With a prestigious lineup featuring Jay Leno and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the Coalition for Clean Air (CCA) presents the 2012 California Air Quality Awards at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, CA.
RadTech-The Association for Ultraviolet (UV) and Electron Beam (EB) Technologies has just signed on as a new sponsor of the event, in recognition of the important work of CCA.

“We applaud CCA for its efforts to position California as a global leader in improving air quality,” says Howard Ragin, RadTech President, DSM Coating Resins.  “We recognize the leadership role that California plays not just in the U.S., but worldwide–and we commend CCA for its deep commitment to advanced technologies such as UV and EB as a way to not only clean the air, but also maintain a vital, local manufacturing presence.”

“UV/EB printing and coating has done a fantastic job of reducing air pollution emissions,” says Dr. Joseph Lyou, CCA President and CEO .  “UV/EB technologies are revolutionizing their industry and improving our air quality at the same time.  The great news is that we have significant additional opportunities to further reduce air pollution from the printing and coating industry using UV/EB technologies.”

Tickets are still available for the 2012 California Air Quality Awards. For more information, please visit ccair.org/awards.
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With offices in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Fresno, the nonprofit Coalition for Clean Air has worked to restore clean air to California since 1971. CCA is dedicated to reducing emissions and improving public health through advocacy, outreach and education. For more information, visit www.ccair.org.

I recently visited a nondescript building outside Portland, Oregon that would feel right at home in any corporate office park in America. Nothing about the bland, uninteresting exterior even hinted at what to expect beyond the front doors. There’s no sign outside to tell you where you are. No iconic sculptures alluding to what they do inside. Nothing at all that even hints at the harmonious blend of magic and technology within.

But make no mistake, what LAIKA Studios is hiding inside those four generic-looking walls is nothing short of a revolution in film production… a revolution 115 years in the making.

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As RadTech 2012 came to its conclusion, Live From the RadTech Show Daily had a chance to catch up with Gary Cohen, executive director of RadTech, who shared some of his thoughts regarding RadTech 2012 and the continued emergence of UV/EB.

Q. RadTech 2012 enjoyed record attendance figures for end users for the Technical Conference. What is driving the growth in interest in UV and EB technologies?

Gary Cohen: RadTech truly transcends classification as a conference, or a trade show, or a paint or ink event. It embodies the remarkable advancement of UV and EB as a process technology and manufacturing solution. Several attendees commented on the energy and uniqueness of the event, as the gathering of a community of like-minded experts exchanging ideas and developing new contacts that are invaluable to the advancement of UV/EB.

Q. What message do you think attendees walked away with after RadTech 2012?

Gary Cohen: The diversity of RadTech 2012 is an extraordinary characteristic of the UV/EB process, with applications ranging from aerospace to high tech fabrics to touch screen displays to floor refinish to smart packaging to the world’s lightest structure. I view UV/EB not as a single product or process, but as a technology platform, in many ways similar to the internet, where the basic structure of the technology allows the creation of a multitude of “apps.”

One of the key results of the event is what I like to call “spin-offs” akin to NASA technologies finding use in other applications. For example, industrial coatings and graphic arts ink folks were seen attending our fingernail finishing session, seeking potential new ideas for their applications.

The event attracts the foremost authorities in their fields, and we are very excited to also encourage and sponsor significant student participation, as they see the technology as an attractive enhancement to their work.

Q. RadTech has been working closely with a number of trade associations. How are these collaborations benefiting the respective constituencies?

Gary Cohen: We were particularly gratified to gain strong support from other groups that promoted the event as a way to inform their constituencies about the technology. For example, The Great Lakes Graphics Association and the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center are two new partners that helped attract well-qualified end users to our event.

Q. What is your outlook for energy-curable technologies for the coming years?

Gary Cohen: With the current emphasis on new materials and energy technologies, innovation, sustainability, export competiveness and re-shoring, UV and EB are well positioned to accelerate their application in a range of industries.

Source: Dave Savastano, Ink World/Coatings World from Rodman Publishing

Bethesda, MD (April 11, 2012) Don Duncan, Director of Research, Wikoff Color Corporation, has been selected as the next President Elect for RadTech, the Association for UV and EB Technology.  “Don is well respected in our industry and has taken an active and much appreciated  volunteer role with RadTech, says Howard Ragin, DSM-AGI Corporation and current President of RadTech.    Don previously served four years on the Board of Directors for RadTech, and currently serves as the co-Chair of the Printing and Packaging Committee—and helped lead the effort to develop the well received upcoming RadTech 2012 Printing and Packaging Session www.radtech2012.com.  He is a native Texan and received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from North Texas State University in Denton, Texas.  He then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry.  Don is the holder of two U.S. patents, the author of more than 30 technical papers and a frequent author in the graphic arts industry trade journals and presenter in graphic arts-related conferences.  Don is also an active member of TAGA, FTA, TAPPI, ASTM and the American Chemical Society, and now serves as the Executive Vice President for TAGA as well as on the SGP Partnership board.  He is scheduled to begin his term as President in January 2013.