A Life In Ink: John Bird’s ‘Down The Road’ Vision Speaks To Generations Described by many as an innovator, an entrepreneur with expertise in graphic arts, passionate about the industry, a true person, dedicated and hardworking, but John Bird,
cided this was not to be his career. Within three months he managed a transfer to the ink labs and within five years, promotion to Development Chemist. “The word chemist was very, very overused. I was, however, what I call a buck- et chemist.” While working at A & W, John attended night school at the London College of Printing. It was from this institution that he was awarded the City & Guilds Advanced Printing Ink Technician Certificate which would be instrumental to his growth in the industry. His first foray into the actual printing side of the busi- ness came in 1964 when he was employed by KleenPrint in Lambeth London as a Development Chemist. This was also his introduction to printing on plastics. KleenPrint spe- cialized in printing plastic stickers and signs. This was a steppingstone to bigger and better things. Each new career adventure brought new challenges, new experiences, and new opportunities to feed his desire to expand his knowledge. Sericol Group was a supplier of screen-printing inks and coated films. It was at Sericol that John was introduced to coating. “After a few years of working on the development of several ink ranges, I was promoted to Coating Lab Man- ager. This is where I received my experience and knowl- edge in coating techniques, which would prove to be very beneficial later in my career, especially when I started to work with litho presses.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 28
Chairman and CEO of JB Machin- ery Inc. describes himself as … un- employable?! Born the youngest of three brothers in Balham, London, UK at the end of World War II, John always had the ambition to drive forward and succeed. “My middle brother was an amazing mentor.
John Bird
He was always pushing me to do better,” says Bird. ‘You’re too smart not to be doing something and not to be suc- cessful’, he would tell me. “I’ve always had ambition, there was never a question about that. I always knew I was going to be successful at something. I had no clue what that was going to be. But it was going to be something.” John’s drive for independence started at an early age. Leaving home at 15, he was introduced to the ink industry with his first job at Ault & Wiborg Company, a printing ink and roller manufacturer in Southfields London, where he installed collars on the end of print rollers. He quickly de-
Do you need printed sheets? We have your answer.. Introducing Heartland’s ColorCorr. This is “flexo-printing in the round”. On our corrugator we can print up to 109” wide. The advantage is that we can print the equivalent of ½ roll at a time and not be required to keep several rolls of very expensive preprinted paper on the floor. Much less waste and risk. In continual print mode, we use either laser-engraved rubber rolls or solid rubber rolls to print a “flood coat” or a repeating pattern. If we are printing a repeating pattern, we can run a two-color design on the paper. Customers have found that running sheets we print can allow them to run a lighter-grade due to reduced caliper loss, and in some cases eliminate one or more machine passes.
For more information contact: Charlie Freeman | 816-500-8889 | cfreeman@heartlandsheets.com Tim Kramer | 816-841-8317 | color@heartlandsheets.com
26
www.boardconvertingnews.com
April 24, 2023
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software