One hundred years ago, a group of ink U.S. printing ink manufacturers decided to form a printing ink association. The group, which would eventually become the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM), held its first convention in Atlantic City, NJ.

Now, a century years later, NAPIM continues to serve the ink industry. The theme of this year’s convention, which was held March 20-23 at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, Ponte Vedra, FL, was “Century of Success: Commitment to the Future,” and present industry leaders as well as many alumni gathered to learn what the future has in store for ink makers as well as their customers.

“We have a lot of good energy here,” said NAPIM president John Copeland, president and COO of Toyo Ink America. “People are telling me this is one of the best conventions they have ever attended. We just finished our first 100 years, and this is the launch for our next 100 years.”

The Annual Convention also featured a party celebrating NAPIM’s first 100 years. This party featured a performance by the Ink Knives, a band made up of NAPIM members Copeland and Pat Powers of DSM (guitars), Mike Gerkin Sr. of Kustom Group (bass), Jeff Koppelman of Gans Ink & Supply (keyboards), and Dale Pritchett of Ink World (drums).

“It went very well,” said Brad Bergey, NAPIM’s executive director. “Everyone is very excited about our history, as well as where we are going forward. The celebration was very exciting, particularly with our own NAPIM band, who were excellent.”

“The 100 year celebration was all I had hoped it would be,” said George Fuchs, NAPIM’s director of regulatory affairs and technology. “It is always a great and memorable event for the ink industry, but this one was really special in every way.   From the opening breakfast to our keynote speaker and, of course, the Ink Knives’ performance at the Fun Night, this will be a convention that I will never forget. I am honored to have been a part of it.”

Jim Leitch, CEO of Braden Sutphin Ink, presented the State of the Industry Report, the annual survey conducted by NAPIM on the printing ink industry.

Leitch said that inks sales reported by NAPIM members were approximately $3 billion in 2014, while 1.35 billion pounds of ink were sold, both slight declines from 2013. Earnings before income taxes, or EBIT, rose from 3.2% in 2013 to 6% in 2014.

“I’m primarily surprised by the improvement in profit, especially in lieu of the decrease in pounds of ink sold,” Leitch said.
As for the talks, comedian Joe Malarkey opened the convention, while longtime Pittsburgh Steeler star Rocky Bleier was the keynote speaker with his talk on “Be the Best You Can Be.”

Bleier spoke of the changes all industries face, even the NFL. He noted that when he played in the 1970s, Pittsburgh’s offensive linemen weighed between 215 and 265 pounds, and he received a $25,000 annual salary. Now, linemen weigh more than 300 pounds, and the average player’s salary is $1.4 million.

“With change comes opportunity,” Bleier said after his inspirational talk. “We are all in the hope business. We all believe it can get better.”

Nellie Perry of Argus DeWitt covered the state of tackifiers, and Harry Zervos of IDTechEx highlighted opportunities for printed electronics and wearables.

Dr. Joe Truncale, a longtime printing industry leader, discussed “The State of the Printing Industry.” Truncale noted that commercial printing sales increased by 2.2% to 2.5% in 2015 to $80.2 billion, a decrease from $98.3 billion in 2007. Of the $$80.2 billion, approximately $40 billion is printed by offset, while 40% is through digital, which shows the changing nature of printing.

“More and more, revenue streams may come from businesses you haven’t even though of in the next five years,” Truncale concluded.

Fuchs was featured in two talks. First, he discussed the “EuPIA Update,” covering European regulatory matters, and then followed up with “NAPIM Safety First,” a look at NAPIM’s new safety programming, which features videos, webinars, short courses and more.

“These programs will help you protect employees as well as the company. Our Safety First programming will be an effective, cost efficient way to do safety training at your location,” Fuchs said. “It is professionally developed and reviewed. Viewers will have to show their proficiency through tests, and documentation will show that your employees completed these programs, which is a real benefit.”

Phil Riebel of Two Sides discussed printing and sustainability, particularly efforts to combat “anti-greenwashing” attempts to claim printing is not sustainable.

“Print and paper have a great environmental story to tell,” Riebel said. “Our goal is to dispel environmental misconceptions.” He noted that forest land is continually being replanted, and through Two Sides’ efforts, more than 30 leading U.S. companies have eliminated their claims that printing is bad for the environment.

One of the highlights of any NAPIM Convention is the black-tie awards. This year, NAPIM honored George Sickinger, former chairman, president and CEO of Color Resolutions International, with its prestigious Ault Award. Sickinger served as NAPIM’s president from 2011-13.

In addition, NAPIM presented nine Printing Ink Pioneer Awards during the ceremony. The honorees included:
• Jim Bailer, VP of engineering for INX International Ink Co.
• Joon Choo, VP of marketing for Shamrock Technologies.
• Vivy DaCosta, VP of finance and administration for hubergroup Canada.
• Sumathy Ganesh, technical manager, paste inks for Toyo Ink America.
• Herman Hockmeyer, president, Hockmeyer Equipment Corporation.
• Kevin Kingman, technical director at Flint Group.
• William Neuberg, founder of Shamrock Technologies.
• Bob O’Boyle, product manager for coatings at Sun Chemical.
• Ron Tarewicz, manager, scientific affairs at Colorcon, No-Tox Products.

Next year’s NAPIM Convention will be held March 31-April 4 at Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, NV. For more information, contact NAPIM at www.napim.org.