Over the years, there has been much attention paid to a variety of important aspects in the ink industry, including management, ink formulation, regulatory issues and more. The role of manufacturing is also of critical importance. 

The National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM) set aside two days to focus on the manufacturing end of the ink industry, hosting its virtual NAPIM Manufacturing Symposium Feb. 17-18. 2021.

George Fuchs, NAPIM director, regulatory affairs and technology, said that the Manufacturing Symposium brought together a wide range of ideas for attendees.

“I’m really pleased with the production and content of this year’s Manufacturing Symposium,” said Fuchs. “The intent was to focus this symposium directly on what’s happening inside our production facilities in a practical but detailed fashion. 

“Although this type of event does not have the broad appeal of a NAPIM Technical Conference, its focus, manufacturing technology, is a very important one that does not routinely get a lot of attention but is critically important for both ink and coatings manufacturers given the rapid pace of technological change,” Fuchs added.

Production equipment and methods were the subjects of the next four talks, beginning with “Increasing Production Efficiency While Meeting Sustainability Objectives — A Valuable Connection,” presented by Sara Fulford and Mike Villardi of Hockmeyer Equipment.

Fulford and Villardi discussed sustainability and how wet grinding and vessel washing equipment designs have evolved over the years.

“Sustainable production of manufacturing is a vital issue,” Fulford said. “Many buyers are seeking suppliers who are committed to sustainability practices. It’s not just a feel-good term. It helps conserve the earth for future generations, and also leads to improved efficiency and lower manufacturing costs.

“You have to select the right equipment to meet their eco-efficiency agenda,” added Fulford. “Future manufacturing cannot look like manufacturing of the past.”

Villardi spoke about Hockmeyer’s NexGen Mill, its latest advance, and also about the importance of sustainability.

“Our sustainability efforts have a lot to do with improving the environment and safety, and it improved our economic results,” Villardi reported. “I can tell you there is a better way to manufacture. Sustainability is a collaboration.”

“Optimizing the Ink Production Process with Agitator Bead Mills” was the topic of the next presentation, given by Alex Lauke of NETZSCH Premier Technologies. Lauke covered the production of fine dispersions and wet grinding, including NETZSCH’s Neos, Eposilon and ProPhi systems.

“Important criteria include providing high quality on a constant level, capacity and price, and the equipment should be user friendly and easy to maintain,” Lauke noted. “The advantages of smaller grinding media are productivity and quality, while the limits are raw material size, the hardness of pigment, viscosity and flow stability.”

Dr. Steffen Pilotek, Buhler, Inc., then discussed “High-Efficiency Production Process for Color Dispersions.” Dr. Pilotek’s focus was on pre-dispersion and high-performance bead milling equipment, such as Buhler’s MacroMedia system. While pre-processing is more accepted in other industries, color processing often foregoes the benefits of this general concept.

“Increasing efficiency means doing more production with less,” said Dr. Pilotek. “Ideal bead size is related to particle size. The beads need to be large enough to break the largest particles in the distribution. It may make sense to use different bead sizes. 

“Grinding media has to be adjusted to the grinding task,” he added. “Smaller grinding media increases the efficiency of wet grinding, while an advanced pre-dispersion process enables higher efficiency grinding.”

Daniyel Firestone, Norstone, Inc., closed the first day with her talk on “Dynamics of Dispersing Blades,” a comprehensive look at various blade designs, including steel clades, ring blades and polyblades, used with dispersers.

“Each dispersing blade has an optimum tip speed rate,” Firestone observed. “Each blade style has an optimum diameter to tank ratio.”

Day 2 of NAPIM”s Manufacturing Symposium covered an eclectic range of topics, from robots and dust to best practices and sustainability.

Terry Miller of Southlake Automation began the second day with his presentation on “Working with Robots,” a look at how automation can improve efficiency while helping to overcome labor shortages.

According to a 2018 study by Deloitte, there will be an estimated labor manufacturing shortage of 2.4 million workers by 2028, and the US Census Bureau notes that one-fourth of the manufacturing workforce is age 55 or older. Miller said that robotics may be an option not to replace people but to work with them. One example is an articulating arm.

“An articulating arm is programmed for many different types of tasks, and has a large variety of payloads and reaches,” Miller said. “Robotics is ideal for repetitive motion tasks, heavy or dangerous loads, dirty and dusty locations, packaging and palletizing.”

