GlassPrint 2017 attracts record attendance

Staged for the seventh time and powered by glasstec, a record attendance of over 200 attendees travelled from 28 different countries, not only from throughout mainland Europe and United Kingdom but also from long distance destinations such as Chile, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Taiwan and USA.

Key stakeholders represented included glassmakers, decorators and brand owners such as AB InBev, AGC, ARC, Ardagh, Blase, BSH, Bormioli Luigi, Corning, Gürallar, Heinz-Glas, Kurz, Libbey, O-I, Pasabahce, PSL, Saint-Gobain, Schott, The Absolut Company, Verallia, Vetropack and William Grant. 

Educational programme

GlassPrint 2017 provided delegates with the opportunity to discover the latest innovative advances in screen-printing, dynamic strides in digital technology and revolutionary new techniques such as 3D printing via a two day programme of conference and networking sessions.

Opening with a keynote address covering glass printing trends, technologies and geographic markets by Dr Sean Smyth of Smithers Pira, technical experts working for various companies in the glass decoration sector then delivered a series of presentations that demonstrated processes and ideas to add extra value to the end product, cut production costs and make processes more efficient:

• Novel transparent inks for highly efficient light diffuser glass devices (EPTA Inks)
• The value of glass decoration (FERRO)
• Direct to bottle printing with a scalable easy to use system for screen printing (Gallus)
• Atmospheric pressure plasma for patterned inkjet printing and coating on glass (HEIG-VD / HES-SO University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland)
• Digital glass gilding technology for decoration (Heraeus)
• How to benefit from cloud computing and Industry 4.0 as a glass printer (KBA Kammann)
• True3DGlass: A revolution in glass processing (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
• Screen printing of hollow and flat glass: Latest developments, advantages of organic inks, effects for the beverage industry (Marabu)
• Ceramic digital printing without glass frit (Ormo Print)
• Digital printing opens a new way of marketing glass bottles (Rosario C2C / Curvink)
• Stencil technology for close tolerance printing (SAATI)
• Screen printing: The importance of a perfect screen (SignTronic / Grünig)
• Decoration of architectural glass using inkjet printing (Tiger Coatings)

Five additional keynote addresses were made covering the flat and hollow sectors. Marcello Montisci, Chairman of the FEVE Marketplace Committee and Head of Corporate Sales, Marketing and Planning for the Vetropack Group, looked at current and future challenges and opportunities for the container glass industry, while Bertrand Cazes, Secretary General of Glass for Europe, presented ‘Healthy buildings and what it means for flat glass’.

Later, Dr Johann Overath, Director General of Bundesverband Glasindustrie e.V., evaluated the current situation and trends in the German glass industry and an update of glasstec 2018 was provided by Birgit Horn, project director at Messe Düsseldorf, and Professor Ulrich Knaack of the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Simone Tiozzo from Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro also examined compliance to food contact and REACH Regulations.

Anyone who missed GlassPrint 2017 and would benefit from viewing the proceedings can visit www.esma.com/shop/glassprint to purchase the presentations.

Sold-out exhibition

The conference programme was supported by intervals dedicated to the accompanying sold-out tabletop exhibition area, and at the end of the first day delegates benefited from networking with their peers and suppliers during an evening dinner. Exhibitors who displayed the latest developments in inks, pre-press technology, printing equipment and supplies included:

ColorGATE, Curvink, EPTA Inks, Fermac, FERRO, Gallus, glasstec / Messe Düsseldorf, Glass Global, Global Inkjet Systems, Grünig-Interscreen, HEIG-VD / HES-SO University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland, Heraeus, ISIMAT, KBA Kammann, KIWO / Kissel + Wolf, Lüscher, Marabu, Mimaki, Ormo Print, Peyer Graphics, Pröll, RK Siebdrucktechnik, RUCO, SAATI, Sefar, SIAK Transfers, SignTronic, Tecno5 (Cerve), Tiger Coatings and Uviterno.

GlassPrint LIVE

Following its successful introduction to the programme in 2015, the GlassPrint LIVE session returned to bring together a specially selected panel of experts to discuss topical issues affecting hollow and flat glass decoration.

Panelists included Jochen Christiaens (Inkjet Consulting Christiaens), Harald Gavin (ISIMAT), Oliver Kammann (K-Flow), Eelco Venema (Rosario / Curvink), Rino Messere (Saint-Gobain) and Bob Nersesian (Sun Chemical). Moderator was Sun Chemical’s Robin McMillan in his role as chairman of ESMA’s Technical Exchange Committee.

Sponsors and organisers

GlassPrint was jointly organised by Chameleon Business Media, publisher of Glass Worldwide and Specialist Printing Worldwide magazines, and ESMA, a European association for specialist printing manufacturers of screen, digital and flexo technology. As well as being powered by glasstec, GlassPrint 2017 was sponsored by Glass Global.

After reaffirming its importance on the global glass events calendar, the organisers are already planning to repeat GlassPrint in 2019 and interested parties can register their interest at www.glassprint.org

Visit our photo gallery from GlassPrint 2017: http://glassprint.org/delegates/pictures2017