Steve Lee honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

Steve Lee, vice president of technology at RotoMetrics has been named the winner of the R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award. The judging panel for the Label Industry Global Awards 2012 met recently to review the nominations of the award which is sponsored by Avery Dennison.

Lee has been a shaping force in the label and tag industry over a 35-year career in the design and manufacture of rotary tooling. The judging panel said that Lee helped grow RotoMetrics from a small, low-tech die supplier in a fledgling industry to being a global, full-service supplier of a broad portfolio of products designed around converter needs.

He has been credited for his role in getting the industry to work together to develop and spread the use of pressure sensitive labels worldwide. He has played an active role in industry associations, especially TLMI, where he has served on the board multiple times and acts as chairman of the TLMI Annual Label Awards Competition. The judges added that his guidance in developing new options has maximized the ability of converters to produce world-class products for their end users.

During the same meeting, the judges selected the winners of the three other categories, to be announced at the awards ceremony and gala dinner on September 11, at Chicago’s prestigious Aragon Ballroom during the first evening of Labelexpo Americas 2012. A limited number of award ceremony tickets are still available. Reservations can be made at www.labelawards.com with individual tickets priced at 150 US dollars and tables of 10 at 1,400 US dollars.

The 2012 finalists are:

Label Industry Award for New Innovation (in alphabetical order):
* AVT – Advanced Vision Technology
* EFI
* IPE – Innovaciones Para Etiquetajes

Label Industry Award for Continuous Innovation – sponsored by Labels & Labeling, Label & Narrow Web and NarroWebTech (in alphabetical order):
* Prati
* Stork Prints
* WS Packaging

A shortlist for the Converter Award for Sustainability/Environmental Responsibility – sponsored by Flint Group Narrow Web – will not be published but the winner will be announced at the same time as the other awards.

The judging panel was chaired by Mike Fairley, director of strategic development for the Labelexpo Global Series, and consisted of Kurt Walker, president of Finat; Art Yerecic, TLMI chairman; Andy Thomas, group managing editor of Labels & Labeling; Steve Katz, editor of Label & Narrow Web; and Tony White, editor of NarroWebTech.

Pictured: Steve Lee, winner of the  R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award