National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM), along with Ink World and Printed Electronics Now, are launching Ink Week 2020 ONLINE, featuring the Virtual Fall Technical Conference and the Electronic & Conductive Ink Conference.

“This conference is designed to ensure that attendees are exposed to current issues and future trends and directions in the printing and graphic arts spaces,” said George Fuchs, director, regulatory affairs and technology at NAPIM. “No other conference provides this level of technical, market and regulatory focus on the current and future issues facing our industry. Ink Week is ‘the’ professional education and development conference for graphic arts and printing.”

This year’s programs will offer comprehensive looks at the latest in ink technology, both present and future. NAPIM’s Technical Conference’s speakers will cover major themes, including packaging, sustainability and the most up-to-date environmental, health and safety (EHS) updates.

Fuchs said that the NAPIM Technical Conference segment of Ink Week will again be broad in its scope, covering market, technical and regulatory areas with expert presentations by carefully selected speakers.

“We are delighted and excited to have Rue Patel as our keynote speaker,” Fuchs noted. “Rue is a former supply chain director for General Mills and will provide a brand owner’s perspective on building value through the packaging supply chain.”

This year’s conference theme is “Formulating for the Circular Economy.”

“The conference planning committee selected this topic in recognition of the graphic arts market space continuing and accelerating interest in market sustainability,” Fuchs reported. “The food packaging safety, Toxic Control Act impacts, OSHA enforcement focus are a few of the regulatory topics to be covered. The technical track will feature a panel of experts from printing ink raw material suppliers, ink manufacturers and printers who will provide key insights into the current status and future trends and directs in sustainability in the commercial and packaging printing market. In addition, this track will include presentations on pigments and PCB contaminants and assessing the impact of inks and coatings on the compostability of printed matter.”

The Third Annual Electronic and Conductive Ink Conference will highlight the latest trends in conductive inks and flexible and printed electronics.

Fuchs said that Ink Week offers numerous benefits for attendees.

“The planning behind Ink Week begins in February each year and is the combined efforts of NAPIM’s member companies, both ink manufacturers and suppliers, and Ink World and Printed Electronics Now’s staff. The conference concept is to provide cutting-edge information and insights on printing ink, electronic and printed electronics. No other technically oriented conference focuses directly on these important market spaces of the graphic arts and printed electronics supply chain.”

In addition, Virtual Exhibits will allow attendees to connect with leading suppliers in the field. Siegwerk is the Platinum Sponsor for Ink Week. FlowCam by Yokogawa is Silver Sponsor. INX International Ink Co. and Allnex are also sponsors.

“The transition of the NAPIM Technical Conference and the Electronic and Conductive Ink Conference has been carefully planned for months – working with meeting planners, speakers and exhibitors. Virtualization will allow us to reach a broader/global audience with high-quality presentations. The efficiency of the ‘Virtual Exhibit Hall’ will allow more interaction with a broader number of attendees,” Fuchs said.

This year, one registration fee will provide you access to both conferences. The fee for a NAPIM member is $450 for a single attendee, with $350 for each additional attendee, and for non-members, $500 single attendee and $400 for each additional attendee.

NAPIM Technical Conference

“Formulating for the Circular Economy” is the theme of this year’s NAPIM Technical Conference, and will begin at 1 p.m. CST on Monday, Oct. 12. The conference features the following talks:

Monday, Oct. 12 (all times CST)

• 1:00-1:45 p.m. – Rue Patel, former Supply Chain director at General Mills, RueWorks, LLC – “Creating Value Through Supplier Partnerships”

• 1:45-2:30 p.m. – Katherine Berry, assistant director, Sustainability & Environment, American Coatings Association – “ACA 2020 Sustainability Report and Sustainability Program”

• 2:30-2:45 p.m. – Supplier Spotlight A/B

• 2:45-3:30 p.m. – Marci Kinter, VP-Government & Regulatory Affairs. PRINTING United Alliance – “Circularity in the Printing Industry – Can It Be Achieved?”

• 3:30-4 p.m. – John Jilek Jr., VP of sales & marketing, Inksolutions, LLC – “State of the Industry Report”

• 4:00-4:15 p.m. – Supplier Spotlight C/D

• 4:15-5 p.m. – Hunter Harris, Ingevity – “Sustainability in the Chemical Supply Chain – Principles and Practices”

• 5:00-5:30 p.m. – NPIRI Lecture – TBA

Tuesday, Oct. 13 (all times CST)

• 1:00-2:15 p.m. – Graphic Arts Sustainability Panel

Speakers:

• Pallavi Joyappa, COO, Emerald Packaging;
• Lena Zodda, marketing manager, Graphic Packaging International, Inc.;
• Mike Oberski, Technical Industry manager, Pigments for Ink Applications, BASF Colors & Effects;
• Dr. Nikola Juhasz, Global Technical director for Sustainability, Sun Chemical

