The January 2023 edition of the GravurExchange!
Your source for news and events!
Happy New Year!
All of us at the Gravure Aimcal Alliance Committee want to wish all the very Happy New Year as we start our second full year as being part of the Association for Roll-To-Roll Converters (AIMCAL).
GAA-Committee Leadership
The Gravure AIMCAL Alliance Committee is thankful for the years of leadership that Lou DeFlaviis (Chair), JD Harris (Co-Chair) and John Edwards (Secretary) provided and their guidance during the transition through the merger into the GAA Committees. Please reach-out to them and thank them for what they have done for the GAA.
Their terms have expired and the leadership search committee will announce the 2023-2024 Chair and Co-Chair soon. The Secretary roll is being filled by Rod Sosa and he is heading up the search committee for the Chair and Co-Chair. The terms are 2 years, with the Co-Chair becoming the Chair after the 2 years. If you have any questions, please contact Rod Sosa rsosa@fresco.com
GAA-Committee and Roll-to-Roll Association
In 2021 it was a big decision for the GAA board to merge with a larger, truly international association, AIMCAL. Both associations board of directors saw when you combine Printers with the Metallizers, Coaters, and Laminators you not only encompass all the processes associated with converting but it also tied together the supply chain. Members of the two associations have interacted together as either a supplier or a customer to each other for years so merging the associations helps in creating a synergy of members to better service their customers. The association includes more than just the printer/converters using roll-to-roll processes, it also involves the support from the equipment manufacturers, the suppliers of cylinders, rollers, disposable tooling and all the auxiliary support to make the roll-to-roll processes work at their most efficient and effective levels.
In September 2022 the AIMCAL board approved changing the association’s name to “Association for Roll-To-Roll Converters” to help clarify who will best benefit from being a member. Why incorporate “Converters” in the name? The most common definition for Converting companies are those companies who daily combined raw materials to create new products while using the roll-to-roll processes which includes coating, laminating, metalizing, slitting and many others while also including printing processes such as Gravure and Flexo.
We need all the GAA-Committee members to spread the word to your co-workers and customers of the name change. All association emails now show the contact information as the “Association for Roll-To-Roll
GAA-Committee and Roll-to-Roll Association
The renewal invoices have been sent out from the “Association for Roll-To-Roll Converters” not AIMCAL not GAA so be sure to let the appropriate people know of the name change.
When the GAA board in 2021 investigated what association would provide a similar culture and better benefits for the GAA members from a merger, AIMCAL came out on top. Members were asked to vote to have the GAA merge into AIMCAL and all who voted were anonymous in voting yes to merge. In communications after the merger, it was spelled out the existing GAA membership the dues for 2022 for the GAA merged membership, would only pay the $1,000 USD (Old GAA) dues for the AIMCAL “Basic Membership” instead of the AIMCAL dues so the GAA members would have time to see all the additional benefits available from being part of a 300 plus membership over the 75 members of the GAA (2021). For 2023 to renewal the Basic Membership is now $2,495 USD per year. The Premium Membership is now $2,995 USD per year.
Many of the Legacy GAA members have commented on the increase in dues the following links will help you to see benefits of being part of the larger international association. Roll-to-Roll Converters Committees 2023.pdf and AIMCAL Member Resources – 2022.pdf
The GAA board saw AIMCAL (Now “Association for Roll-to-Roll Converters”) as being International in having the European, Asian and other conferences that would be beneficial and its other benefits shown below. Also, AIMCAL owns the Converting Quarterly Magazine Home (convertingquarterly.com) that members can provide articles and advertise in the publication as it has international distribution. Roll-to-Roll also produces webinars for members, especially supplier members, to promote their goods and services. To learn more of the benefits please contact Tim Janes the Membership outreach Director tjanes@rolltoroll.org
Save the Dates: May 16th-18th ,2023
The Spring Conference has been rebranded to be the
“Business Summit”
with a theme of
“Innovation & Design”
Watch for the exciting details to be revealed soon.
Roll-To-Roll (AIMCAL) News Video is back, they can see be seen at the following links:
Roll-to-Roll News | January 11th, 2023
https://youtu.be/yMjbha56aQY
Roll-to-Roll News | December 14th, 2022
For the Latest Member News go to:
Let us know what news you want or do not want to receive with the click of a button. Log into your account at www.AIMCAL.org, click your name at the top of the page and click “My Participation.” On this page, you can select “Preferences” to see all the news items available to you from Converting Quarterly Magazine, to newsletters, and a Digital Edition of the magazine.
Roll-to-Roll Members participate in Scouts Graphic Arts Merit Badge in Charlotte NC on December 10th.
The event was hosted by Central Piedmont Community College a Roll-to-Roll higher education member. Industry members Harper Corporation of America, Southern Graphics Systems, Flint Ink Group provided personnel as instructors and Sun Chemical provided conductive ink. The following link has event pictures and details. https://aimcal.sharefile.com/d-s08c6c4482f524d97bf008a44b7555779
2023 Compliance and Sustainability Webinars
Join us for a series of webinars this year being hosted by the Wisconsin Printing Industry Council (WPIC) covering compliance and sustainability challenges. The GAA-Committee participates on the WPIC to represent our members who have facilities in the state of Wisconsin. The council member’s include representatives from the Department of Natural Resources printers and converters, and several associations GLGA, PRINTING United Alliance, FTA, TLMI, GAA-Committee of the Roll-to-Roll and supplier businesses. For 2023 the council will hold 4 Webinars the topics and dates will be shared once finalized and the annual live meeting.
Gravure Days at Universities and Colleges have started!
Rochester Institute of Technolgy held “Gravure Day” event on November 7th. . We thank Yash Dhote, Print & Graphic Media Sciences Graduate Student of Rochester Institute of Technology for the following meeting recap.
