Self Adhesive Labels Industry In India and The World

ITW acquires Indian Label Printer Wintek, Bangalore!

2012-02-06T00:53:00.000-08:00

Wintek Flexoprints based in Bangalore India, has been acquired by Hyderabad based ITWSignode, ITW India Ltd., a subsidiary of the multibillion dollar fortune 200 global industrial products company ITW is head quartered in Illinois, USA

RVS Ramakrishna lead, ITW Signode in India is the leading Industrial Packaging solutions provider with manufacturing facilities at Rudraram-Andhra Pradesh, Surangi-UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Pune – Maharashtra and Rudrapur - Uttarakhand. ITW Signode’s comprehensive packaging solutions include products and services. Product offering encompasses strapping, wrapping, taping, and protective packaging consumables, tools and equipment to apply the consumables, and parts. A wide range of services include on - site packaging, on - site maintenance, preventive maintenance, AMCs, field engineering, package testing and packaging design, audit and consultancy. ITW Signode is a part of the almost 100 years old ITW or Illinois Tool works, USA.

ITW has proven strategies of increasing market penetration with product innovations, extending current products to new industries and acquiring businesses that improve customer offerings and provide the foundation for continued success in the 21st century. They have 825 decentralized business units in 52 countries employing approximately 60,000 people

In picture the winners! Hameed, Helmut Schreiner,

Isidore Leiser, Gururaj and others

Wintek started as a pre-press house from humble beginnings and later diversified into label printing. Hard work and persistent efforts of partners Gururaj Ballarwad and K M Shahul Hameed paid dividends. Soon Wintek became the leader in producer of high quality labels in South India. Continuous investments were made by them on an ongoing basis not only to add capacities but also to enhance their decorative capabilities for producing state of art labels. They have won numerous awards for excellence not only in India but also at the global level. While Gururaj confirmed the news of having been acquired by ITW and that he would continue to be with Wintek, however he did not wish to give more details of the financial deal. He left that for ITW to disclose at the appropriate time.

I will update this news once I have the more news and have talked to ITW.

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi India February 2012

Indian label industry goes cold, blows hot!

2012-01-25T01:47:00.000-08:00

Bottle with self adhesive filmic label

Till the end of the nineteen-nineties, none of the handful of Indian labelstock manufacturers, offered or was able to consistently supply, filmic self adhesive label materials. After 1997, Avery Dennison started to produce or distribute filmic labelstocks in India on an ongoing basis. Till then, most of the high-end label printers supplying to leading FMCG brand product companies like Unilever and P &G were solely dependent on imported materials. Once the availability of these filmic stocks became easy, the market was expected to grow at a faster pace.

Shrink Sleeves

Bottle with Shrink Sleeve

With the start of the new millennium, the consumer product market started to grow with the advent of organized retail catching on in Indian markets. Consumer goods became more sensitive to shelf appeal and this led to growth in demand for self adhesive or pressure sensitive filmic labels. Getting the consumer’s attention became imperative as consumers themselves chose the product from the retail shelves rather than the shopkeeper convincing them to buy a particular product. At the same time shrink sleeves (invented by Fujifilm way back in 1960) started to also gain a foothold in the Indian FMCG product market. Sleeves provided the advantage of 360 degrees graphics and advertising space on the product itself and began to carve out a distinct and high growth market segment. Although pressure sensitive film labels lost their opportunity of gaining big volumes from the expanded market in specific segments, the usage of self adhesive or PS film labels grew and prevailed.

Despite the entry of shrink sleeves, the PS filmic label segment continued to grow at a steady pace of 10 to 15% a year. My own assessment was that at that time of 2000-2003, the overall self adhesive label demand had started to grow at a much faster rate. In the year 2003, in my presentation for the Cham Pressure Sensitive Symposium at St. Moritz in Switzerland, I had assessed that the pressure sensitive adhesive label segment was growing in excess of 25% while the filmic label segment was registering an even more rapid growth. Eventually the shrink sleeve segment carved out a definite market segment for itself and the PS film label segment settled down with a steady growth rate of around over 20%.

Prominent FMCG branded food and cosmetics products, where volumes were large, preferred to use shrink sleeves as they not only provided opportunities for 360 degrees graphics but also were cost effective. This was because the large runs for these product segments could justify the conversion on high speed wide web gravure printing presses. On the other hand labels for products that needed shorter runs continued to use PS filmic labels, as shrink sleeves were not viable for short runs on the wide web machines due to the cost of cylinders and other prepress requirements. In some cases where customers do demand shrink sleeves for shorter runs, the narrow web flexo label printers pitch-in to produce them. Instead of eating into each other’s market share, shrink sleeves and PS film labels have finally settled down as two distinct product segments.

Organised retail.

According to Bhavin Kothari of Interlabels in Mumbai, both products have separate identities and as far as the PS filmic labels segment is concerned, the market is steadily growing at over 20% a year. On a personal note I rate the growth of PS filmic labels at a higher figure of almost 30%. Rajesh Chadha of Update Prints New Delhi says 80% of all the labels they produce are filmic and the segment has steadily grown over the last 10 to 12 years. Gururaj Ballarwad of Wintek Bangalore states that 65% of his company’s produce of labels is film-based and that the growth seems to have accelerated further in recent years with organized retail spreading more widely across the country and consumers demanding better labels and aesthetics. Gururaj adds that PS film labels with highly decorative features give a more elegant and rich look to cosmetics and toiletries and users have started to recognize this. Raveendran of Seljegat, Sivakasi and K K Bajaj of Regal Creative New Delhi also agree that film labels are preferred by FMCG brands these days especially where production runs are smaller.

With the availability of more advanced grades of film label stocks where the gauges have become thinner and squeezability is also built-in, and with thinner release liners being offered, the product is getting upgraded. Even the press and tooling manufacturers have come forward to offer possibilities to convert these new materials. These materials, while they aim to produce better quality labels, will also help reduce the adverse impact on the environment by waste generated in converting labels. A clear 25 micron film facestock on clear 25 micron film release liner will definitely have more labels per roll. The plastic waste generated has better recyclability and will reduce the tonnage going to landfills. With faster growth becoming evident in the film label segment the label industry can sense the heat from thinner film labelstock that uses film liner.

Winter chill

In the beginning of 2011, the Indian label industry was in a buoyant mood. Printers were nearly unanimous in their opinion that the self adhesive label industry was growing and doing well. Every industry that is registering growth needs to increase their capital investments in new machines to upgrade to the latest technologies and to enhance capacities. In the words of Amar Chhajed of Webtech Labels Mumbai, “If we plan to grow 40% in a year, we have to make capital investments in new equipment and enhance capacity to produce 40% more!” As we came nearer to the middle of 2011, the news of a second slowdown in Europe made the industry go cold. There appeared to be a little lull in the industry even though everyone was convinced that the label in India will sustain growth year after year. The industry seemed to have pressed the ‘Pause’ button.

Since the Labelexpo Europe at Brussels was fast approaching, printers wanted to divulge their expansion plans and decide on equipment only after watching the latest on display at the premium show. I have in my overview of the Labelexpo, mentioned that it was busy time at Brussels for the Indian printers as they had big investment decisions to make. We expected investment announcements to start in weeks following the show but the currency situation played the spoilsport. The Indian Rupee value depreciated against the US$ and the Euro. The cost of equipment escalated by over 10% and another chill ensued! Simultaneously as the year ended, the price of labelstock and other raw material inputs also shot up putting additional pressure on margins that were already becoming thinner due to intense competition. End users had both options and offers from existing label suppliers as well as new entrants – they refused to accept price increases. The label industry felt the pinch along with the winter chill.

Hot again!

The 2012 new year brought the news of a slight upward movement of the Indian Rupee and hopes that it would continue to firm up. The demand for self adhesive labels has started to show healthy growth in the last few weeks. Label printers seem to be smiling again and seem to be preparing to loosen their purse strings for many of the investments that have been on hold. The confidence level is building up and after having faced the cold, the Indian label industry is almost blowing hot!

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 16th January 2012.

“Gentleman of the Label Industry”

2012-01-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

Ananth K Rao

In the early nineties at the first Screen Print Exhibition in Nehru Centre in Mumbai I was standing at my booth in the show when I saw a tall handsome man walking with long steps briskly toward me with another industry friend on his side. As they reached my stand they impulsively stopped and I was introduced to this man Ananth K Rao owner of Stay-on Papers, Hyderabad. I was really amazed by the friendly vibes this man emitted and am happy to say that he became my best friend in the industry that moment onwards. It was later that I realized he was the industry’s best friend. Ananth is a labelstock producer in Hyderbad who ventured out in the field, when the industry was still at a nascent stage and maturing to find acceptability of self adhesive labels amongst the industrial consumers of labels. It was a time when the self adhesive label was still a sticker and was in the process of being accepted as regular label. Wet glue labels were the order of the day. The kind of friendship Ananth Rao extended was exemplary. I remember a very interesting incident. I went to Hyderabad and it was my first visit there to explore the possibility of supplying to him release papers, which he later started to produce himself. From my landing in the town till I departed, he took me around and was the perfect host. He also took me to screen print dealers who were his customers requesting them to buy from me. At one shop where the customer did place the order, I asked for advance payment. While customer refused, Ananth pitched in and offered to pay on his behalf. I was embarrassed and let the order pass. That evening I was invited to Ananth’s house for drinks and later dinner at a famous restaurant. Before we left his home, he went in and brought a packet which he later handed over to me saying that was the advance money and I should send that dealer’s order. I was stunned! How could this man do this without there not being anything in this deal for him? I was overwhelmed by the extent of his magnanimity. It is a matter of record when most labelstock customers of mine started opting out to produce silicone release papers themselves, Ananth forced me to start producing labelstocks and in other terms be a direct competitor to himself! He is an amazing person. Over the years I realized that anyone in the label industry, whether he is a supplier, a customer, a machine supplier, media person or a competitor… Ananth is the natural host for them in Hyderabad. He goes on to offer unconditional help and support. It is for this and many other reasons that I call him, “Gentleman of the Label Industry”.

Born into an agriculturist family with large landholdings, Ananth Rao went to Lawrence School, Lovedale for his basic education until ISCE (Indian School Leaving Certificate) followed by Pre-University course at Loyala College Chennai. He then completed his B.Com. from Badurka College Hyderabad, affiliated to Osmania University, before proceeding to United States to pursue further education in management studies. After completing MBA from University of Florida, USA in 1979, he did a two year stint with Southland, owners of Seven-Eleven Stores before returning home in 1983. Self adhesive labels had caught his fancy and he decided to venture into the field. He initially started trading in Labelstocks procured from another pioneer in the field, Kilaru Prasad of Prasad Accumeter Pvt. Ltd., also based in Hyderabad. Prasad, who also had moved to India from USA where he had worked for Accumeter, makers of hotmelt coating equipments, had taken the agency from Accumeter to sell their products in India. He had also installed an 8 inch wide demo hotmelt coating machine in Hyderabad. While trading in Labelstocks, gave Ananth the opportunity to study the market and help him establish, it also helped Prasad to showcase the equipment to prospective customers while he was producing material. In fact they were both complementary to each other. Prasad was successful in selling two more 8inch coaters one to Ananth’s Stayon Papers and another to Klaas Equipment who later sold it to Interlabels. Thereafter Prasad went full time into producing and selling self adhesive labelstocks.

