FLEXO INSIGHT: Debbie Waldron-Haines

Since the official relaunch of the European Flexographic Industry Association, EFIA (UK), the new Board of Directors has been working hard to establish a structure for the association’s new direction. At the recent September Board Meeting, held at the Felix Hotel, Cambridge, the new strategy was agreed.

At the heart of the new winning strategy are five key ‘pillars’ of activity to support the flexographic Industry:

¦¦Training and Development

¦¦Productivity Improvements and Innovation

¦¦Promoting competition and recognising performance within the industry

¦¦Industrial & B2B Marketing

¦¦Providing unbiased technical support

These new streams of activity are seen as fundamental to EFIA continuing to take a lead role in promoting and supporting flexographic printing within the print industry.

David Galton, EFIA Chairman, comments: ‘”The flexographic print industry is maturing in the UK and Europe and whilst it remains the right print technology, in the highly competitive and challenging times we live in, the industry continues to require support to improve and enhance its operational efficiency performance. The mission of EFIA is to become a natural extension of our member companies, in terms of technical support, education, innovation and promotion on a UK & European basis.”

To support these initiatives, EFIA welcomes Joanna Stephenson, Marketing Director of Sun Chemical Packaging Europe, and Dean Stanford, Print Manager of Amcor Flexibles, onto the Board. Through the training and development function, EFIA will continue to develop the online ‘EFIA Academy’. The Academy offers bespoke training and development, hands-on training and lean manufacturing programmes, as well as new ‘EFIA challenges’ into 2011.

Finally, EFIA is pleased to announce that the renowned EFIA Print Awards & Gala Dinner Event will take place on 30 March 2011, once again at The Armouries, Leeds. A supporting exhibition and seminar will be provided on the same day.