2009 NPIRI summer course.

The 48th Annual NPIRI Introduction to Printing Ink Course will be conducted at Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI, where attendees will receive a balanced mix of lectures and hands-on experience with on-site production printing presses. This premier event has attracted thousands of graphic arts professionals since 1960 from printing ink companies and suppliers to the industry.

This broad, comprehensive course covers the scientific principles of printing ink rheology, pigment dispersion, color technology along with raw materials for packaging, publication and commercial printing applications. This information is then coupled to practical application by utilizing the on-site production presses.

Instructors from both ink and supplier companies are experts in their respective fields and they bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the presentations.

The course is presented in a modular format consisting of paste inks followed by liquid inks to allow companies who specialize to efficiently use their time. Topics that are in common to both modules will be presented on Wednesday.

One of the key highlights will be a tour of a nearby paper mill, which is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14. This tour added for the first time last year and received rave reviews from last year's attendees. Both the Paste Ink Module and Combined Module attendees will go on the tour.

The Paste Module will begins on Sunday, July 12 and runs through Wednesday, July 15. Equipment demonstrations, laboratories and press sessions will complement the formal lectures

The Fluid Module begins on Wednesday, July 15, and ends Friday, July 17. It will also include equipment demonstrations, laboratories, and press sessions on corrugated, narrow and wide web flexo presses.

The combined Printing Ink Technology Course includes both the Paste Ink and Liquid Ink Modules.

Among the prominent speakers on tap for the Paste Ink Module courses are John Daugherty, Graham Battersby, David Aynessazian, Mouehine Kanouni, Dale Drake, Jim Niemiec, Victor Lewis, Greg Kamykowski, Tom Klepper and Dean Kershaw.

Topics for the Paste Ink Module include the lithographic print process, litho paste ink and vehicle composition, energy curable paste inks, offset prepress, substrates, fountain solutions and pressrooom chemicals as well as testing.

There will also be demonstrations of a Heidelberg SM74 and Xerox iGen3 print engine.

The overlapping day features talks by Charlie Hsu, Matt McClure, John Foster, Lisa Fine and Mr. Drake. They will cover areas common to both paste and fluid inks, including rheology, pigments and colorants, white pigments, carbon black, color matching and management, and dispersion.

On the fluid ink side, speakers include Brian Chwierut, Shailesh Shah, Mark Keller, Dan Muthig and Kim Kroneke. They will cover areas as diverse as flexo and gravure printing and ink composition, lamination, energy curable fluid inks, non-impact printing, flexo plate making and mounting, substrates, proofing and ink testing.

There will also be flexo press demonstrations on a PCMC wide web flexo press as well as a Grant Corrugated press run.

Among the questions that will be discussed are:

* How are raw materials selected? Chemistry, performance, availability, relative costs are all part of this process.

* How does one optimize the ink manufacturing process in terms of throughput rate and cost?

* What are the key variables for the different printing processes? What is the impact on ink?

* How is ink tested to ensure performance on the customer's printing press?

* How are inks formulated to perform on various substrates?

However, a change for this year is that NAPIM cannot offer any late registrations after June 1, due to the commitments it has made with the hotel and Fox Valley. If NAPIM does not reach the minimum by this cut off date, the course will be cancelled.

Attendees are responsible for their own hotel accommodations. For reservations call Holiday Inn Select at [phone], or on the web at www.hiselect.com/appletonwi. In order to receive the $75 per night rate, mention NPIRI.

To register or for information on the 2009 NPIRI Summer Course Program, contact NAPIM at [phone].

UPCOMING EVENTS

NPIRI Summer Course, Appleton, WI

July 12-17, 2009

NPIRI Technical Conference, Tampa, FL

October 7-9, 2009