The initial years into production, Ananth faced many problems. Though technically he had support from Prasad, yet raw materials were difficult to source due to import restrictions and licensing. Release base paper to this date is imported and even Hotmelt adhesive is imported. He found his cost of production higher than his competitors because he was coating 8 Inches width while other units coming up those days were coating 20 inches. His wastages were higher and volumes were low. In 1991 Ananth found his first success when he got orders to supply labelstocks for state excise labels on liquor in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. As volumes started to swell, it was time for him to move on and expand. In 1994 he decided to integrate backward by investing in a silicone coater and start producing release papers himself, which were outsourced till that point of time. A year later he started to produce Hotmelt pressure sensitive adhesive however presently he outsources most of his requirements of adhesives. In 1998 he felt it was imperative to invest in another wider coater to produce cost effectively. He bought his second hotmelt coater, this time a 20 inch wide equipment. In 2000 to cater to diverse needs of the label market he installed an emulsion adhesive coater. His total coating business now employs a workforce of 40 and operates from premises spread over 50000 square feet. The equipment that they have include two 1.5 meter coaters, 2 one meter adhesive coaters for labelstocks and tapes, three hotmelt adhesive coaters of widths 1 meter, 500mm and the old 200mm coater modified to coat 250mm (10 inch) which is still working alongwith a range of finishing equipments.

Ananth now wishes to consolidate his position by investing in modifications on existing machines so as increase coating speeds to achieve economies of scale and to make efforts to reach full capacity utilization. He hopes that in 5 years his company will be double the size of present operations. He loves the industry because it brings him in contact with people from very diverse fields due to labels being used on every product. However he feels bad that the industry is too price sensitive with long credit terms, leaving business exposed to increased risk.

Ananth’s wife Sree, is his perfect companion and a homemaker. Both love to socialize and are extremely active in the Hyderabad social circuit. His daughter Sagari is happily married to Arjun, a software engineer based in USA while son Rahul is actively involved in the affairs of Stayon Papers. Ananth does not plan to diversify in other fields and feels on this matter, his son Rahul is free to take a call. His other business interests are in real estate, he also owns a hotel in Hyderabad. He is on the governing body of Hyderabad Race Club and he has been the President of the famous Secunderbad Club. Most evenings Ananth is seen at the club with his eminent friends from the city and industry friends visiting Hyderabad. He loves to make friends, be with friends and look after his friends. No wonder I call him “Gentleman of the Label Industry”

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 December, 2011.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

2011-12-25T00:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas is a time of life that fills your heart with elation, hope for miracles to happen, end of hardships and a future full of success. May this day bring to you, all that you yearn for, success, love, peace, good health and above all…Happiness!

“Merry Christmas!”

FDI in retail, Government defers it, Industry gives a thumbs-up!

2011-12-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

While the Manmohan Singh Government has deferred the implementation of their decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in organized multi-brand retail in India, and is still battling it out with its allies and the opposition, I decided to interact with leading players in the Label and Print-Packaging industry to get their views on how this decision will impact their industry and them. The total size of the Indian packaging industry is estimated to be close to 19 Billion US Dollars with a per capita usage of about 15 US Dollars as against the global market size of over 600 Billion Dollars and 100 Dollars per capita usage. The industry continues to grow at a healthy rate of around 17%. With the expected inflow of FDI in retail, this growth is set to get a further boost. The politicians are adamant that the decision will affect their vote banks adversely because they are convinced that the local neighborhood retailer and the farmers will suffer. Contrary to this, the industry leaders are sure that the FDI decision will benefit the farmers with better prices and that the small retailer will stand to be complemented by the presence of organized retailers. They feel, it will drive rapid growth in the packaging industry. . I sent to them a set of questions to answer. I list below the questions and their response. Unanimously they give a “Thumbs Up” to this decision!

Question: Do you feel that this will drive in a boom in the label and packaging industry in India?

Ramesh Kejriwal, Parkson.

“Definitely!” says Ramesh Kejriwal, Managing Director of Parkson Packaging Ltd. He further adds, “The business will move from unorganized converters to organized ones requiring quality and volumes.” Priyata Raghavan at Sai Security Printers, echoes similar views, “Yes, most definitely! It will drive the demand for packaging not only in volumes but also in quality”.

Suresh Gupta PPL

Suresh Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, Paper Products Limited, reiterates, “Modern retail certainly drives modernisation in packaging, i.e. increases demand for quality and standardisation in packaging”. Amar Chhajed, Webtech Labels, one of the largest label printers in the country states, “If FDI in retail becomes a reality, it will give a boost in demand for all kinds of packaging including labels”. Amila Singhvi at International Printo-Pac Ltd. feels that the increase in demand due to FDI in retail will make the industry focus on sustainable packing and shelf ready packs. Viresh Sheth of Kris flexipack is of the opinion that the decision will bring funds and technology to the table. Jigesh Dani of Ahmedabad based Mahrishi Labels is sure that it will create lot of opportunities and improve quality of packaging.

Question: Will it impact the local packaging industry in a positive manner?

India is the worlds’ largest producer of fruits (46 million tons) with a global share of over 10% and second largest producer of vegetables (80 million tons) with a global share of over 15%. In spite these achievements, about 20 to 30% of the produce is lost annually due to lack of adequate infrastructure and less use of modern post harvest technologies. Fresh horticultural produce has limited shelf life ranging from a few hours to few weeks at ambient conditions. Packaging is required not only for food preservation and protection but also for safe transportation of products during storage and handling. FDI is likely to bring in technology in cold chain development, supply chain management and Packaging. The growth in the consumer market due to rapid urbanization has also continued to drive growth in packaging. Small converters have been able to grow substantially due to the opportunities coming their way. With limited existing foreign investment in the packaging sector and the expected boost in demand due to the FDI in retail, packaging companies will also expect foreign investments and alliances. The industry leaders feel that the FDI decision will have a positive impact on the industry.

Viresh Sheth Kris Flexipack

Amar Chhajed feels there is no cause for worry as the Indian packaging industry has upgraded to some extent in recent years. Jigesh Dani comments that it will create competition for local venders however still healthy competition is good. Viresh Sheth believes that it will boost demand and packaging companies need to establish pan national presence to service the retailing giants who are expected to invest. Priyata Raghavan is expecting the larger players, playing a dominant role and lot of international packaging companies joining hands with local converters. Ramesh Kejriwal says, “Yes, the decision will make a positive impact but innovative display values need to be built into packages.”

Question: Will it bring in that expected billions of dollars?

“All major global retailers would like to be present in the growing India market and many will invest. Importantly, in addition to retail footage this will mean investment and training in farm to store logistics infrastructure including cold chains, road-rail-water transport systems, etc. Equally importantly is the fact that standards on nutrition, hygiene and safety in the food chain will be strengthened, and productivity improved.” says Suresh Gupta.

Amila Singhvi
IPP

Amar Chhajed, Webtech

Amila Singhvi asserts, “FDI will encourage investment in Indian packaging from multinational players which should be good for the sector as a whole.” Amar Chajjed has expressed thoughtfully, “The first few years will surely see a major inflow of dollars being invested by global retailers to setup stores as well as backend infrastructure. The potential for retail is so huge and untapped in India that it would be a big window of opportunity for most global retailers who are currently experiencing downfall or stagnancy in the developed economies. What needs to be seen is whether this retail boom also translates in boosting the overall manufacturing sector for locally produced goods.” Ramesh Kejriwal is sure that the investment will come. Priyata is not sure if the billions will come however she says, demand will peak before leveling out.

Question: How is the industry geared up to meet this demand?

Priyata Raghavan, Sai Security

“Not really!” says Ramesh Kejriwal “most converters are still using low-end technologies with lot of manual work”. Viresh agrees that the supplier has to be well equipped in terms of technology, quality and presence. Priyata feels that capacity and quality parameters need to be ramped up but good quality of raw materials like paper and board will be a bottleneck for growth. Suresh Gupta is sure that the industry is prepared to scale up to meet the demand as it arises.

Question: Will innovations in packaging become more evident?

“Absolutely!” Says Ramesh Kejriwal. Jigesh Dani is confident that new and innovative ideas will come to shop shelves. Suresh Gupta asserts, “Modern retail formats will certainly drive innovation!” Amila Singhvi says, “Packaging will evolve, we expect to see more of shelf-ready packaging, dispensing options and multi-packs suitable for retail stores.” Viresh agrees, “Packaging being the first handshake with the consumer it will have a significant role in order to break this clutter. This will call for more innovative designs and material”

Bhavin Kothari, Interlabels

It is really interesting to see and realize the confidence of these leading personalities in the field of labels and packaging. Some of these people have grown from a stage where they were just very small start-up ventures and are now large by any standards. The kind of investments that they continue to make has paved the way forward for the Indian packaging industry. The summing up comments of some of them made are quite interesting. Amar Chhajed, “I genuinely believe that the Indian packaging industry has a great future and it must believe in itself. Focusing on Innovation, Value creation and Quality, we can excel against almost anyone in the world.” Jigesh Dani, “Off course as a nation India is emerging very strong and one must not doubt the self sufficiency but if you want it to grow and come out of the shadow, this is welcome step.” Bhavin Kothari of Interlabels, India’s largest label manufacturing company gave interesting comments, “It is very unfortunate that the politicians want not to understand the correct picture. Direct investment in organised retail by the largest corporate houses in India already exists, Tata’s (82billion USD), Reliance (60billion USD), and Aditya Birla (35billion USD). So just because the color of money is different, it is ridiculous to assume there will be problems. The large Indian corporate houses will learn the ropes in matter of time. Further so if any decimation of the ‘kirana’ store is to happen (which I believe will never happen) it will happen without FDI”. Suresh Gupta, “Modern retails will certainly gain market share very fast as it drives much needed modernisation of the retail sector. However, the kirana store will remain the "backbone" of the retail sector, and the Indian consumer will benefit greatly from the "jugalbandi"(duet) between the two formats. Whatever benefits the consumer will benefit the packaging industry” Viresh Sheth, “This will also directly spur infusion of fresh CAPEX (capital expenditure) and high-end technological innovations”

Gautham Pai, Manipal
Tecnologies Ltd.

Gautham Pai, Executive Director of Manipal technologies says," FDI in multi brand retail , in my opinion that is good for the country . The investments in infrastructure , supply chain and technology are long over due .I believe consumers will benefit from a quality , verity and experience perspective . Vendors will benefit from direct sales and efficiency/transparency in the system . Large numbers of jobs will be created . Middle men will suffer . Will boost packaging sector in a big way".

Saket Kanoria, TCPL

Finally to sum it all I got the views of Saket Kanoria, Managing Director of TCPL, “I feel that should FDI in multi brand retail happen, and am sure it will at some point, it will certainly open up lots of doors and opportunities to a host of smaller suppliers who will get access to international chains and give them the potential to scale, as well as export. I think that the political opposition notwithstanding it will be very good for India, consumers and the economy in the long run.” The industry surely has given their thumbs-up for the decision to allow FDI in multi brand retail!

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi. December 2011

Indians, busy at Labelexpo Europe 2011

2011-10-26T01:14:00.000-07:00

Six years ago in 2005 when Weldon Celloplast Limited exhibited at Labelexpo in Brussels, they were the only one Indian exhibitor at the show. Indian visitors at that show were in quite a few numbers but looked more like tourists using Labelexpo as a reason to travel to Europe. They were visible walking around leisurely in the walkways more like window shopping with casual interests. They would drop by at some stands, make enquiries and then move on. Neither were they taken seriously by the high profile exhibitors displaying their expensive equipments nor were they sure of their expansion plans. The world attention was getting to be more concentrated on this huge market with a growing young and literate workforce creating high demand for consumer products. The Indian label market was obviously heading for phenomenal growth. Six years down the lane a lot has changed. Indian label printers have become a confident lot as they are more focused and sure of the path that they wish to traverse in an effort to meet the growing and exacting demands for labels. From a mere one Indian exhibitor in 2005, the 2011 show opened on 28th September 2011, as the largest label show on earth with fourteen Indian exhibitors, up from four in the previous show in 2009. As for the visitors, the Indian label printers have become a sought after segment for the exhibitors. These printers are now transformed into committed buyers, they are seen as business persons with firm plans to empower their companies with the latest printing technologies available anywhere. Instead of being seen as window shoppers in the walkways they were now engaged in serious discussions in the stands of leading material, toolings and equipment manufacturers. No wonder then that a gentleman walked up to me at the exhibition to say, “Not many Indians this time!” I could not answer immediately as at that time even I was wondering why. Earlier this year on the 5th of January 2011 I had predicted and tweeted on twitter, “Labelexpo Brussels will probably see the biggest number of Indian visitors. Indicates high growth in narrow-web label segment. My prediction!”. I started to look around to evaluate the situation myself. I was pleasantly surprised that the Indians, though not visible walking around, they were short of time to cover the most. They were in deep engrossing technical discussion at various stands across the show, meeting prospective suppliers of materials, toolings and equipments. My prediction made at the beginning of this year was true and had become a reality. Michael Hatton, Marketing Director- Labelexpo confirmed to me that in 2009 there were 338 Indian visitors and this figure had swelled to 429 at Labelexpo Europe 2011. There were more Indians then before and the reason that they were not visible waking around is, “They were busy at Labelexpo Europe 2011”.

