly influenced by substrates’ surface properties (roughness, morphology, and wettability) and could be improved with specific printing conditions. Corona treatment improved the hydrophobic property of the compostable films, but the dosage was limited due to the weakness of the film surfaces. Microscopic images indicated that surface voids and fractures could lead to defects of print quality. Although PBAT/starch film showed print quality better than that of PLA/PBAT film, the authors conclude that raw materials mixed with additives are necessary to improve ink laid-down and hold-out on the surface. Members can read the nine-page paper in the 2019 TAGA Proceedings or access it via the online abstract search (must log in to download the full paper).
