February 2, 2017
AICC members touring ABox.
AICC’s Region 4 Digital Symposium and Plant Tours kicked off with an opening reception and dinner at the Hilton in Rockwall, Texas. The two-day program was led by Regional Director Eric Elgin of Oklahoma Interpak and had a registered attendance of more than 70.
After remarks from AICC President Steve Young on the state of the Association, there was a keynote presentation. Texas Association of Manufacturers President Tony Bennett presented a comparison of what manufacturers want and what President Donald Trump might do. Areas explored were taxes, trade, regulation, workforce, energy, health care, and transportation. Bennett’s remarks were particularly informative to the box business, given his history as vice president of government affairs at Temple-Inland.
Thursday’s program opened with a presentation on educational opportunities in graphic arts and package manufacturing in Texas from Ben Dolezal of the University of Texas–Arlington. Next up, Steve Shannon and Pat Boss presented “The World Is Going Digital,” a view of the market evolution from HP’s perspective. Performance POP in Dallas and ABox in Forney, Texas, run HP digital presses. Numbers on digital growth through 2020 in various markets were presented. Compound annual growth rate was as follows, according to PIA: labels, 18 percent; flexible packaging, 28 percent; folding carton, 26 percent; point of purchase, 14 percent. Digital is seen as a complement to existing printing methods and offers unique opportunities for supply-chain optimization and marketing optimization. According to PIA, digital business comes from the following channels: transfer from existing print, 25 percent; new jobs from existing clients, 37 percent; new jobs from new clients, 38 percent. The driver for digital comes from what HP referred to as “the customer moment of truth,” a statement backed by POPAI data that shows that 76 percent of supermarket buying is unplanned.
Individual presentations by several digital suppliers were next on the program. Emilio Tellini of Gemini North America presented the Barberan digital press. David Carmichael of SUN Automation presented their CorrStream press, which is geared to the corrugated market. Don Coggswell and Wolf Verwuster of Durst North America presented an overview of digital from the various markets they serve, along with the latest digital packaging press. Greg McGrath of Baldwin reviewed the range of accessories and complementary equipment they offer for digital printing operations. Josh Moore of PackageX presented their online tool that can be utilized to manage, purchase, and deliver graphically rich packaging and point-of-purchase displays.
After a short break, Greg White of Performance POP shared the history of his company and its current mission in today’s market. The journey took them from being a commercial printer that evolved into a point-of-purchase-display supplier to one that today provides solutions for “anything retail” in terms of display solutions. This overview was very helpful ahead of the subsequent tour of their operation in the afternoon. Then, Keith Thompson, Pylar Pinkston, and Mike Goody of ABox shared—via a very compelling internal Q&A—the ABox journey to opening an integrated digital printing and converting operation in a new facility. John Ballentine of Tango Press shared his company’s vision of how a startup digital printing operation brings value in the marketplace as Tango focuses exclusively on packaging. Next, AICC’s newest resident expert, Tom Weber, was introduced. Weber will tackle member questions related to folding carton technology, opportunities, and markets as part of AICC’s expanding “Ask the Experts” series. Tom moderated a question-and-answer session with the tour hosts.
Visits to Performance POP and ABox capped the day’s activities. Two paths to digital were on display for the attendees. Performance POP’s addition of digital presses complements their existing litho and screen printing processes. ABox’s leap into digital with a new, dedicated plant with digital printing, die cutting, and folding and gluing stands apart from their existing folding carton converting operation.
The common theme expressed by all presenters during this highly successful Region 4 meeting was that “demand is changing”—at retailers, in consumer packaged goods, and by consumers. Are you equipped to meet the challenge?
Mike D’Angelo is vice president of AICC.