True to the claim that Roger Pellow and his team made in the pre-show promos, Labelexpo Europe 2011 held from 28th September- 1st October 2011 at Brussels, was the biggest and most successful labelshow in the world till date. The show reported 28636 visitors from 118 countries which is an 18.6% increase over the previous show. The number of exhibitors grew from 544 to 550. It indeed was the largest show in the history of this 30 year old Labelexpo. Adding to the success is the fact that over 81% of the space for next Labelexpo is already booked. The Labelexpo team has been continuously innovating to bring value to visitors patronizing this prestigious show. Besides ensuring a huge number of working presses and equipments, new features like the Digital Printshop and the Package Printing Zone are endeavors to expand the horizon and vision of label printing companies. Most of the exhibitors to the show appeared to be satisfied with the results however some of the exhibitors in Hall 12 felt that due to the sheer size of this growing event and the increasing number of exhibitors, enough visitors did not reach them in the numbers that they were seen in first few halls. For this reason there is a strong debate that the show should be extended for one more day in future. Some exhibitors also aired the view that the venue should be moved to another location in Europe. Personally I feel such specialized events are linked to particular venues and cities and moving them may become counter-productive. Anyway it is for the organizers to decide but as for now the next Labelexpo will still be at Brussels.

Roger Pellow & Jade Grace of Labelexpo Group
with Raul Sylvestre of Lartec

End of the show quotes are an important part of any show and indicates the level of success it has achieved. Many exhibitors have expressed their satisfaction at the show. Jakob Landsberg of Nilpeter expressed, “Labelexpo Europe 2011 was more successful than we dared to hope for. In the current financial climate, our industry looks forward more optimistically than the rest of the world” UPM’s representative echoed similar views, ”Despite the challenging economic situation surrounding Europe these days, Labelexpo Europe 2011 nevertheless brought out the collective drive and enthusiasm in the industry. We saw plenty of people poised to push the label to the limit and we liked that!” Gavin Jones, Tectonic International Ltd said: “Labelexpo Europe is always a great shop front for our range of products and this year was no exception!” Cristina Toffolo of Gidue reports success with their innovative product range. In words of Jason Oliver Sales Director, EFI, “I’d simply say that we at EFI Jetrion were completely overwhelmed by the show.” It was heartening to see Ranesh Bajaj of Creed Engineers and Pawandeep Sahni of Weldon proudly beaming when Rotatek and Omet put up the signs on the presses displayed at their stand as sold to their customers in India. Rotatek was sold to Update Prints in New Delhi and two Omets were sold, one to Unique offset Mumbai and the second to Arunodaya Hyderabad. Other press suppliers may also have finalized deals for India but they did not respond to my email requesting information. Leading press manufacturers like Gallus, Mark Andy, Omet, MPS, Edale, Delta Industrial, Orthotec, etc had well attended stands and all felt that the show delivered the desired results. Ajay Mehta of SMI, the leading Indian Labelstock manufacturer is overwhelmed by the quality of visitors at his stand, he felt it was the right platform for his company to find recognition in the international markets. Young KD Sahni at Weldon feels his new and innovative security label products could not have found a more appropriate event to showcase. Amit Ahuja, the only Indian label press manufacturers to have ever exhibited with a working press at Labelexpo, was very busy for the entire duration of the show and carries home a whole lot of leads to work on. The press on display has been sold to a customer in Moscow, Russia. Indian label film manufacturers Cosmo films and Polyplex too reported a steady stream of visitors.

Kurt Walker, President-Finat

Finat, the international association of the self adhesive label industry has played an important part in the success of Labelexpo. This event also marked the 20th year of partnership with this event organizer. In words of Kurt Walker President Finat, “ In all respects, this has been the best show ever” Jules Lejuene Managing Director Finat concludes, “The Finat booth saw hectic activity and was the meeting point for many luminaries of this industry”.

The Global label awards function and gala dinner, held on the sidelines of Labelexpo was a grand event before an audience of 550, the awards celebrate and honor those who promote best practice in the label industry. Some of the label industry’s leading companies and individuals were recognized for their outstanding contribution to the sector as the winners of this year’s Label Industry Global Awards.

Mike Fairley, Helmut Schreiner and
Dean Scarborough CEO Avery Dennison

Helmut Schreiner, executive manager/owner of the Schreiner Group, was given the R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Avery Dennison. The Label Industry Award for Continuous Innovation – sponsored by Labels & Labeling, NarroWebTech and Label & Narrow Web – was presented to Brazil's Novelprint. EskoArtwork triumphed in the Label Industry Award for New Innovation category which is designed to underline technological advances made in the previous year. A host of other winners were also awarded at the function which was interspaced with good entertainment followed by a great dinner. Dean Scarborough, CEO of Avery and Mike Fairley were an important part of the deliberations at this function.

The LMAI Team

The Indian Label industry was well represented at this exhibition. Leading the industry’s presence was the Label Manufacturers association of India(LMAI), President Vivek Kapoor. Most of the members of his team were also in Brussels for the event. Vivek and his team have created a very positive atmosphere in the association. The recent events like the GOA conference has brought unity in the industry and instilled a sense of camaraderie. Normally at the previous labelexpo’s I noticed that Indian printers would pass by their counterparts in the Indian industry in the walkways by giving a symbolic nod or a smile. This time around the bonding was evident, you could see the Indian printers standing in small groups discussing what was good and must-see at the show. These small and important get-togethers helped them reach their target exhibitors without wasting time. Printers from across the length and breadth of India were seen moving around. If it was Update Prints, Anygraphics, Zircon and Prakash Labels from North India, the west had an entourage from Creative labels, Renault paper, Webtech, Interlabels, PPL, Total print, Ajanta, Unique, Mahrishi Labels and many more. South Indians were also present in substantial no.s, Wintek, SGRE and Global from Bangalore, ITC from Chennai, Pragati and Arunodaya from Hyderabad, Raveendran from Sivakasi and so on. The list is long. This pan national representation conveyed the seriousness and firm resolve of the label industry in India to take the growth challenge head-on. These printers are now more than willing to invest, expand, innovate and globalize. They are shopping for the best equipment from presses to inspection systems, no wonder they were busy at Labelexpo.

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi. October 2011

Packaging Grows as India Grows!

2011-10-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

I have always been of the opinion, “it is the package that sells!” Every manufacturer of consumer goods realizes that good quality is imperative for long term success of the product. However it is an immediate and important need to first tempt the shopper to impulsively lift the product from the shop shelf. For this the manufacturers have to rely on the package design. The consumers get to experience the contents of the package only when they have reached the confines of their homes. It is another issue that repeat sale will happen when the customers find the product contents are meeting with their satisfaction. Thus it is necessary that a good product is packaged in an attractive and effective packaging. With the urbanized Indian consumer’s style of shopping undergoing a sea change from visiting traditional shops for buying goods to patronizing organized retail vends in air-conditioned ambience, packaging is getting the attention it should.

The current economic scenario and changing lifestyles in India are attracting the interest of many around the world. By the latest count, the Indian population crossed the figure of 1.20 billion people. In the last decade the addition to the population has been 181 million people, almost near to the total population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world! India accounts for 17.5% of the world’s population. The Indian economy is growing rapidly, registering an 8.5 % growth in GDP. It is second most favored country for foreign direct investment (FDI) attracting an investment of US$ 25.9 billion in 2009-2010. Foreign exchange reserves have reached a figure exceeding US$ 276 billion. According to a report by McKinsey, the economy will grow five fold in 20 years. India is the biggest democracy in the world with a large English speaking population of which 64.8% is literate leading to a bulging middle class segment. Couple this with the fact that 64% of all the people in the country are in the workable age group of 15-59 years and 54% of the population is under the age of 25 years. This huge number of over 600 million young people will be getting education, working hard and earning more to spend more. It is obvious that retail spending in India is poised to grow exponentially.

According to the report, “Strong & Steady, 2011” Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), India’s retailing sector currently estimated at US$ 500 billion is expected to grow to US$ 900 Billion by 2014. According to some reports, in two years retail real estate stock in India will become double, from approx. 50 million square feet to almost 100 million square feet. The Indian retail industry is the fifth largest in the world and is growing at a fast pace. Rapid urbanization and higher spending power of a young generation are factors contributing to this amazing growth. It is interesting to note that due to the changes taking place, the large number of working women in an otherwise traditionally conservative society, are also responsible for this growth in spending. Retailing in the country is still at a nascent stage and it will be some time before it becomes the predominant and accepted way of selling across the nation. Most of the Indian consumers are used to the idea of visiting the traditional neighborhood stores for their needs. The shop owner is virtually the pushing salesperson for the brands that provide him better margins. As organized retailing becomes more and more acceptable, shoppers are experiencing the difference. There is a wide variety of products lying on the shop shelves yearning for their attention. The persistent shop owner pushing particular brands is missing. At this point in time the printed package is of prime importance. Innovative packaging tempts the shopper to reach for the product.

The highly fragmented Indian packaging industry is spread evenly across the length and breadth of India. The total industry size is estimated at US$ 19 billion as against the global market of US$500 million. The per capita usage of packaging in India is small at US$ 15.00 per person as compared to a global average of US$ 100.00. This does indicate the potential for growth in this market. According to Indian Institute of Packaging, the packaging industry in India is growing at a rate in excess of 15% per annum. However some industry experts express that the growth is much higher at 20-22%. Food and beverage account for 85% of packaging materials consumed in India, Pharmaceuticals 10% and balance 5% is other industries. Close to 50% of all the packaging materials used is converted into the printed packages, flexible packaging accounts for 22%, printed cartons 17%, Labels 3% and others about 8%. The rest of the 50% materials are accounted for by rigid packaging, metal, glass, caps/closures and others. The printed cartons and labels have been largely printed and converted by the offset printers employing various die-cutting, converting and decorating operations offline. The offset printing industry is well established in the country and has spread all over. This segment attracts continuous investment, expansion and up gradation. Self adhesive labels remain the forte and specialization of the narrow web label printers, who continue to grow, expand and technically upgrade steadily. In this segment the technology changed from letterpress printing process to flexographic printing and further on to combination printing using various printing and converting processes online with their narrow web presses. These include flexo, offset, screen, hot foiling, cold foiling, etc. Flexible packaging and Shrink sleeves are other segments of package printing that have attained a big market size owing to a steady 17% growth rate in recent years. The industry in these segments has been employing only the rotogravure printing in their manufacturing programme. The rotogravure printing industry is also well established and growing in India. It is the preferred technology for converting on wide web presses, providing economies of scale with high production speeds. Of late due to the need for shorter runs, faster deliveries and multi-process converting, the narrow web press suppliers are going wider to mid web presses with advanced multi process capabilities and offering these equipments to printers. These are high end presses that empower the printer to print and convert labels, folding cartons, shrink sleeves and flexible packing inline on the same press. It is just a matter of time when we shall see a paradigm shift in this direction.

