05.06.24
Techkon has received the FTA Technical Innovation Award 2024 for its first-to-market, ChromaQA5 with SmartInk, an AI-driven, new feature, that allows anyone to make precise ink toning adjustments, either on press or in the ink room, without the guesswork or inherent experience that has been required until now.
The award was presented on Sunday, May 5, during the Awards Banquet ceremony at FORUM & INFOFLEX 2024, FTA’s annual four-day technical conference and exhibition.
Joe Tuccitto, director of education at FTA, says, "Recipients of the FTA Technical Innovation Award are chosen by a panel of flexographic experts for having strong potential to positively influence the future of flexography. The judging process is very competitive and thorough, and Techkon should be very proud of this outstanding achievement. ChromaQA with SmartInk represents a groundbreaking development in making ink toning in a pinch easy, fast, and widely accessible."
Techkon is one of two announced winners this year, underscoring the importance of the achievement and the impact ChromaQA with SmartInk can make.
George Adam, president at Techkon USA, received the award on behalf of the entire Techkon team. He said, "All of us at Techkon are extremely proud to have been recognized for what we believe is an important innovation in an area that is traditionally based on decades-long experience of highly skilled individuals. With the looming skilled labor shortages and the influx of a new inexperienced workforce, tools like SmartInk will be imperative to allow printers of all sizes to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and improve profitability."
Jon Whalen, assistant production manager at Interflex, a ChromaQA with SmartInk user, comments, "In the past, if you didn’t have an extremely skilled laborer, you would have long color match times and a lot of difficulty in keeping the press running. Now, with ChromaQA & SmartInk, we have a lot of young guys that are starting out fresh and it’s helping them to understand how that base and pigment impact the overall color of the product. Overall, that's equaled up to $20,000 savings just in press time alone (in only 4 months). That’s not even counting up my ink room’s time. Plus, our workoff program has become a lot easier, too. Our workoff numbers are over $50,000 a month now."
The award was presented on Sunday, May 5, during the Awards Banquet ceremony at FORUM & INFOFLEX 2024, FTA’s annual four-day technical conference and exhibition.
Joe Tuccitto, director of education at FTA, says, "Recipients of the FTA Technical Innovation Award are chosen by a panel of flexographic experts for having strong potential to positively influence the future of flexography. The judging process is very competitive and thorough, and Techkon should be very proud of this outstanding achievement. ChromaQA with SmartInk represents a groundbreaking development in making ink toning in a pinch easy, fast, and widely accessible."
Techkon is one of two announced winners this year, underscoring the importance of the achievement and the impact ChromaQA with SmartInk can make.
George Adam, president at Techkon USA, received the award on behalf of the entire Techkon team. He said, "All of us at Techkon are extremely proud to have been recognized for what we believe is an important innovation in an area that is traditionally based on decades-long experience of highly skilled individuals. With the looming skilled labor shortages and the influx of a new inexperienced workforce, tools like SmartInk will be imperative to allow printers of all sizes to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and improve profitability."
Jon Whalen, assistant production manager at Interflex, a ChromaQA with SmartInk user, comments, "In the past, if you didn’t have an extremely skilled laborer, you would have long color match times and a lot of difficulty in keeping the press running. Now, with ChromaQA & SmartInk, we have a lot of young guys that are starting out fresh and it’s helping them to understand how that base and pigment impact the overall color of the product. Overall, that's equaled up to $20,000 savings just in press time alone (in only 4 months). That’s not even counting up my ink room’s time. Plus, our workoff program has become a lot easier, too. Our workoff numbers are over $50,000 a month now."