TLMI Technical Conference
September 4-5 2013 – Whitlam Group had a strong presence at this years’ 2013 TLMI (Tag and Label Manufacturing Institution) Technical Conference held September 4-5 in Chicago. This years Technical Conference brought in more than 350 attendees where over the course of two days more than 70 presenters, session chairs and panelists led technical discussions and gave presentations addressing the narrow web converting industry’s current trends, challenges and opportunities at the conference’s “Turning Vision Into Reality” themed format.
The conference featured technical presentations and discussions involving expert speakers and panelists representing the entire supply chain: industry converters, suppliers and consumer packaged goods companies. TLMI’s goal with the Technical Conference is to ensure presenters are addressing those issues relevant to converters’ day-to-day operational issues and growth strategies, in addition to industry best practices.
The TLMI Technical conference co-chairs Michelle Shaieb, Marketing Manager at Whitlam Group and Wade Fouts, VP Sales at Wilson Manufacturing Company along with the Technical Committee put a tremendous amount of time and effort into planning the event to ensure the presentations cover the topics that are truly relevant in today’s marketplace.
This is an event that appeals to different company personnel levels including owners and C-level executives, plant managers, technical managers, and sales and marketing professionals. The TLMI Technical Conference continues to be a forum that delivers industry insight that drives both the success of our members, and of the greater industry.” Conference presentation topics included Sustainable Labeling Solutions, Thin Materials, Ink Trending, Hiring Best Practices, Waste Measurement and Reduction, Flexo versus Digital Label Printing, Business Management Software, Prepress Color Management and Regulatory Standards. Throughout the two-day conference presenting converters also offered a direct glimpse into their own operations, sharing anecdotes about interviewing strategies, employee motivation strategies and production practices.
On September 4th Alex Elezaj, COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Whitlam Group presented and lead a panel discussion on Finding Tomorrow’s Leaders – Hiring and Training for a World Class Organization. Alex’s presentation covered the following topics: The 3 Rules for Success, Find and Keeping the Best People, and Organizing the Family Business.
Joining Alex on the stage:
- Kelly Ferrara Project Engineer at Whitlam Group. Kelly talked about her experience as apart of the new hire on-boarding process, and how each new employee completes a unique two-week “training agenda” and outlined what that training agenda entailed and why it is so important to have a new hire-training program in place.
Panelist Included:
- Brian Gale – I.D. Images, LLC: President and majority owner of I.D. Images, LLC, a leading label converter located in Brunswick, OH.
- Panelist Halpin – Steinhauser, Inc.: President and fourth generation owner of Steinhauser, a certified woman owned business located in Newport, KY
- Tracy Tenpenny – Tailored Label Products, Inc.: Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Tailored Label Products (TLP), a producer of custom engineered specialty labels
On September 5th Don Clifford Vice President – Operations, Finance and Information Technology presented in a session on Business Software: Adding Capacity without Adding Equipment. Don’s presentation focused on The Benefits of Automated Data Collection.
The following are key highlights from Don’s presentation:
- The investment in Automated data collection is much easier to calculate than the actual return.
- Returns go only be ensured if data is measurable, accurate, and acted upon.
- Hard returns are built around any direct labor and material savings
- Soft returns are driven through the efficiency gains through the knowledge gained from ADC