As for the materials, with growth in the food and beverage industry the demand for specialized films and film laminates has escalated. In recent times due to environmental concerns the Indian authorities have restricted the use of plastics in certain large volume food packaging. The directive to use bio-degradable substrates has initiated a need to develop paper based substrates that will fill the void that this restriction has created. While the market for special films will continue to grow, social responsibility commitment towards a safer environment will lead the packaging industry to look for new and safer arenas. Waste management and recycling are also issues that need the converters attention. Producing a great package may bring in a lot of success but the effort to reduce the impact of packaging waste on earth, will bring satisfaction.

Written for the innaugral issue of Package Print Worldwid (PPW) magazine launched by Tarsus group at Labelexpo-Euroe 2011, Brussels, Belgium. by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi India 19th June 2011

Winning awards for excellence in printing, a way of life!

2011-09-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

He has reached the pinnacle! Having lead his company Pragati Offset Hyderabad, to unprecedented success, he does not regret that a 12 hour work schedule from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm leaves him no time to socialize. That is the price that he paid for his indulgence in his business. He is happy that God has compensated this adequately by giving him the pleasure of coming back home each evening to a wonderful family where four generations from his father to his grandchildren, live together in perfect tradition of love, harmony and simplicity. Paruchuri Narendra is the driving force behind Pragati Offset, a company founded by his father Paruchuri Hanumantha Rao.

On the 1st of September 1962, Hanumanth Rao who after completing his BA Hons. (philosophy), a short stint as a journalist with Visala Andhra and five years as manager of Sarathi Cine Studios also doing small roles in films out of which some even with the late N T RamaRao, set up a small printing press with one treadle press and three workers. The three men that he employed were a binder, a composer and a machine man. Surprising as it may sound two of these men are still associated with is company even after almost 50 years, though only in advisory capacity.

Hanumantha Rao

Hanumantha Rao had some basic knowledge of printing from his time spent at printing detective novels written by his friend Narayana Rao in Chennai. Also he was a quick learner and does not shy from saying that he learnt and grasped well from his otherwise trained workers. He fondly remembers the first job he printed was a folder with Ganesha on it! The first big order that came his way was the 1973 voters list. Thereafter it was always the way ahead to be traversed and soon he bought his first offset press, a second hand single colour OM-4 Russian Offset Press. He vowed to be a quality producer and set standards that would be the way forward for his company. The foundation had been laid and the journey into excellence in printing had begun. It was time to induct more working hands in this business.

Narendra, Hanumanth Rao’s elder son had studied to be a chemical engineer from the University of Mysore specializing in precious metal plating for the watch and electronic industry. On completing education he took up a job in a metal finishing company in Bangalore to get work experience. He was not very happy in that job, he wanted to start a metal finishing unit on his own and moreover his wife Sasikala, a doctor was pursuing higher studies in Hyderabad. Having no money to start on his own, Narendra started to look around for other avenues. At that point of time he requested his father to show him some other successful printing press. Once he had evaluated the printing business, Narendra gave up his plans to pursue the plating business and finally joined his family business in 1978. There has been no looking back ever since. A turning point in the journey of this enterprise came when they bought a photocomposing machine, which was the first one that any company bought in south India besides the printers of the daily south Indian newspaper, “Hindu”. Composing, until that time used to be the biggest of bottle necks in their business, given the short runs that they were doing for customers. This installation brought all the advertising agencies in the city to their doorstep. With this came a windfall of orders and it was time to expand yet again. They decided to buy a new single colour Dominant press. Those days licenses were required to import and Narendra’s father fondly remembers that the day his grandson Harsh was born, they applied for the license. In 1985 Pragati acquired their first four colour offset press but they were formally considered big league when in 1991 they announced the installation of a Komori Lithrone 5 colour 40” press to be inaugurated by Mr. Kasturi, the owner of “Hindu”. Pragati was now into printing of posters, catalogues and other commercial printing jobs. They continued to expand and grow thereafter also making their foray into folding cartons. In 2006 Narendra and his team saw the potential and growth in labels. This made them to decide making investment in that area as well. As they had already ventured into producing cartons for some large customers this label business was in synergy with what they were doing and was witnessing a high rate of growth. The present level of operations at Pragati, have come a long way from the time that they installed their first treadle press with just three workers. They employ almost 700 people and operate out of 2,30,000 square feet of production area spread over at various premises in and around Hyderabad. Everything from pre-press to post-press is done in house. The infrastructure besides other equipment comprises of twelve offset presses, two MPS label presses, one Nilpeter Label press and the latest acquisition, Omet Varyflex the in line folding carton press. When asked about the new investment in Omet Varyflex, the first one of its kind in India, Narendra says, “It was a wish to do all operations in-line rather then moving jobs from one equipment to another, carton making involves too many offline operations”. Luckily they had gained experience in flexographic printing from their indulgence in labels, offset was already their forte and they were also producing cartons, so it was easy for them to integrate the technologies comfortably on the Varyflex.

The ethics, values, commitments and team spirit instilled in the entire Paruchuri family are amazing. Their involvement in their business is total. In his endeavour to sustain the high level of competence and growth, Narendra is supported by his brother Mahendra who apart from keeping the machine in ship shape, shares the management hat. Harsh his elder son who is a printing engineer and an alumni of the prestigious Rochester institute having specialized in printing technologies and Hemanth his younger son also a mechanical engineer from Purdue are heading the labels division. Of course the towering personality of P Hanumantha Rao is also there to support them, he still spends some time in the press before moving on with his involvement in social and charitable work. His social work has had the family actively contributing to the society by helping in constructing a community hall, an old age home and providing scholarships to needy students. Narendra’s wife Sasikala is a doctor specializing in laparoscopic surgery. She also does her bit to give back to the society. For the past 18 years she has been running a free clinic, Pragati Public Charitable Trust, every Thursday at village Mokila, some 30 km from Hyderabad. The clinic has almost 18,000 registered patients as of date. Her daughter in law, Shruti (Harsh’s wife), even though she has two school going children contributes her might. Besides being the perfect hostess at home to special guests she also helps out in the purchase department of Pragati. Truly a committed family with three generations actively involved in business and the fourth generation growing up to gather the reigns, eventually.

The Pragati team receiving the Sappi Elephant award
for excellence in printing.

Narendra is a tireless work-alcohalic. While he follows a 12 hours work regime from 8.30 to 8.30 yet he says that I am available for my team at least up to 10 pm. No wonder that the company reports 12%-15% annual growth in the offset segment and 25%-30% annual growth in the packaging segment that includes labels. He strongly feels that the MIS system implemented in 1992 helped fuel this growth. When asked about his plans and projections in the next five years. He is very clear in his thought, says that the company’s resolve to excel in print quality and deliver value to customers since inception has made it possible for it to become a zero debt company which continues to grow. The inertia of growth levels already achieved and the opportunities as and when they emanate, will automatically drive us into continuous expansion in the times to come. In his leadership, Pragati has been the recipient of many international awards for print excellence. Topping the long list of awards they won is the Sappi Elephant award for excellence in printing in 2006, 2008 and 2010. In 2010 Narendra wanted his father to receive the award personally. Since his father was not fit to travel, the organizers, as a befitting mark of respect to the founder of this press, P Hanumantha Rao came all the way to Hyderabad to honour him. The three generations of this family are not resting on their laurels, they strive hard to retain the saga at Pragati, “Winning awards for print excellence, is a way of life!”

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi August 2011

LMAI Conference, “Innovations Unlimited” delivered with “Fun Unlimited!”

2011-08-07T04:12:00.000-07:00

LMAI Team L to R: Harveer Sahni, Amit Sheth, R Deshpande, Sandeep Zaveri, Gururaj,Manish Desai, Vivek Kapoor,

Ajay Agarwal, Jigesh Dani, Ajay Mehta and missing from the picture is Ranesh Bajaj

Group "Drum Cafe"

As the African drummers on stage from the group, “Drum Café” started to hammer on the skins of their drums, a hall fully packed with those from the Indian label fraternity were a confused lot. These delegates to the first ever LMAI conference titled, “Innovations Unlimited” had surprised all in the industry by their overwhelming response. The event was overbooked and there were no more rooms available despite taking up rooms in adjoining and nearby hotels. Immediately after registration the delegates were asked to come for the first two hour session of presentations at the conference hall. Two hours later, the audience was ready for some fun. When they saw just a handful of drummers on stage, the confusion was obvious. Music is a very important part of every Indian’s life. From birth to wedding and till death, all ceremonies are completed with music. We pray and we sing with music. We are happy, we need music. We are sad, we still need music. Drums! They are traditionally used as an accompaniment to instruments like harmonium, sitar, guitar, violin, piano, flute, etc. so the drums alone were certainly a cause of some amount of confusion.

Drumbeats by your's truly!

Twenty minutes later, the hall was vibrating! Euphoria prevailed. Everyone in the hall was given separate drums and the leader of the group, “Drum Café” started to teach the audience giving them beats to follow him. Soon all in the audience were hitting the drums with fervor and unison. They were ecstatic and enjoying every moment. Their hands hurt and throats went hoarse, yet they craved for more fun. The LMAI conference “Innovations Unlimited” had begun, the fun promised also appeared to be “Unlimited”.

When the event was conceptualized, the LMAI team was very optimistic and eager to hold the conference at Goa. As we came closer to the date of the event it became a little uneasy situation as even the event managers had not been finalized. Somewhere around the end of January 2011, Vivek Kapoor the LMAI President pressed the panic buttons. What followed is a concentrated build up to an amazing event. Vivek called all in his team across India daily and talked for hours. All of us still joke, “Vivek has free telephone lines”. The team gelled together, worked hard and what evolved months later will be a part of history of label in this country.

Raveendran (Seljegat) & Hemanth(Pragati)

Once the African drummers had delivered, the bar was thrown open, liquor flowed and it was networking all around. People were meeting colleagues in the industry and also striking new relationships. The virtual who is who of the label industry was there to party.

Anil Sharma CEO Avery Dennison, interacting with guests.

Anil Sharma the CEO of Avery Dennison India, who were the platinum sponsors, lead his team to welcome the delegates. Other sponsors included Rotatek-Creed, Esko Artwork, DuPont, Kurz, Mark Andy, Flint Group, Heidelberg-Gallus, label Planet-Orthotec, Nilpeter, Gidue-Reifenhauser and SMI. Important foreign visitors were seen mixing with printers. Notably besides the sponsors, there were representatives from UPM-Raflatac, Omet, A B Graphics, Lintec, Alphasonics, Rotometrics and many other international companies. Vivek and his team, with the help of event organizers Tranquil world had put up a great event. The selected venue Park Hyatt is a property par excellence. The ambience added to the fun of being in Goa, a location that the world loves to be in. It is like good music that tempts you to start dancing.

Federico from Gidue

Presentations at the conference had interesting content Ajay Mehta, SMI spoke on success stories, Jean Pierre-Esko spoke on security and anti counterfeiting while Kelvin Boon Tai made a presentation on plate making technologies. Press manufacturers who made presentations included Bhrigav Jain on behalf of Label Planet, Jeff Feltz- Mark Andy, Federico d’Annunzio-Gidue, Dilip Shah-Nilpeter, Kishore Sarkar-Gallus,

Ranesh Bajaj, Creed Engineers.

Michael Bethge, Ahlstrom

Ranesh Bajaj-Rotatek and Itsik Krief-HP. Other presenters were Keith Montgomery-ABG, Wolfgang Burkard-Kurz, George Lyle-Flint Group, and the last presentation on recycling of siliconised liner came from Michael Bethge of Ahlstrom.

L to R: Roger Pellow, Amit Sheth, Mike Russel, Manish kapoor
Bibiana, Federicao, Itsik Krief, Kishore Sarkar

Roger Pellow, managing director of the Labelexpo group chaired a panel discussion on various printing processes. I have been to numerous conferences around the world, seldom have I seen the audience so committed and engrossed. Despite being at a destination that beckons them to its beaches, the delegates stayed glued to their seats in the conference hall.

Audience

Many a delegates yearned to go out and experience this holiday destination but I guess they postponed it for the last day before they left back home. As the conference came to an end, it was time to party yet again. The delegates were given two hours to rest and change into casual attires while the organizers reset the venue.