• 1:45-2:30 p.m. – Katherine Berry, assistant director, Sustainability & Environment, American Coatings Association – “ACA 2020 Sustainability Report and Sustainability Program”

• 2:15-3:00 p.m. – Dr. Mark Vincent, CEO, Chroma Specialty Chemicals – “CB11 in Pigments, Printing Inks and Environment”

• 3:00-3:15 p.m. – Supplier Spotlight E/F

• 3:00-3:45 p.m. – Paul Fowler, principal, Diligentia Consulting – “The Whys, Whats and Hows of Compostability Testing”

• 4-4:45 p.m. – David Darling, VP Health, Safety and Environmental Affairs, American Coatings Association – “ACA Product Category Rules”

• 4:45-5:00 p.m. – Supplier Spotlight G/H

• 5:00-5:45 p.m. – Joe Cichon, former VP of Manufacturing Technology/TPM, retired from INX International Ink Co. – “The TPM Award for Excellence”

Wednesday, Oct. 14 (all times CST)

• 1:00-1:45 p.m. – Hazel O’Keeffe, partner, Keller and Heckman LLP – “Update on the Regulation of Printing Inks in Food Packaging in Europe”

• 1:45-2:30 p.m. – George Fuchs, director, Regulatory Affairs and Technology, NAPIM, – “Ink Industry Regulatory Update 2020”

• 2:30-2:45 p.m. – Supplier Spotlight I/J

• 2:45-3:30 p.m. – Kevin Bromberg – “EPA’s Proposed Industrial Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) and the Opportunity to Eliminate Low-Risk Facilities from Stormwater Monitoring Requirements”

• 3:30-4:15 p.m. – Chuck Chaitovitz, VP, Environmental Affairs and Sustainability, U.S. Chamber of Commerce – “Update on Policy Activity on PFAS”

• 4:15-4:30 p.m. – Supplier Spotlight K/L

• 4:30-5:15 p.m. – Riaz Zaman, Government Affairs counsel, American Coatings Association – “TSCA/LCSA and the Ink and Coatings Industry”

• 5:15-6:00 p.m. – Awards Presentation & Toast

Electronic and Conductive Ink Conference

Flexible and printed electronics applications are quickly becoming more mainstream, from sensors and wearables for healthcare to smart packaging, flexible displays, photovoltaics and more

These systems require conductive inks and pastes to create the connectivity; the conductive ink field is essential to flexible and printed electronics. Estimates place the conductive ink field at more than $2.5 billion, and the market is growing rapidly as flexible electronics find more applications. To meet the needs of this growing field, conductive ink manufacturers are working on new high-tech materials.

This will be one of the key messages from industry leaders during the Electronic and Conductive Ink portion of the Virtual Ink Week Conference. Healthcare is among the areas of interest that will be discussed, as sensors and wearables are an important opportunity.

The Thursday, Oct. 15 schedule begins at 1 p.m. CST, and is as follows:

• Keynote Speaker: James Lee, director, Innovation Solutions Group, Jones Healthcare Group – “Our Journey to Produce Intelligent Packaging;”

• Eric Weaver, CEO, Transparent Path spc – “Printed IoT and the Future of Food;”

• Chris Booher, chief marketing officer, ChemCubed – “Advantages of Particle-Free Silver Conductive Inks in Thin-Film Printed Electronics;”

• Brian Violette, applications engineer II, Creative Materials – “Direct to Fabric Printing of Electronic Materials;”

• Sai Srinivas Desabathina, manufacturing engineer, Liquid Wire, Inc. – “Electromechanical Characterization of Flexible Inductive Proximity Touch Sensor, Fabricated Using Liquid Wire’s Metal Gel”

The Friday, Oct. 16 session begins at 9 a.m. CST:

• 9:00-9:30 a.m. – Keynote Speaker: Dr. Christan Brox-Nilsen, R2R Production manager, Ynvisble, and Tommy Höglund, VP of sales, Ynvisble – “What It Takes to Make Smart Objects Smile;”

• 9:30-10:00 a.m. –Thomas Kolbusch, VP, Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH – “Silver Nano Wire Upscale from lab2fab – Overview on the Development on R2R Processes;”

• 10:00-10:30 a.m. – Dr. Matthew Dyson, technology analyst, IDTechEx – ” Emerging Application Opportunities for Conductive Inks;”

• 10:30-11:00 a.m. – Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, GM, Bayflex Optics – ” Better Testing Designs for Printed and Flexible Electronics;”

• 11:00-11:30 a.m. – Harit Doshi, CEO, Omniply – TBA

“The eInk and Printed Electronics segment will round out this year’s Ink Week,” Fuchs said. “NAPIM has partnered with Ink World and Printed Electronics Now magazines again this year to provide cutting edge, state of the art coverage in the high tech world of electronic ink and printed electronics. This rapidly evolving area has the potential to expand our industry into new and exciting areas.”

To sign up or for more information, see the website at https://bit.ly/2GklWF4 or register at https://bit.ly/2SdC1z6.