The Phoenix Challenge Foundation announces that flexographic printing has officially been added to the Scouts of America’s Graphic Arts Merit Badge requirements — a milestone that will introduce thousands of youth to one of the most innovative and essential printing technologies in the world. Flexographic printing, the prominent process used for packaging, labels, medical and countless everyday products, is a vital part of the global consumer-products supply chain. By incorporating this process into the merit badge curriculum, Scouts across the nation will gain hands-on experience and exposure to career paths that blends creativity, evolving technology, and precision manufacturing. The Graphic Arts Merit Badge has long covered processes such as offset, screen, and lithographic printing. Adding flexography modernizes the program, ensuring it reflects industry advancements and prepares youth for future opportunities.

Crude prices started the week on an upbeat note on Monday, boosted by expectations that oil producing countries will agree to extend an output cut at their meeting at the end of this month. Under the original terms of the deal, OPEC and 10 other non-OPEC countries led by Russia agreed to cut production by 1.8 million barrels a day (bpd) for six months. The agreement was extended in May of this year for a period of nine more months until March 2018 in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices. Prices received another boost as a sizable weekly drop in active U.S. oil rigs to the lowest level since May fed expectations for a slowdown in domestic crude output growth. Click Read More below for additional information.

Many printing industry leaders — both past and present — attended the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) to earn a bachelor’s degree in printing. Dating back to 1922 and long considered the premier program for the graphic arts industry, it drew trade and high school graduates who often hailed from family-owned printing businesses. In 1981, RIT’s printing program peaked with 775 students, learning business management and hands-on (primarily sheetfed and web offset) production operations skills. So, it’s no surprise that some of the roughly 4,000 active alumni are disheartened to learn that RIT’s print and graphic media technology curriculum, which has experienced several years of declining enrollment, is being integrated into the university’s packaging science program.