The LMAI team had targeted the number of delegates at 125 and they were not sure if that was achievable. A joint and concentrated effort brought in a stream of bookings and the target was revised to 160. Inching closer to the event the bookings crossed 200. Thereafter it appeared totally unmanageable. Booking were closed at 220 but more prospective delegates were persistent and brought references to put pressure on the LMAI team. Despite refusing so many people the final count at the event was 270! The organisers had on their hands a gigantic task. Gifts for all, comfort for all and fun for all. Pooja Ghai and her Tranquil world, the event company, delivered well!

Manasi Scott

When the guests returned to a new setting in the hall, few moments later bollywood entertainer Manasi Scott made a grand entry. She set the mood by getting the label community on to the dance floor. What followed was mind boggling, the hands were up, the feet were tapping on a jam packed dance floor.

The women on stage!

From Manasi the DJ took over and it was fun all the way.

Balle Balle! Sandeep Zaveri and Pawandeep Sahni

Simultaneously the bar was also thrown open. Delegates from around the world were happy and enjoying their time in Goa. Competitors, printers, suppliers and buyers, all were celebrating like one global family.

Kishore Sarkar-Gallus, Paolo Grasso-Omet and Harveer Sahni

Cheers!!! They were partying hard, dancing, enjoying the camaraderie and creating wonderful memories.

Rajesh Chadha Wah Kya dance hai!

It appeared to be an unending evening when I realized it was almost 2am and I decided to leave. When I left people were still at the bar and on the dance floor experiencing the “Fun Unlimited”.

PS: I have posted pictures that were in my own camera.Once I have the official CD, I will post more pictures or change some. Till then enjoy these!

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008, India 5th August 2011.

Indian Label Printers make a beeline for the Goa Conference!

2011-07-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Vivek Kapoor

History is being created! The first conference being organized by LMAI, Label Manufacturers Association of India, is to be held at Hotel Park Hyatt, Goa in three days time from July 29th to 31st, 2011. The president of the association Vivek Kapoor and his team appear to be a stressed lot in effort to deliver their best, yet in their hearts they are ecstatic! They have worked hard to deliver a great networking event. The response is overwhelming. The industry looks forward to network and gel with colleagues.

When the project was conceptualised, not many believed that they would succeed. Success will eventually be viewed after the conference has been held. I will try and post the complete report with pictures by the end of next week. It is an event that promises to be comparable to the best in the world. Being the nascent attempt by a young association and having reached such levels of success lapses if any need to be overlooked.I personally believe that given the level of commitment the event will leave the world label fraternity in awe.

Hotel Park Hyatt, Goa

The target to achieve appeared optimistic, 100 rooms and maybe 150 delegates and Lo! the result is incredible!!! Rooms ? Not available and God knows how many more are needed... Delegates? The venue can accommodate 180 and it is over 240 confirmed delegates! It is really amazing, there is a a long waiting list. As for the speakers at the conference, it is the virtual who is who of the leading providers to the international label industry. More on that in my post conference report.

LMAI Executive Committee in action

Kudos to Vivek and his team! Cheers Goa, here we come!

Posted by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi on 26th July, 2011

Label Industry makes an impact at PackPlus South 2011

2011-07-23T23:43:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month from the 1st to 4th of July 2011, PackPlus South 2011 was held at the Hytex Exhibition Centre Hyderabad. With over 250 exhibitors, the organizers as expected were very optimistic about the success of the show.

Mahrishi Labels Ahmedabad at the show

As mentioned earlier by me that, owing to the organisers' past association with the label industry, a sizable presence from this industry was expected.

PragatiPack, Hyderabad

They, the constituents of the label industry, did show up in substantial numbers. The Packaging industry and also the label industry in India is evolving to reach global standards and the consumer product growth driven by a fast growing young and literate population to amazing levels is yearning to find new and innovative packaging solutions.

The crowds,they just kept coming

It is indeed surprising and a matter of record that a show which was dubbed as a regional show and expected to have limited success turned out to be stunner! Over 12000 visitors came to visit the exhibits on display. It was amazing to see the long ques at the registration counters even close to the day end. This is an evident indication of the development of entrepreneurial endeavors in the interiors of India. Indians are venturing out to explore the avenues they can indulge in.

Weldon Stand

Label industry also made their impact with not just industry suppliers exhibiting but also leading label printers like Pragati Hyderabad, SGRE Bangalore, Maharshi Ahmedabad, Sai Security Bangalore, GMG Hyderabad and many more were seen displaying their products at their stands at the show.

Creed Engineers

Industry suppliers like Creed Engineers, Intergraphic, Weldon Celloplast, Reifenhauser, etc were exhibiting their offerings for the label industry.

Harveer Sahni

On the sidelines of this show a highly succesful and interesting conference "Package 2011" was held at the Novotel Hotel. Noted speakers from acroos the packaging industry made extremely informative presntations. Harveer Sahni, of Weldon Celloplast and Ranesh Bajaj of Creed Engineers were prominent speakers from the Indian label industry.

It indeed was a pleasure to hear a young Label printer Hemanth Paruchuri from Pragatipack Hderabad deliver an excellent presentation.

Amit Sheth of Label Planet at the nerworking evening

A grand networking evening held at Hotel Taj Banjara brought together the leaders from the label and packaging industry. A very well attended high profile evening!

Compiled by Harveer Sahni Managing Director Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi-110008

Bar Coding on Pharmaceutical Packaging in India-Implications of the New Government Order and High speed, Anti-Counterfeit Labeling Solutions.

2011-07-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

1D Barcode

In the early nineties a printer friend of mine showed to me a package that he had designed and printed for a customer. Surprisingly, it had a barcode printed on it at a time when they were virtually not used in India. I had seen these barcodes in use on a previous trip to USA and wondered if the technology had already arrived in India. On further investigation I came to know that since imported consumer products coming into the country carried this image, my friend had put it on the carton to give the product an international look. He had no clue about the functionality or usage of these set of black lines. Little did he realize that one day soon, these barcodes would become an important and essential part of every package with widespread usage in trade and industry. The barcodes that appear as bands of vertical parallel lines of varying thickness and spacing are referred to as linear or one dimensional (1D) barcodes. These are optical representations that are machine readable and contain a lot of data about the product on which they are affixed. The data from these images is read by barcode scanners and decoded to provide information relating to retail sales, tracking, accounting, inventory control, etc.

2D Bar Code

Barcodes have further evolved into rectangles, dots, hexagons and other geometric pattern representations to accommodate larger amount of information. Such barcodes are referred to as two dimensional (2D) barcodes. Bar codes initially appeared as circles and were introduced in the shape of bars and stripes in 1991. Active commercial usage of barcodes commenced in USA in June 1974 when a retail pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum was scanned at the sale counter of a store.

The Government of India also realized the importance of barcodes. In 1996 the Ministry of Commerce, promoted GS1India, a joint initiative of the Government of India and industry, to educate the trade and industry on the use of GS1 numbering system for unique identification of products, services and locations in line with international practices of using them as standards for barcodes. Over the years the Government has been advocating the widespread usage of barcodes. Various steps taken in this direction are;

 In 2007 the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises announced a financial assistance scheme to support the micro and small enterprises in implementation of barcodes.

 On 20th October 2009, The Ministry of health and family welfare, made GS1 barcodes mandatory on all drugs, devices and other medical supplies to Govt. of India w.e.f. 1st April 2010, this was later deferred to be implemented in a phased manner. The implementation will start from October 2011 and final implementation will have to be made by April 2012. With the implementation of this order the Government wants to take decisive action against the menace of substandard and spurious medicines being pumped into the public healthcare system. If this endeavor enables the government procurement agencies to pinpoint and trace the culprits who supplied spurious medicines, it will definitely improve the reliability in public healthcare.

 In an effort to safeguard Indian pharmaceutical exports from the bad name they were given when some spurious medicines in Africa, were found labeled "made in India", on 10th January 2011, DGFT, under the Ministry of Commerce, made it mandatory for exporters of pharmaceutical products to build track and trace capability for their export products by using barcodes as per GS1 global standards. The bar codes were to be employed at primary, secondary and tertiary level packagings. The above order was slated to come into force on the 1st of July 2011 but owing to representations made by trade and industry the implementation was deferred. The order will now be implemented in a phased manner and the final application of barcodes on primary packaging will become mandatory from 1st July 2012. Once the order is implemented, a package going out of a factory will have an identifying bar code and unique number that can be read at any point in the supply chain right up to the retail shop. These can then be matched with the batch number and other manufacturing details stored in a central database to find out if the package is genuine or not. The image can be captured in any cell phone and transmitted to get the verification from the database in seconds.

The Indian drug export industry is of the size of Rs.45000 crores and most of the larger producers are willing to implement this order. It is the small and medium sized manufacturers and exporters who account for exports to the tune of Rs.20000 Crores, that are objecting and fear the implications. There are about 6000 SMEs in the pharma sector spread across the country. According to them, this order will have adverse implications on their businesses:

1. It will make their products costlier.

2. They tend to lose sales due to already existing tough competition.

3. The cost of implementation according to some exporters is almost one crore, though this appears to be exaggerated.

4. The cost of barcode per strip or vial will make the product unsalable.

5. The whole process of barcode generation and application will need computerization and automation but the SMEs have mostly manual packing facilities.

Given the resolve of the government and the benefits of this order, it is a matter of time that this order will be fully implemented. Drug regulating authorities in most foreign countries are also making bar coding mandatory and exporters to these markets, whether big or small will have to comply with these regulations.

High Speed Anti-counterfeiting Labeling solutions:

Definition of counterfeiting is, " A deliberate attempt to deceive consumers by copying and marketing goods bearing well known trademarks, so that they look like the original products made by a reputed manufacturer ". Counterfeits in pharmaceuticals have far reaching damaging effects on the unsuspecting patients. With time, manufacturers and marketers have tried to develop various anti-counterfeiting solutions to counter this deception of consumers by counterfeiters. There is constant work being done in this field but at the same time these criminals who fake the products work overtime to copy these solutions to cheat the consumer. Counterfeiting is one of the fastest growing financial crimes, threatening jobs and endangering public health and safety. The World Customs Organization estimated annual global trade in illegitimate goods at about $600 billion (2004), which is expected to rise to $1.7 trillion by 2015, representing 5% to 7% of all worldwide trade. The size of global fake drugs industry is estimated some t 90 billion US Dollars. Estimates vary on the number of fake drugs made in India. The Indian government says that 0.4 percent of the country's drugs are counterfeit and that substandard drugs account for about 8 percent, but independent estimates range from 12 to 25 percent drugs to be fake.

I list many of the anti counterfeiting technologies available, all or most of them can be converted to self adhesive labels to be dispensed on high speed labeling machines. Some of these solutions are overt and others covert. The overt solutions are visible and verifiable by the end users but the covert ones are not visible;

1. Holograms: Holograms are optically variable devices. The optical interaction of the holographic image with the human eye makes it ideal for both brand promotion and security. Many holograms produced are tamper evident and also have other security features built into them like sequential numbering, UV fluorescence in the adhesive, etc. The area of holography is quite well developed and there is a lot of scope in it for producing newer security options.

2. Security Graphics: This involves printing technologies like the ones used for banknote printing. The security can be further enhanced using special designs like micro text and latent images.

3. Transfer labels: These are similar to the tattoos. The printed image is directly transferred to the product

4. VOID labels: These labels have special features built into them, such that they show hidden text when they have been removed and reapplied. The classic example is the label which when removed leaves the message VOID behind. Labelstock can be designed such that the residual message VOID can be customized to customer needs. It can show a brand, an emblem or a message. It can even change color when removed.

5. Destructible label: Destructible labels are another form of tamper evident labels. Such labels fragment into small pieces when attempted to be removed. These labelstocks can be top coated for accepting barcode printing and also adding more security features.

