FTA enters its 60th year

2018 marks 60 years since the founding of the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA), with the industry body’s printer membership including an increasing number of label printers.

FTA enters its 60th year

Founded in 1958, the member-driven organization’s purpose remains the same, in serving the package printing and converting industry by connecting likeminded individuals, providing flexographers the resources needed to expand their skills, and ‘continuing to drive flexography to package printing dominance’.

‘The flexographic industry today is vastly different that it was back in 1958,’ commented Mark Cisternino, FTA president and 2016 Hall of Fame inductee. ‘The technology is different, the people are different, the world is different. But one common element hasn’t changed, an ideal which has led to the unprecedented growth of the industry and the long-term success of FTA as a vibrant, member-supported technical society: progress through collaboration.

‘Over the years, thousands of people have contributed to that growth.’

FTA’s membership continues to grow. The printer demographic alone is up by five percent in the past year. Some 57 percent of FTA’s members are printers, making this segment the majority of the membership population. Many of the association’s newest members are label printers. This trend is attributed to the merging of the segment’s current printing presses with the flexographic printing process.

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of Finat, and 40 years since the founding of Labels & Labeling.