The Screen Print Man

Usually, exhibition organizers always expect or wish to get a large footfall. Frankly, the Screen Print India expo can be termed as a 'qualitative exhibition'. There was an inflow of technology and knowledge seeking print professionals moving around the stalls, spending some quality time with exhibitors and experts while attending seminars.

In the evenings they spent time with family or friends on Goa’s beaches, hotels, motels or cruise-n-casinos. Usually, exhibitions have huge footfalls which poses a difficult task to the exhibitors to handle, explain or sell; at the same time visitors could spend litle time understanding and seeing the technology in action. 

As I overheard, "The new venue of SPI expo gave dual benefit; enjoying leisure while doing serious sure business.

Goa's Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza, inaugurated the SPI’14 Expo at Dr Shayama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Goa.

Besides many industry stalwarts, Mike Young, member of SGIA & ASDPT and an international screen printing expert along with Johnny Shell, vice president (technical servicers), SGIA, USA, was present on the occasion. 

The Screen Print India’14 Awards Nite
My heartiest congratulations to all the award winners of Screen Print India Awards. The statistics go as these: Around 1200 entries from over 150 print companies were received across 35 categories, covering wide spectrum of screen printing applications. 

At the Awards' gallery I was glad to see that majority of the award winners were Grafica’s valued customers. For those who believe or treat screen printing as a process to print visiting cards, letterhead, wedding cards, the Awards gallery at Screen Print India’14 in Goa, was an eye opener.  

In all 38 companies won awards which were presented to them at the houseful Awards Nite held on the evening of 18th September 2014 in Goa’s exotic Deltin Royale Cruise n Casino.

Expressing his solidarity to screen printing, Amit Shah, managing director of Mumbai-based Spectrum Scan, said that his company is now a successful print solution provider thanks to screen printing process. While highlighting the wide range of applications of screen printing in modern day world (including the iPhones, iPads, etc), he asserted, “I am a screen printer first, and to me digital is secondary business.”

DMI institute, a division of Grafica, was the exclusive sponsor of ‘Screen Print India Award of Excellence for Woman Entrepreneur in Screen Printing’. Screen The award recognised the all-round achievement in screen printing.

The winners are
Kratika Mittal, Prayag Inds, Hapur; Dhwani Bhootwala, Creative Graphics, Surat; and Meeta Shah, A&M Enterprises, Ahmedabad

Grafica’s MD, Bhargav Mistry, reiterated that his company re-affirms its commitment for the overall development of screen printing industry. The Grafica stall had live demos of screen printing UV special effects/varnish to demonstrate value addition concept for packaging. 

Technical Seminars at SPI'14: Printers get technology insights from international experts
Various seminars, held on the sidelines of Screen Print India exhibition in Goa (18-21 September 2014), were well attended by knowledge-seeking screen printing professionals including some of Grafica’s valued customers. The participants felt the seminars were informative and practical.

A brief report

Technical seminar on 'Direct to garment screen printing' by Johnny Shell, vice president (Technical Services), SGIA, USA

Textile Special Effects: While discussing the basic types of special effect inks and popular applications for which they are used, Shell touched upon the technical requirements for successful print production including the use of the right mesh and stencil combinations. He also performed live demo to substantiate his theoretical session.

Screen Making Variables - Mesh, Tension, Stencils and Exposure: In this session, Shell covered the key variables and techniques to understand for successful screen making. He touched upon topics ranging from mesh geometry and its importance when standardising mesh counts, tension and its impact on the entire screen printing process, how to choose the right stencil material and apply it properly, and methods for determining proper exposure.

Textile Separations: In this session, Shell discussed the current separation methods used for textile printing and when each can be used. He elaborated the four-color process, index, and simulated process separation techniques using Adobe Photoshop.

Shell had also conducted seminars on digital technologies for textiles.

Mike Young 

Seminar 1: Prevent early colour fading in India: understanding colour light fastness. 

Seminar 2: Noteworthy growth areas for India's Screen Printing Community. 

Seminar 3: In this highly-technical seminar (comprehensive), Mike spoke about the basic techniques for high-performance/ industrial screen printing applications.

Seminar 4: In this seminar, Mike discussed High-Tech Printing 101 for Management.

Seminar 5: Here, Mike gave an overview of printed circuit and touch screen applications

Mike is a renowned screen printing consultant Imagetek Consulting International, and a member of ASDPT, USA. We shall cover a detailed report on his seminar in future issues.