RTE Conference & Exhibition 2009
On the 14th and 15th of October 2009, the 14th edition of the biannual RadTech Conference and Exhibition took place in the Nice Acropolis Convention and Exhibition complex in Nice, France. The theme this year was “UV/EB- Sustainable Technology”.
With 75 top-level papers, the conference once again offered attendees the opportunity to keep up to date with all the latest developments in UV and EB, and to meet all the major users of radiation curing materials, equipment and products.
The 300+ visitors of the event clearly showed the interest of the industry in UV and EB, despite the difficult economic circumstances.
Plenary session
The packed plenary session was opened by the President of RadTech Europe, Dawn Skinner, who underlined that the sustainable benefits of UV and EB can be a driving force for the growth of the technology. In recognition of this, RadTech Europe developed a conference program to give attendees valuable insights in these benefits and the tools to promote these.
For the first time, the plenary session contained a presentation by a major end-user (Nestlé), explaining the challenges, the food industry expectations and the solutions Nestlé developed for the use of energy curing.
Dr Hervé Simian explained that the complex supply chain in the food industry induces a large diversity of materials that can come into contact with food. For this reason, packaging safety and traceability of materials and articles are of vital importance.
To ensure these, Nestlé uses Good Manufacturing Practice to set the frame for packaging materials. Collaboration and knowledge exchange throughout the whole value chain play an important role here, with Nestle looking for better and tighter partnerships.
Dr Simian underlined that Nestlé believes radiation inks are an excellent technology, providing that curing is state of the art. Dr Simian shortly discussed the different types of measures Nestlé uses to guarantee the desired degree of curing.
Following this, Enzo Colapinto and Renato Bottachiari presented the results of the Italian study into the suitability of energy curing products for food packaging. He began with a brief summary of the background of the study, on which initial work started in 2001 as a result of industry demand. Since then, preliminary case studies and complete dossier case studies have been presented in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.
New regulations affected the study. Mr. Colapinto gave a quick overview of the most legislative framework.
Objective of the research was to verify the eventual migration from UV printed cardboard and bi-laminated PE board by applying the validation protocol. Based on the findings, it was concluded that a validation protocol has been developed for UV ink printing. In addition, a set of analytical methods has been developed that allow the evaluation of the specific migration of ink compounds. In practical applications, the protocol has shown the use of UV ink and UV offset print processes without finding significant critical issues for the risk of organoleptic and toxicological damage. UV inks, can be evaluated and can be considered appropriate for the printing of packages intended for contact with food. (IRCpack Analysis Institute)
As Mr. Gatti of Rahn AG was unable to attend the conference, Mr. David Helsby gave his presentation on the challenges of doing business in a constantly changing market environment. He identified a number of issues that define the current business landscape:
1. Economic crisis
2. Volatility in market conditions
3. Globalisation of the industry
4. Tightening regulatory requirements.
5. Climate change and sustainability
Although these issues determine the business landscape, Mr. Helsby identified a number of actions available to companies:
1. Recession management
2. Focus on long-term strategy
3. Be responsive to customers
4. Look for new revenue generators
5. Innovate
6. Communicate to shareholders/stakeholders.
Even though the natural reaction of companies is to limit investment, these investments can help kick-start growth as soon as the economic situation improves.
The plenary session ended with the announcement of the winners of two prestigious awards: the RadTech Europe Innovation Awards and the Paul Dufour Award.
Overall
All in all, the conference was well-attended given the circumstances and certainly met the high quality traditionally associated with the RadTech Conference. New initiatives, such as the end user presentation in the plenary session and the new common booth show the Conference and Exhibition are moving with the times, meeting the shifting demands of the industry.