NAPIM Hosts Manufacturing Symposium at ICE

For many years, the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM) has looked for a way to present a forum to discuss manufacturing issues. This year, that goal will be accomplished as NAPIM hosts its first Manufacturing Symposium during the International Coatings Expo (ICE Show) in Atlanta, GA on Nov. 5-7, 2001.
    
The symposium, which will be held in conjunction with the Federation of Societies for Coating Technology (FSCT) at the Georgia World Congress Center, will cover the principles and equipment used in the basic manufacturing processes of mixing and dispersion. Blending equipment, scheduling and automation will also be discussed.
    
“The idea was to look at different aspects involved in printing ink manufacturing, and put together a symposium for equipment and ink manufacturers to look at where manufacturing stands today,” said George Fuchs, NAPIM’s environmental affairs and information systems manager.
    
“We’ve had the technical conferences for a long time, and debated having a manufacturing symposium, and that’s what we decided to do this year,” said Joe Cichon, senior vice president of product and manufacturing technology at INX International and symposium chair. “The target audience is shop floor managers and second level managers for the ink industry.”
    
“The FSCT has always had an interest in working with us, and this provides an opportunity to work together,” said James Coleman, NAPIM’s executive director. “Our member services committee wanted us to institute a manufacturing conference that would add another valuable member benefit. The ICE Show presents a lot of equipment manufacturers, which makes this a good opportunity to have this conference.”
    
 The symposium begins Monday, Nov. 5 at the Atlanta Hilton, with a NAPIM reception at 6 p.m. The symposium runs 8:30 a.m.-noon Tuesday, Nov. 6, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7, and a closing dinner Wednesday evening. Mr. Cichon noted that the schedule affords many opportunities to attend the ICE Show and FSCT seminars.
    
Mr. Cichon said that the final schedule of speakers should be completed shortly. “We’re doing some fine tuning, and we’ve received good response from our speakers,” Mr. Cichon concluded.
    
For registration and hotel room reservation information, contact NAPIM at (732) 855-1525.