There are also collaborative robots, or cobots, which are built to work safely alongside human workers in a collaborative workspace. These have limited reach, payloads and speed. 

The third type of robot is autonomous mobile robots, which Miller noted can understand and move through their environment without being overseen directly by an operator or on a fixed predetermined path. These can be either platform or forklift.

“It has object avoidance, and is heavily used in the warehousing industry,” Miller pointed out. 

Ultimately, there are opportunities for robotics in the ink industry.

“Plant-wide conductivity must be a priority, and equipment will need to communicate with each other,” Miller concluded. “Let these machines take care of the mundane tasks and put your people to their best purpose.”

Combustible dust is a hazard in industrial facilities, and in his talk on “Combustible Dust Overview,” Reid Todd of Ramboll provided an overview of hazards and standards.

Todd noted that the first documented dust explosion occurred in Italy in 1785 at a bakery. There have been fatal accidents in the US, with one of the most famous being the 2008 Imperial Sugar Plant explosion that killed 14 people. As a result, OSHA set up the National Emphasis Program on Combustible Dust.

“Explosions are most likely to occur in ductwork or dust collectors,” Todd said. “A combustible dust presents a flash-fire hazard or deflagration hazard. The NFPA 68, 2018 edition prefers venting outside. If you have combustible dust, you have to do testing and have to look at isolation or removing ignition sources, ramping up house cleaning efforts, keeping mechanical and electrical equipment in good repair, performing a dust hazards analysis, providing education for your employees, and using appropriate ventilation equipment.”

Joe Cichon, retired VP of manufacturing technology for INX International Ink Co., then gave a talk on “What is a SWOT Analysis?” SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is used as a planning tool for strategic thinking, and Cichon offered his thoughts on the approach, which is used successfully by INX.

“There is a need for continuous improvement in all operations,” said Cichon. “It is important to review the current situation carefully before you set up an improvement plan, and it helps to ensure all your team members are working on the same plan. SWOT analysis requires a team effort, and the key is to capture different points of view.”

Cichon also said that it is important to narrow down your focus on projects.

“It is OK to have a laundry list of eight to 10 items to start with, but you should boil it down to three to five items in each quadrant,” he added.

Ken Williams of Sun Chemical followed with his talk on “Quality Guiding Principles and Best Practices.” Williams offered numerous examples of developing quantitative testing compared to qualitative analysis.

“Building a quality foundation requires creating an organizational foundation with quality tools and establishing a quality vision,” Williams said. “I like to establish the vision for a year out so it is easier to see the results of the change, while also building easy tracking tools and benchmarking your results.”

One example Williams used was testing gloss.

“When it comes to qualitative vs. quantitative testing, a person may have different standards of gloss,” he observed. “We need to convert qualitative to quantitative by using a gloss meter, which allows you to deliver a higher level of consistency to your customers.”

In the case of adhesion testing, Williams pointed out that there is no quantitative test, so Sun Chemical built out a qualitative test as a ready reference.

“We created a visual reference that shows how different results look and our people can check it,” he noted.

The final example was developing standardized mixing times, which Williams reported helps provide more consistent final products.

“Having standard mix times minimizes waterborne pH drift by not driving further shear energy and heat into the product or stabilizing solvent viscosity in the mixing phase,” Williams concluded.

Sun Chemical’s Dr. Nikola Juhasz closed the symposium with “Beyond Sustainable Products: Achieving Circularity Through Printing Ink Manufacturing Operations.” Dr. Juhasz offered her insights into the Circular Economy, which looks to eliminate pollution and waste while keeping materials in use.

Dr. Juhasz noted that organizations are looming major targets, such as having all plastic packaging be 100% reusable, recyclable and compostable by 2025. The industry will have to meet any mandates that are approved.

“Consumers and influential NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are demanding action and driving ambitious commitments from brand owners and other stakeholders,” Dr. Juhasz reported. “We are enabling a Circular Economy with the 5Rs of sustainability – reduce, reuse, redesign, recycle and renew. We engineer products to meet these requirements.

“We do life cycle analysis, look at packaging costs considerations but with no compromise on safety,” Dr. Juhasz added. “We look to reduce waste, energy and emissions, and can design out waste and pollution while conserving precious natural resources.”