6. On product markings: On-product marking technologies allow for special images or codes to be placed on conventional oral dosage forms. These overt technologies can be difficult to replicate and offer a security technology at the pill level. This added layer of security is effective even when products are separated from the original package.

7. Embedded image: An invisible image can be embedded within the graphics on the pack. It can only be viewed using a special filter, and cannot be reproduced by normal scanning.

8. Security inks (UV sensitive): Creating security features into labelstocks or labels using security inks is possible in many diverse ways. This is possible due to the wide variety of inks available e.g. UV sensitive inks which glow under UV light or change color when exposed to sunlight and Metameric inks that are similar in day light condition but change under different light sources. One can print an invisible message which becomes readable when light conditions change, such images cannot be photocopied.

9. Thermochromic inks: These inks change color with change of temperature.

10. Micro-Taggants in labels: Microtaggants are microscopic Identification Particles that are traceable and play an important part in anti-counterfeit technology. Microtaggants are highly versatile in their use and application. In basic form, Microtaggants are a unique numeric code sequence in a multiple colored layer format. In more complex forms, Microtaggants deliver multiple layers of security through the incorporation of several taggant technologies. These can be used in inks coatings, adhesives and paper making. The simplest form of taggants can be identified from their different colours. Other taggants can be energy sensitive, fluorescent, magnetic, etc.

11. DNA Taggants: These are DNA-embedded biotechnology security applications. These are proprietary formulations and processes and can be verified by laboratory DNA analysis. This is used for very high level of security and anti counterfeiting measures.

12. Security threads and fibres: . UV sensitive fibres can be incorporated into the pulp by the paper mill or in the adhesive during production of labelstock. Such fibers can be seen under the UV light.

13. Barcodes: As explained earlier, these are high-density linear or 2 dimensional bar codes. A 2D code can typically be 1cm square or smaller, and yet contains up to 1 Kb of data. Linear bar codes may used where space is not a constraint. The codes are printable by on-line methods including inkjet or digital printing, allowing direct computer control and transfer of records to the central database. Systems have been developed whereby the label on a shipping case is linked to the identities of all its contents, and this can be further extended up to the pallet labels.

14. Consecutive or sequential numbering: Consecutive and sequential numbering is done as a part of the label printing or finishing process. This does not provide a very high level of security. The main disadvantages of sequential numbering are that the sequence is predictable and easily replicated. Infact it is generally used as a security enhancing process. A label that has other security features is given this numbering to further enhance the level of security. One of the biggest users of this process is the state excise departments who apart from having various security features in their seals also number them in an evident effort to keep a track on the labels in the supply chain.

15. Serialisation: The Track and Trace label may not be difficult to copy, but its security is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of unique and apparently random serialisation, or non-sequential numbering, ideally at individual item level. If the serialisation was sequential, then the level of security would be very low as the sequence is predictable, whereas “random” serialisation using a highly secure algorithm or method of encryption overcomes this. Individual packs may still be copied, but the database will identify duplicates or invalid serials, as well as those which have been cancelled or expired, or which appear in the wrong market, or with invalid product details.

16. RFID: An RFID tag comprises of an antenna with a microchip at its centre. This tag has specific and batch information which can be scanned at a distance, and without requiring line of sight (unlike bar codes). The radio frequency used determines the range and sensitivity, but no, one specification suits all applications. Some systems are able to capture multiple records for a mixture of different products, but there are some issues around orientation of the tags and absorbance of the radio signal by liquids and foils. But one clear advantage of RFID is that it has the potential to be fully automated in warehouses and even through to pharmacies, without requiring manual intervention.

17. Water mark paper: These are marks that you can see as an image in the paper when you hold it against light. These are built into the paper at the paper making stage in a paper mill.

18. Laser coding: This process of putting batch and variable details by laser coding requires special and expensive equipment. Laser codes can be applied to cartons, labels, plastic and metal components.

19. Odor: Micronic capsules containing distinctive odors can be applied as an additive to an ink or coating to provide a novel covert or semi-overt feature.

The scope of security labels and brand protection solutions are wide and no, one solution can be a permanent solution. The development and innovation does not come about quickly due to hesitation on the part of the users in avoiding to spend more. Another step required to defeat the counterfeiter is to keep upgrading the security labels but the manufacturers resist this and want a solution that would last them at least five years. This is not possible as the counterfeiter works overtime to make duplicates and fakes. Continuous innovations are required to produce security solutions that become a deterrent for them. Giving them so much time would make us fall into a trap facilitated by the time that we ourselves give to the counterfeiters. Designing a security label needs application of mind, time and money. We have to reconcile to the fact that providing security solutions is an ongoing process. Application of security labels is only one part of the exercise, educating customer to check its authenticity is the more important part. What good is a security label if it cannot protect the duplication and if you do not know how to check if it is a genuine product?

Presentation made at PackPlus South in Hyderabad 2011 on 2nd July, 2011 by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008, India

A Punjabi’s tryst with labels

2011-06-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

Prem Khanna

Born into a family who migrated to Delhi from Lahore (now in Pakistan) at the time of prtition of India, Prem Khanna, is a typical Punjabi who works hard, enjoys good food, makes a lot of friends, loves to entertain and puts up a brave front with a smile, even in times of adversity. While he has been born and brought up in Delhi and is an alumni of Delhi’s Kirori Mal College yet the Lahore culture and style is evident on his personality, “Doing everything with a flair!” Prem Khanna started his professional carrier as an employee of a custom clearing agent. Even as he worked hard at his job he knew one day he will be running his own show as an employer. It was just a matter of time and firm resolve that soon he started his own custom clearing company and found success. As he moved ahead in business, he struck a close friendship with one of his customer P C Jain, who was a trader and regularly imported Hand Held Labelers, Labels, etc. from companies like Pitney Bowes and Monarch Marking Systems. The concept of gun labels, as they came to be called with time, was introduced in India by P C Jain. Being a pioneer in this field, Jain saw the potential and need to start a manufacturing operation to produce these price marking labels in India complemented by trading in the imported hand held labelers. He proposed the venture to his friend and custom clearing agent Prem Khanna, inviting him to invest in equity and join the board of the start-up venture Great Eastern Impex Pvt. Ltd., as a director. Khanna, with his urge to diversify and grow, saw it as an opportunity and accepted to invest and join the board of the company as a director. This was in the year 1983-84, Prem Khanna made his tryst with self adhesive labels and silently pledged to excel in this field.

Most of the work in the initial years at Great Eastern was done by PC Jain who continuously travelled and Khanna preferred to remain a silent partner, observing the business as it grew. It was in 1987-88 when the company moved to their new premises in Gurgaon that Prem Khanna started to take active interest in the working of the company to understand the manufacture and marketing of self adhesive labels. He fondly remembers the high margins that they roped in those days. A product that they now sell for just Rs.680.00 used to sell at in excess of Rs.2000.00. Great Eastern is a success story that I intend to chronicle another day. The company grew at a fast pace and expanded with time. It was in 2002 after Shakti Jain, PC Jain’s son returned to India after completing his studies in the United States and joined business that things started to change. In time P C Jain proposed to Prem Khanna to end the partnership and split the business into different business segments and marketing zones and still maintain an association. This looked interesting on paper and appeared to work for a while but eventually the reality prevailed, the partnership had come to an end. Prem Khanna realized he had reached the turning point of his life and he was left with his start up venture Rachna Overseas Pvt. Ltd. (ROPL) to move on in life. Time had come to keep his tryst with self adhesive labels and redeem his pledge to excel in the field. In true Punjabi tradition he put his mind and soul in the venture. He was assisted in his endeavor by A S Shekhawat an alumni of IIM who also had worked as Vice President at Great Eastern and had left them at that time to join ROPL as a director.

With a Mark Andy 830 label press, an Ihle ribbon slitter and some staff inherited from Great Eastern, Khanna and Shekhawat went ahead to establish a pan national marketing network to sell the same product mix they were doing earlier. Space was initially a constraint and finance was difficult but Prem Khanna managed it well. The first success came with a contract from Hindustan Paper Corporation followed by orders from Hero Honda and others. Thereafter it has been continuous growth and expansion at ROPL. Starting from less than 10000 square foot factory they have now moved to a 30000 square foot smart looking facility producing primarily a range of variable data labels, barcode labels, price marking labels, thermal transfer labels, etc. They also import and sell point of sale items like barcode printers and scanners. With their manufacturing facility in Gurgaon near Delhi, ROPL operates out of six more offices located at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. They have added more equipment and now have seven label presses, 2 Ihle ribbon presses and a host of ancillary equipment. ROPL has a workforce of over 150. Prem Khanna himself overseas all administration, while his son takes care of marketing in Delhi and Mumbai. The production and the branches are handled by A S Shekhawat. “Rachna Overseas Pvt. Ltd. has been growing at a fast pace of 35% per annum” says Prem Khanna and goes on to add with a flair, “In the next five years we will grow at least three times if not more” They have started to test their marketing with RFID and would like to start production when they feel the technology has stabilized. Digital printing has not been considered so far. As for their foray into international business, they have been exporting for a while but soon they will be a multinational of sorts. Commercial production will soon begin at their joint venture Rachna Overseas (Bangladesh) Pvt. Ltd. in Dhaka. ROPl aspires to start another manufacturing facility close to present one.

Prem Khanna’s wife Rachna, after whose name his company has been named, is a homemaker and his moral support in all endeavors. His only son Karan has joined him and given the energy levels of Prem Khanna, it will be a while before he hands over the baton completely to Karan. Prem Khanna is a dedicated family man. When he finishes for the day he heads straight home looking forward to spending time with his two granddaughters. His only daughter Nupur is married. His success has not gone to his head, he reminisces that he was innocent and slow in his younger days, his father used to tell him, ”I wonder what you will do in life?” Today a successful Khanna lends support to his extended family including his brothers and sisters. On Sunday mornings he does allocate his time to play Cricket, which has been his passion for long years. Prem Khanna goes pensive when asked about his love for going on holidays, “There is no time” he complains, “the growth in labels is addictive and compelling. It changes your priorities; they become your first love”.

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 1st June, 2011.

Hyderabad, Goa and Brussels, Label Printers on the move

2011-06-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

Vivek Kapoor and wife Shveta
holidaying in Abu Dhabi

As we get into the middle of summer holidays, most of the bigger label printers seem to be heading to some exotic destinations with their families. They have worked hard to achieve success and so it is appropriate to reward themselves with relaxing and fun-filled vacations. When they return to work rejuvenated, it will be start of yet another bout of hard work to chisel their success stories with print. The retailing revolution in India has unfolded a growth in the Indian label industry that needs constant indulgence and continuous expansion to achieve excellence in printing with enhanced capabilities to produce defect free labels at high speeds and be cost effective. The market keeps on getting bigger and consumers get more demanding both in terms of quality and prices. With raw material prices sky-rocketing, the pressure on the label printers is evident. In such a scenario the time-off is justified, so that they come back and get back to work with enhanced vigor.

Hotel Park Hyatt, Goa

The Label Manufacturers Association of India has been toying with the idea of holding a conference for long time. The event has finally gone beyond the planning stage and has been announced. The LMAI Conference, “Innovations in Print” is scheduled to be held at Hotel Park Hyatt, Goa on the 29th, 30th and 31st of July 2011. The event is just two months away and preparations are in full swing. The management team at LMAI headed by their President Vivek Kapoor is making efforts to make this conference a big success. The industry has welcomed the move and the event appears to be heading for a fully sold out situation! Leading equipment and material suppliers have seen the opportunity in this conference where the “who is who” of the Indian label industry will meet, and have come forward with sponsorships. Most of these renowned international companies are also sending in speakers to make presentations that will impart knowledge on innovative developments in the field. LMAI is making efforts to make this event a memorable one by arranging lunches, dinners, entertainment, celebrity performances, African drummers, etc. This is an evident effort to add value to the meet with good content, good entertainment and great networking. It is interesting to note that with the announcement of this event the LMAI membership has started to grow.

