TLMI Annual Meeting attracts hundreds of industry professionals

More than 420 professionals participated in the TLMI Annual Meeting at the end of September 2024 in Orlando Florida. The three-day event featured sessions on the economy, artificial intelligence and workforce trends, along with providing opportunities for networking. 

TLMI welcomed a new chair and three new board members during this year’s meeting. Mark Glendenning of Inland will serve as chair for the next two years, while Bruce Hanson of AWT Label & Packaging, Robert Crane of Crane Consumables and Andre Blais of Gallus will serve as new board members for the next four years.  

Tim McDonough of Flexo-Graphics, the outgoing board chair, will transition into a role as past/vice chair. The outgoing board members include John Crosby of Grand Rapids Label, John Borrelli of Luminer and Philip Coates of UPM Raflatac. 

The final night of the meeting saw an award ceremony, during which the institute presented the Calvin Frost Sustainability Leadership Awards, the TLMI Print Excellence Awards and the TLMI Member Awards. Marco Acevedo of Precision Air Convey received the award for Volunteer of the Year, while Philip Coates of UPM Raflatac and John Borrelli of Luminer were recognized as the Supplier of the Year and Converter of the Year, respectively. 

The annual meeting exceeded its fundraising goal for Give Kids the World Village, a resort in Central Florida that provides free vacations for children with critical illnesses and their families. 

The meeting also raised funds for organizations benefiting victims of Hurricane Helene. Some of the industry professionals were impacted by the hurricane and were unable to attend the annual meeting as a result. 

TLMI president Linnea Keen delivered an association update on the association, during which she spoke about the Liner Recycling Program, a collaborative effort between TLMI and Celab North America, aimed at enhancing efforts within the industry. 

Previously, both organizations managed their own recycling programs for silicone-coated release liners. However, in August, they announced the merger of these efforts to form a unified initiative. Managed by Resource Recycling Systems, the program will partner with companies producing silicone-coated paper release liners in two six-month pilot programs, targetting the Midwest and the Northeast, with plans to expand nationwide. The pilot locations were chosen based on proximity to Sustana’s fiber recycling mills, which will support the recycling process. 

‘This liner recycling initiative is not a TLMI (project) and it’s not a Celab (project),’ Keen told Labels & Labeling. ‘It’s truly an industry project.’ 

Speakers at the meeting focused on how political, economic and cultural trends affected the industry. 

Alan Beaulieu, a regular speaker at TLMI events and consulting principal at ITR Economics, provided an analysis of the domestic and global economy. The forecast included expectations that labor costs will continue rising due to the tight labor market and tha inflation would make a comeback. Overall, his outlook for the next few years was optimistic compared to his past analyses, though he anticipated a depression in the 2030s. 

Another topic of discussion at the annual meeting was artificial intelligence. Steve Metcalf, founder, CEO and chief AI officer at Imagine AI Live, spoke about different applications for ChatGPT and the variety of AI programs that exist beyond that platform. He also led the Label Leaders of Tomorrow Lunch‘n’Learn session.  

Other speakers included Matt Todd of Resource Recycling Systems, Claudia St. John of The Workforce Advisors, Travis Lane and Brian Irwin of Appalachian Environmental Resources as well as motivational speaker Josh Sundquist. 

‘Attendees were really engaged and eager learn more about equipment and CRM systems for their businesses, so the great news is that they are investing,’ Keen said. ‘They’re investing in new equipment and they’re investing in systems to help support their business. And we will continue to build upon those in our future events.’ 

Going forward, TLMI is continuing to increase the quantity of its webinars for members. The association is also looking ahead to its Committee Summit in Clearwater Beach, Florida, from Dec 4-5.