Planning for the 2014 Forum and InfoFlex began in late 2012. Now, some 18 months later, that preparation is about to come to fruition. An expected 1,700 individuals are driving, flying and otherwise commuting to Baltimore, Md., for the events spanning from April 27 to April 30.

Forum co-chairs Pepper Stokes of Robbie Fantastic Flexibles, and Jessica Harkins Harrell, Anderson & Vreeland, promise to “break new ground” and the 11 session agenda planned across four days focuses on bringing that idea to reality.
 
“This year we made it our No. 1 priority to bring forth new topics, new content, new research, new case studies… new everything into the Forum program,” Stokes and Harkins Harrell say. “Thus the theme ‘Breaking New Ground’ came to be. We wanted to make sure that we broke new ground in every conceivable way. We’re introducing new sessions, new formats and new presenters.”
 
Many of the festivities have already gotten underway. On Saturday, April 26, nearly 100 flexographers teed off in the annual J.P. Buckley Golf Tournament, held at Mountain Branch Golf Course in Joppa, MD. That same day, students had their work judged in the Phoenix Challenge College Competition. Winners will be announced tonight at the FTA Annual Banquet & Awards Program, along with other honors such as the Excellence in Flexography Awards and Hall of Fame inductee.
 
Some of the notable sessions over the four day event include:
 
♦   Managing Your Pressroom Efficiencies, which
     the chairs say “will be crucial for printers who
     want to make the most out of their existing
     investments in machinery” 
 
♦   Expanded Gamut, headlined by one of the
     world’s largest CPCs, Procter & Gamble Co. 
 
♦   An array of concurrent sessions that focus on the
     different market segments
        o  Flexible packaging
        o  Tags and labels
        o  Corrugated 
 
♦   Emerging Flexo Markets, “essential for anyone
     looking to diversify their offerings and expand
     their reach into new, previously untapped markets
     to grow their businesses” 
 
♦   Flexo Mythbusters, which aims to put to bed the
     falsities that still exist in the industry 
 
♦   A preview of the newest version of Flexographic
     Image Reproduction Specifications and
     Tolerances (FIRST)
 
“Use Forum and InfoFlex 2014 to strengthen and leverage your competitive advantage,” the chairs say. “Tap new opportunities. Participate in the dialogue, debate and discussion. Take new ideas home and put them in place at your plant. What you learn at Forum will be fundamental to future success.”