Interview with Print Finishing expert, Jeff Peterson

Print Finishing Expert, Jeff Peterson Talks Engraving

This is a photograph of Executive Director of the FSEA, Jeff Peterson

Given the current economic climate it is often hard for companies to focus on maintaining their market share whilst keeping abreast of current industry developments. We have therefore asked print finishing industry expert, Jeff Peterson from the FSEA (Foil and Speciality Effects Association) to give his insight on the latest trends.

Jeff worked in the hot stamping industry for 20 years before he became the Executive Director of the American based association, the FSEA. His mission and that of the FSEA, formerly known as the Foil Stamping and Embossing Association is two-fold. The first is to provide a worldwide industry resource for companies involved with foil stamping, embossing, and other specialty finishing techniques, such as: coatings, laminates, and laser cutting. The second is to raise the profile of these effects and encourage their usage amongst graphic designers and brand managers.

Jeff comments:

The use of foil stamping continues to be an important graphic element for many types of applications, such as: greeting cards, packaging, gift wrap, labels and stationary. However, competition still exists from other decorating choices that are now available to both designers and converters. The engraving company therefore needs to be proactive in its marketing and sales efforts.

If we look at today’s market place businesses are choosing shorter runs of highly targeted direct mail, brochures and folders making it vitally important to create an eye-catching piece. Because of this, there is an opportunity to provide decorating processes such as foil stamping, embossing, or specialty coatings. At the moment the trend is to utilize embossing with other techniques, including foil and UV coatings. The most popular of which is to mix the ‘glitz’ of metallic finishes with embossing.

While this creates an opportunity for engravers, there are still a number of environmental issues that are becoming increasingly important and that are not going to go away! Engravers, using the acid etching process (especially those without the resources to have a sophisticated filtering system) will find it increasingly difficult to meet EPA and other environmental legislation in the future. Using CNC technology however allows the production of engravings without having to deal with these types of regulations.

In addition, CADCAM (Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing) software continues to improve and allow more detailed embossing dies to be created through CNC methods verses hand engraved dies. The benefits are many, for example, the consistency that CNC engravings can offer from one die to the next. This can be especially important with very tight register jobs with several die positions on the sheet. It is also a benefit with embossing or combination dies where counters can be interchangeable with CNC engraved dies. And, of course, there are some environmental benefits to CNC as no chemicals are required.

CNC technology is definitely going to be the future of the industry, so if printers or other businesses are looking to expand into this market this would be the best place to start. Not only has the software and machinery improved over the past few years, making it more feasible to get into the market, but also the computer capabilities and CADCAM skills of school leavers and university graduates is much greater.

It is important to note though, that this type of work requires a fast turnaround which tends to be a more national or regional trade, even though for some very special applications international opportunities may exist. Additionally, although the engraving techniques are pretty similar between the US and Europe one of the main differences is that deep, detailed embossing is not as prominent in Europe as it is in the US. In North America more emphasis is placed on hand engraving and CNC engraving for deep embossing.

When looking for a CADCAM solution I recommend that any engraver looks for a software package that they can feel comfortable with and that has good customer service. I believe that this is one of the benefits of the ArtCAM System. It continues to improve and become a user-friendly tool for engravers.

To find out more about the FSEA and the resources available please go to: www.fsea.com