Before the LMAI conference, earlier on in July from the 1st to 4th “PackPlus South 2011” is being held in Hyderabad. Though it is primarily a packaging show yet it does have a converting zone where important industry suppliers to the label industry as also some leading label printers will be exhibiting. Given the event organizers heritage and links with the label industry, it is expected many of the constituents of the label industry, more so from South India will be seen at the show either as exhibitors or visitors. The show also gains importance from the fact that it has established a foothold in the south Indian market in recent times.

Two months later in the end September, “Labelexpo Europe 2011” will be held from 29th September to 1st October 2011 at Brussels. This show is the Mecca for successful Label printers across the world. The last show in 2009 marketed as, “Greatest Label show on earth” lived up to its tagline with over 24000 visitors from 125 countries, despite the fears of the impact of economic slowdown. The show in September 2011 is going to be the biggest ever label event with some innovative features. Last year at Labelexpo Americas, the event promoters Tarsus had tried a new concept of organizing, “Technology Print Workshops”. The huge success of these workshops has prompted them to introduce the same at Labelexpo Europe this year. Three printing technologies (dry toner, liquid toner and inkjet) will be compared against each other during live machine demonstrations run by an independent moderator. The technologies will be represented by Xeikon, HP and EFI Jetrion respectively. There will be four sessions per day, three of which will see the different companies printing the same job – a food, pharmaceutical or personal care label – on the same substrate. The fourth session will allow participants to print a label of their choice. Visitors will also get to see the narrow web printing and converting technology undergoing a transition so as to integrate label printing, flexible packaging and package converting technologies on to the same press. This would enable a label company to acquire one high end press and have the capability to produce labels, shrink sleeves, flexible packaging, folding cartons, etc on the same equipment employing diverse print technologies. The developments displayed at this event will be an eye opener for the future trends in the label industry.

The no. of visitors from India to Labelexpo Europe this year is expected to be exceptionally high. They will definitely be the select band of visitors to watch and woo. They will be the ones ringing the order bells for the equipment suppliers. Most of the printers are holding their order to finally announce their acquisitions at this premium event. The year seems to be getting busy and interesting for the label industry. Hereon it will be Hyderabad followed by Goa and then finally Brussels. They will be doing business, partying and networking, all the way!

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 1^st June, 2011.

Indian Label printer Wintek, Bangalore, wins prestigious Finat label awards!

2011-06-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

Finat, the worldwide association representing the interests of the self-adhesive labeling industry, has announced the winners of its latest label awards competition at the recently held Finat congress in Sicily, Italy. It was a highly successful congress attended by over 330 delegates from across the world. The 31^stFinat label competition, a part of the congress deliberations, received a record number of entries. It was also reported that entries were of higher quality than average, making selecting winners 'very difficult' and resulting in many more Highly Commended awards.

Hameed of Wintek receiving the award from Tony White
with Gururaj in the middle.

Tony White Chairman of the judges said,"‘We received just over 360 entries from 50 companies worldwide, an eleven percent increase over last year’s record numbers’.

It is a matter of pride for us in India that Wintek, Bangalore and UPSL, Chennai a member of the Manipal Group headed by the enterprising Gautham Pai were recipients of awards at this prestegious events. I was extremely thrilled to hear my friend Gururaj Ballarwad say, "I am pleased to inform you that we have won two Category Awards and six "Highly Commended Certificates" at the FINAT Label competition in Sicily, Italy".

In picture the winners! Hameed, Helmut Schreiner,
Isidore Leiser, Gururaj and others

The Award function was attended by Gururaj and his partner K M Shahul Hameed on behalf of the Wintek. "Keep it up Gururaj and team Wintek, you have worked hard and it is a journey which gets decorated by the day, with more awards coming by".

Harveer Sahni, Managing Director Weldon Celloplast Limited. 16th June 2011.

Trading in paper to producing labels.

2011-04-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

Surinder Kapur

“In the next five years we will expand to make our label business grow five times!” This statement comes from a man fully committed to making good labels and talking so at an age when others are talking of their retirement plans. Surinder Kapur is the grandson of Lala Jaidayal Kapur, the erstwhile distributor of the largest paper manufacturers in the country Ballarpur Industries Ltd. (BILT). As history goes Lala Jaidayal Kapur used to run his stationery business in Lahore. After partition of India, he moved to Amritsar in India and struck a close friendship with Lala Karam Chand Thapar, the founder of BILT, now renamed “ Avantha Group”. This friendship brought to him the coveted distributorship of Shree Gopal Paper Mills Ltd. also owned by the illustrious Thapar. Lala Jai Dayal Kapur had seven sons. His fifth son Ram Kumar, father of Surinder Kapur moved to Mumbai in 1950-51 and setup his paper distribution business under the name of Jai Dayal Kapoor (Bombay). A couple of years later Ram Kumar set up his maiden manufacturing venture R K Papers at Prabha Devi Mumbai to manufacture excersize notebooks. Surinder one of Ram Kumar Kapur’s six sons, was still in school when the family felt that this business needed a family member’s continuous involvement. As Surinder finished his school, at this relatively young age, he was called upon to divide his time to attend college and spend the rest in the Prabha Devi unit. He handled the situation well and by 1971 they moved to a unit in Ghatkopar expanding to start plastic blow moulding as well. With hard work, business prospered and soon it was time to move yet again to a bigger place. The 40000 square foot Taloja unit was setup in 1974. The exercise notebook manufacturing was initially moved here subsequently additional plastic blow moulding capacity was installed. It was only in 1981 that a label press supplier suggested to Surinder Kapur to start manufacture of self adhesive labels. He was interested and started to research the potential of this new product. He found that Johnson & Johnson was the only established manufacturer of labels at that time. Further indulgence revealed that they were selling ½” X 1” labels at Rs.140.00 per thousand. That translates into a per square meter price of over Rs.430.00! The decision of Surinder to enter into the manufacture of self adhesive labels is obvious. As a labelstock manufacturer today, even I am overwhelmed at this exorbitant price. When Surinder told me this fact I could only think of a popular song of an era gone by and sung by Mary Hopkins, “Those were the days my friend”. I really wonder where those days vanished.

R K Papers started to produce Self adhesive labels with an M250 Iwasaki label press. The success was sweet, Surinder went on to buy a total of nine Iwasaki label presses in the times that followed. Initially, selling stickers, three decades ago at prices similar to that of J&J was extremely difficult. No customer was ready to pay that price for a “sticker”. He reminisces that a small change in their marketing brought results. Instead of calling their product stickers, they called them pressure sensitive labels and the market was ready to pay the price. As the market grew, Surinder saw the need to respond to customer requirements promptly. Sitting in Taloja when no internet was available, it was a difficult task to send the designs to the plate makers in south Mumbai and then wait for days for the plates to come in. In 1983, he installed his nylo plate making equipment, to be able to print labels when the customer needed. Another problem that he faced at that time was the fact that in those days Shantilal Doshi was the only supplier of labelstock, so availability was difficult. He remembers that the suppliers used to ration the supply. You ask for 20,000 square meters and they would give only 10,000. As for printing, Surinder’s experience in printing notebooks helped and there were no hiccups in that area. Surinder has been actively and vigorously been supported in the labels venture by his younger brother Jatinder Kapur.

As they grow older the two brothers have mentored and helped their sons to setup their flagship label company, J K Fineprints Pvt. Ltd. also at Taloja. Surinder’s son Himanshu takes care of the production while Jatinder’s son Karan ensures that his marketing efforts produce a continuous stream of orders. J K Fineprints is a 10,000 square foot factory that has been designed meticulously and is exceptionally clean and organized. When Roger Pellow Managing Director Labelexpo group visited JK Fineprint, he commented that it was a rare sight around the world that he could walk around the press with no wires and pipes in the way. In the last 3 years they have installed a Gallus, three Orthotecs, two Omegas and the expansion plans are still on. Their total label business provides employment to about 70 people.

On a personal front Surinder is a much disciplined person. He is up every morning by 5-5.30am and by 8.30am he leaves his home in south Mumbai on his way to factory at Taloja. He is well planned and his desk is always spotlessly clean, by 5-5.30pm he is on his way back home. He finds active support from his wife Rita who is forever smiling. All three of his children, two daughters and one son are married. I would here like to narrate a very interesting episode. Surinder is a very dear friend to me, all his relatives know it. At his daughter’s wedding one guest came up to me and remarked, “It is strange that you are a sardar(sikh) and Surinder’s best friend today!” The story goes that when R K Papers Taloja factory was being built, a sikh contractor with whom there was a dispute, got an injunction from court and Surinder could not enter his own factory for weeks. Once the stay was vacated Surinder put up a notice outside his factory, “Sardars not allowed inside” Those were days when he was young and aggressive. He looks an angry man but he is one of the most loving persons I have ever known.

Surinder Kapur was the founder president of LMAI, Label manufacturers Association of India. He and some of the leading label printers across the nation got together to initiate this association that has now become the voice of the Indian Label Industry. Surinder has worked hard in his successful journey in the label industry, a journey that was initiated by his illustrious grandfather “from trading in paper to producing self adhesive labels”

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 April 2011

Women who endeavored in the Indian Labels industry.

2011-03-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

When Shakespeare said, “Frailty, thy name is woman” he probably did not realize the strength that women generate when in a seat of power, cannot be matched by men. The level of mental endurance women have has made many a strong men in an otherwise male dominated society, lean on their feminine and delicate shoulders in hours of distress. Women have risen from being mere homemakers to world leaders. Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi lead their countries and made the world realize that women can lead from the front with an iron hand. Over the ages women around the world have been given lesser opportunities to literacy and technical education as compared to men. It is a fact that countries that have invested in educating their women and have promoted their empowerment have seen their economies and rate of development grow faster. Across the world more and more women are now acquiring expertise and capabilities similar to their men folk. They strive hard to excel in their selected areas of work. We are seeing that change happening in India as well. A society that insisted on restricting their women to household chores is gradually transforming. With government spending heavily in bringing public awareness on the need to also educate the girl child and empower women, the results are evident. Walk into any big company’s office and you see a lot of young and bright women carrying on their work with confidence and crisp efficiency. Women are now more educated and capable of involving themselves in more and more arenas that were earlier the mainstay of men only. Whether it is police or army, flying aircrafts or travelling into space, heading businesses or governments, they are not restricting themselves. Our Indian label industry did not have active business women managers till not very long ago. All that is changing now, Indian women are acquiring technical and management skills to lead high levels of investments in the label industry that is in a growth path. It is thus that I felt it is time to recognize the contribution of these women.

Honey Vazirani

In 1989 my friend Sushil Bhatia, who used to work for Avery Dennison before he started his own business, introduced me to a young and vibrant Honey Vazirani, working at Paper Products Limited, Thane. That was almost the beginning of this wonderful girls’ journey into the world of labels. From being a management trainee in1989, she rose to be the head of the labeling division of this 700 Crore company which is heavily into flexible packaging. It is truly a decorative and colorful travel. Ever since then Honey has been at the forefront of PPL’s foray into production of labels which began in 1991. Her job involved client servicing, marketing, product development and leading the labels team at PPL. She has handled key customers who are a virtual who is who of the fmcg sector. Servicing demanding customers like HUL and Dabur and bringing to them the most premium and modern labeling technologies has been a passion for her. In words of Torsten Jung Lenz, who in those days worked for Jacstadt Germany, “Honey is married to labels!” Her ambition is to excel in everything she does. Having spent 21 years in the industry she took a sabbatical in 2009. She spent a whole year consolidating herself by travelling, reading, spending time with friends and relatives and enjoying good food. Yes, she is a self confessed foodie! In 2010 she returned to PPL, which has four plants and 1500 employees, to head the company’s HR department. While she is contented and enjoying her new role in HR, yet you can see the twinkle in her eyes when you ask about her future in the labels industry. Her advice to others in the label printing and packaging industry is that it is a pity that for most in the industry, “Good enough is enough” She motivates people in her company by her mantra, “ Good enough is not enough”.