On November 7th 2022, RIT’s internationally recognized Department of Packaging and Graphic media Science hosted the 68th Gravure-day to honor the gravure print process and continue the Gravure-day tradition. The theme for this year was Continuous improvement, and the speakers were from diverse backgrounds in the gravure industry who have successfully implemented continuous improvements in their businesses. First, Jon McManus from Brook + Whittle shared a scientific roadmap of how they tackled the excessive time consumed in changeovers. As a result, they were able to scale down the excess changeover time for gravure presses and save millions of dollars for their organization. The best part about this study was how any print process could implement this simple approach.
We also learned about how ESA systems work, and Joe Steingraeber US Representative of Enulec GmbH explained how critical their role could be to ensure not only optimum ink transfer but also in terms of safety.
The third speaker was, Kevin McNally from Bobst expressed how, back in the day, gravure was considered a traditional economic process only for longer runs, and that is not the case today. All thanks to innovations and continuous improvements in the gravure industry, which has enabled them to compete with short runs in flexography. He also emphasized how the constant improvement of servo motors has allowed tight registrations on gravure presses and has realized the implementation of ECG.
Overall, it was a great event to educate students and other attendees about the various efforts in continuous improvement that are taking place in the gravure industry.
Yash Dhote, Print & Graphic Media Sciences Graduate Student.
If any University or College is planning on holding a gravure day and needs help recruiting speakers please contact Tony Donato at tdonato@gaa.org
From the November Issue of SmallBiz@EPA
Below is an article from the November 2022 issue.
To download the November and December issue PDF, go to:
https://aimcal.sharefile.com/d-sc5df4911df5b47aa938c34829748402e
https://aimcal.sharefile.com/d-s8b94545265ce4b3280004a7e1703e2f5
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Major Sources: Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers and Process Heaters:
This action finalizes amendments to the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for major sources from new and existing industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) boilers and process heaters. Certain aspects of these standards were challenged and subsequently remanded to the Agency by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit). This action finalizes amendments to several numeric emission limits for new and existing boilers and process heaters consistent with the court’s opinion and sets compliance dates for these new emission limits. This action also provides further explanation of one aspect of the Agency’s use of carbon monoxide (CO) as a surrogate for organic hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and its use of a CO threshold to represent the application of the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) for organic HAP. EPA is also finalizing several technical clarifications and corrections.
This final rule is effective on December 5, 2022. The incorporation by reference (IBR) of certain material listed in the rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of October 6, 2022. Read the final rule in the Federal Register |
Golden Cylinder Awards will be presented in 2024.
The next Golden Cylinder Awards presentation ceremony will be at the 2024 Business Summit. The entry forms will be available soon with the entry dead line of January 31st, 2024. In moving the awards to the “Business Meeting” did not allow enough time to hold a 2023 competition. We encourage all to participate as the prestige for the Golden Cylinder continues to grow.
With the association new name also comes with new email addresses:
Chris Kerscher (Executive Director): ckerscher@rolltoroll.org
Tim Janes (Membership Outreach Director): tjanes@rolltoroll.org
Kevin Lifsey (Senior Web Developer): klifsey@rolltoroll.org
Mark Spaulding (Associate Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Converting Quarterly): mspaulding@rolltoroll.org
Laure Lavore (Office Manager): llavore@rolltoroll.org
Lauren Suber (Event and Program Manager): lsuber@rolltoroll.org
Alex Nevels (Director of Education): anevels@rolltoroll.org
The AIMCAL addresses will be active until September 2023.
New Online “Gravure Basics” Video Course Available!
This course and all GAA-Committee online courses along with the Gravure textbooks are all available at www.aimcal.org, click on “Resources” tab, then pick “Products” from the dropdown. You will also see all the training courses and other products that are offered by AIMCAL.
The GAA Committee reviewed the plans for the Basic and Advanced Seminars and planning has started the seminars to be offered this year. The Basic and Advanced “live” Seminars will be held at Interprint in Pittsfield, MA.
Moving to 2023 will give time to the members who need to budget the training. The COVID-19 years have caused items that were routine budget lines to be left out, and time is needed to reschedule. More information will be available soon.
Converting Quarterly, the official technical journal of AIMCAL, is a great source of information and current news from members and the industry. Go to https://www.convertingquarterly.com/ to subscribe to the quarterly print magazine, the digital edition, the weekly CQ eNews…or all three.
For all the news you may have missed, go to Archived News (aimcal.org)
If you are looking for new employees or are looking for employment, we encourage you to use the new resources on the AIMCAL website: (Jobs (aimcal.org). Members may post jobs at NO CHARGE. We invite you to see how easy it is to post jobs online today. To maximize your job posting, you should also post on the GAA website at Job Openings | Gravure Association of the Americas (gaa.org)
GAA Services, Training and Products:
On-site Training/On-site Consulting:
Bob Kikkert and Mike Gaffney are ready to help with on-site and/or hybrid virtual training and consulting. Those in need of these services, please contact info@gaa.org using subject line: “Consultant Services.”
The Gravure Textbook Sale Continues:
We continue to receive orders for the Gravure Process and Technology and the Gravure Specifications and Tolerances (GST) textbooks. They can be purchased at Shop (www.aimcal.org)
Gravure Certification:
Members continue to use the online gravure training program. There are four levels of Certification training. Information and registration for all four levels are available at https://gaa.org/services/training/online-gravure-certification-training/. Special Member pricing has been established for the certifications. For pricing and to register, email info@gaa.org and use subject line: “Certification.”
Want to become a member?
Anyone interested in having their company become a member of this dynamic association of companies that are promoting the gravure process, please go to: Become a Member | AIMCAL
Questions? Contact AIMCAL Member Outreach Director Tim Janes at tim@aimcal.org