In the late eighties, I had the chance to meet a very talented screen printer Kartar Singh Dunglay of Goodwork Co. which had started to print in 1955. He is one of the elders in our industry from an era and class of people who were in love with their work as the youngsters are today with their girlfriends. They would think work and dream work. It was during that time I met his dynamic wife Kusum Dunglay. Kusum is an MBA from London University and lead Goodwork's entry into label printing. She first bought a Mark Andy press and followed it up with a fully loaded Gallus for specialized and decorative labels. She now heads sister concern Reydunn Label Printing Pvt. Ltd. With a work force of 80, she is handling clients like ITC, L’Oreal and other leading FMCG groups in India. Given the experience and innovative heritage that her husband mentored, she was one of the earliest ones to invest in a combination press. Kusum Dunglay is quite excited at the prospects of tapping the growth emanating out of the Indian indulgences in retail marketing. In 2002 at one of the roadshows at New Delhi for promoting the India Label Show, in my presentation, I talked about the two women who were heading successful label printing companies at that time. Both are like sisters to me. One is of course is Kusum Dunglay, while the other is Amila Singhvi. Amila Singhvi heads the large IPP at Noida. Since her print packaging business is growing multifold at a fast pace, she has decided to gradually exit from the label business and concentrate in the packaging business.

Soft spoken gentleman of the label industry Bharat Mehta is both, the history and present of the Indian label industry. He is one of the first label printers in India. I could sit with him and chat for hours about our time spent in this industry which has evolved like a family for him and me. Bharat Mehta’s Super Labels is one of the leading and respected label printing companies in Mumbai. His two sons have joined business in recent times after completing their management studies. Silently but emphatically, providing vital inputs and support is Bharat Mehta’s wife Meena Mehta, a B.Sc in Chemistry. For over 20 years she has been driving the organization through motivation, enthusiasm and participating in all decision making.

Renuka Raj, an MBA from IIFT Delhi, spent the first three years of her career in a paints company. Later she moved on to promote and run a pharmaceuticals business. A friend proposed for them to join in starting a label printing business, Renuka found it interesting as it was a backward integration for her pharmaceuticals business. That was the beginning for her labels venture Ra Labels at Hyderabad. She has been heading that business for the last 10 years. According to Renuka it was the first flexographic label printing company in Andhra Pradesh. Renuka has ambition to increase investment and grow in this industry to become leaders in Andhra Pradesh.

Divya Keshav

Delhi based Shaikher Kaishiv of Krishna Halftone Pvt. Ltd. Is also one of the earliest entrants into the label industry in the decade of 1980’s. In recent times he has handed over the reigns of this company to his daughter Divya Keshav, the present Managing Director. Divya works hard in this male dominated industry to carry forward the good work done by her father. She is post graduate in marketing and an alumnus of the India School of business, Hyderabad. She is recipient of “Rising Talent 2010” award given to 25 women entrepreneurs below the age of 40 across the globe by the “Women Forum for Economy & Society” France. Her company operates from two locations in New Delhi and Noida with multiple label presses. There are other women entrepreneurs who I am aware of but have not responded to my emails requesting information to cover them in this article. Shweta Sheth, an alumnus of Amherst, Massachusetts USA, is actively involved in the working of Primark labels as a director. Primark is a part of the General Metallisers Group. Anjali Deshpande, wife of LMAI General Secretary, Ramesh Deshpande has been the driving force behind the success of Renu Prints, Aurangabad. She has been honored for her work by the ministry of MSME (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises). Then there is the enterprising Ramesh at S K Labels in Chennai, who has also put his daughter in command.

Priyata Raghavan

After completing her post graduation course from IIM Lucknow, Priyata Raghavan joined the FMCG division of ITC Limited, before moving over to Sai Security Printers, a company owned by her father, Vijay Raghavan. Sai had invested in an imported press for producing scratch lotteries but a sudden ban on lotteries made them to sit up and rethink. The growing label segment presented the opportunity and they decided to enter this field. At that point of time Priyata took over the complete operations of the company in North India. The company has another unit in Bangalore. Priyata has lead the company’s label printing operations to profitability and an emphatic presence in the high quality label segment. Sai security printers surprised all at the last Labelexpo in New Delhi by announcing purchase of two Gallus Label Presses, one for their unit at Faridabad and the second one for Bangalore. Priyata sees tremendous scope in the growing label industry. She says, “There is a lot of scope for well managed vendors of high-end labels and packagings”. She is leading Sai Security Printers to be a leader, by offering well defined levels of services and technical competence.

Sandhya Shetty and Santosh Shetty

At the end of an industry meeting called by Roger Pellow, Managing Director of the UK based Labelexpo group in early 2008, to promote the next India Label Show, as I came down to the lobby of Hotel Grand Hyatt in Mumbai, I saw Manish Kapoor of Nilpeter in a serious discussion with a young man whom I did not recognize. Manish introduced him as Santosh Shetty Managing Director of Surface Graphics, a company founded by his father H G Shetty and involved in manufacture of cartons. Santosh was considering purchase of a Nilpeter press to expand into the label production. The venture was to be headed by his sister Sandhya Shetty. Sandhya is a graduate in Chemistry and Masters in management Studies (Marketing). On completing studies she had spent 8 years in the field of business research and analysis. She worked on projects involving Government contracts, Defence sector in the US and in the hospitality sector in India. When her brother Santosh brought the idea of producing labels to Sandhya, her feminine instincts went to work. The yearning to create products that would be decorative, add to aesthetics, have scope of innovation in design came to the fore. She called it a day for her research and analysis job and decided to be a “labels girl” from day one. Labelexpo 2008 was held in very traumatic times. Mumbai had suffered a dastardly terror attack and the global economies were in crisis mode and nose-diving. Sandhya’s new Nilpeter was being showcased at the show in New Delhi’s Exhibition Center Pragati Maidan. A confident brother sister team of Santosh and Sandhya were at the Nilpeter stand all the time meeting fellow printers, prospective suppliers, and other colleagues in the label industry. The industry found an instant friend in the ever smiling Sandhya. Despite the difficult economic scenario, she was determined to do justice to the MD’s chair that she was occupying in her company, Synergy Packaging Pvt. Ltd. and lead the company to its vision of success. In just two years of starting, Sandhya and her team produced their first award winning label. She aspires to take her company to global standards and global presence.

It was extremely difficult for me to write on so many women in one go. When I decided to do this article, I assumed that it would be a relatively simple job for me, given the knowledge and experience in the industry. Once I started to gather more and more information on these women and their capabilities, I was confused. I was wondering how short sighted Shakespeare may have been while calling women as frail. Well, that was his personal opinion and may have been true at that point of time. These are intelligent women with amazing capabilities and their craving to excel is unique. They are all educated and technically capable to talk the language their customers and their team will understand. Silently and efficiently they have worked their way to a position of strength. I wonder if I have done justice to their work. I could have written a separate article on each one of them and their achievements. These women are homemakers, mothers, sisters, and friends besides being the successful business persons they are. The more I tried to discover the more there was to learn. Maybe another time I will try to write on them separately but at this time it was necessary for me to write on them collectively, because it is my tribute to these women in the label industry, “The women who endeavored!”

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 6^th March, 2011.

Self-adhesive Label Sector Back to Pre-Crisis Volumes in 2010 Industry Concerned about Severe Pressure on Raw Materials

2011-03-17T01:54:00.000-07:00

The Hague, The Netherlands – March 15, 2011 – FINAT, the European association for the self-adhesive label industry reports that demand for self-adhesive label materials in Europe has continued its strong recovery in 2010. From the all time lows recorded at the peak of the global financial crisis in mid 2009, demand returned to pre-crisis levels in the course of 2010. Last year, an overall volume of around 5.7 bln. square meters was recorded, an increase of 11.4% compared to 2009 and 3.5% above the level recorded in 2007, the year before the collapse of global financial markets.
Underlying this growth was the strong, 9.5% recovery of the demand for rolls of paper based label materials, representing some 70% of total demand for self-adhesive label materials. Exceeding this growth, however, was the increase in demand for filmic roll label materials (PE, PP, others), which amounted to 15.3% over the previous year. Filmic materials thus resumed their rise in the share of European self-adhesive materials demand and this from just over 15% at the beginning of the decade to over 22.5% in 2010.
Geographically, growth in demand was driven by Eastern and Southern Europe (including Turkey). Both regions recorded healthy double digit growth figures of 20.6% and 13% respectively. Within these regions, Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria and Romania stood out with annualized growth (well) in excess of 20%, a sign of strong economic development in this emerging region. In the more matured regions, growth of self-adhesive label demand was more modest at around 4.5 – 8.5%, although double digit growth figures recorded for Germany, The Netherlands, Italy and Spain ranked above the top end of this range.
This healthy recovery does not come without significant future risks and concerns however. Already in the late summer of 2010, FINAT members expressed concerns about disturbances in the supply chain that were building up pressure on raw materials' market conditions. According to FINATs quarterly member survey, this prospect tempered the optimism of executives at the beginning of 2011, although the balance of respondents continued to be positive about business prospects for the industry.
Over the past three to four months, the pressure on raw materials has aggravated. Between January 2010 and January 2011, the benchmark pulp prices increased between 20-25%, while resins for LDPE, PP and PET, crucial to filmic label materials, increased between 25-35%. Polymers necessary for the production of adhesives, even increased by 65-75%. Also ink suppliers are being faced with the impact of tight raw materials' markets and have announced price increases ranging up to 30%. The rise of crude oil, driven by the uncertainties in the Arab world, is further intensifying the pressure, not in the least because of the increase of related transportation costs.

According to FINAT Managing Director Jules Lejeune, “capacity limitations cause a gap in supply versus double digit growth in demand. A gap that is only closing slowly. Our members are confronted with quarterly price adjustments or even „spot‟ prices on materials not yet delivered. Under such market conditions and because of the time lapse, contractual raw materials clauses only offer limited shelter. Ultimately this could affect the financial stability of label businesses.”
About FINAT
FINAT, founded in Paris in 1958 and headquartered in The Hague (The Netherlands), is the world-wide association for manufacturers of self-adhesive labels and related products and services. With 600 members in over 50 countries around the world, FINAT has much to offer to label converters and all suppliers to the labeling industry in terms of information exchange and the opportunity to network internationally. www.finat.com
For more information, please contact
Duomedia Public Relations
Maria Laura Lombardi, Tel. + 39 339 32 66 476 – marialaura.l@duomedia.com
Lut Verschueren, Tel. + 32 474 04 49 40 – lut.v@duomedia.com
FINAT
Jules Lejeune, Tel. + 31 (70) 312 39 10 – jlejeune@lejeune.nlThe Hague, The Netherlands – March 15, 2011 – FINAT, the European association for the self-adhesive label industry reports that demand for self-adhesive label materials in Europe has continued its strong recovery in 2010. From the all time lows recorded at the peak of the global financial crisis in mid 2009, demand returned to pre-crisis levels in the course of 2010. Last year, an overall volume of around 5.7 bln. square meters was recorded, an increase of 11.4% compared to 2009 and 3.5% above the level recorded in 2007, the year before the collapse of global financial markets.
Underlying this growth was the strong, 9.5% recovery of the demand for rolls of paper based label materials, representing some 70% of total demand for self-adhesive label materials. Exceeding this growth, however, was the increase in demand for filmic roll label materials (PE, PP, others), which amounted to 15.3% over the previous year. Filmic materials thus resumed their rise in the share of European self-adhesive materials demand and this from just over 15% at the beginning of the decade to over 22.5% in 2010.
Geographically, growth in demand was driven by Eastern and Southern Europe (including Turkey). Both regions recorded healthy double digit growth figures of 20.6% and 13% respectively. Within these regions, Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria and Romania stood out with annualized growth (well) in excess of 20%, a sign of strong economic development in this emerging region. In the more matured regions, growth of self-adhesive label demand was more modest at around 4.5 – 8.5%, although double digit growth figures recorded for Germany, The Netherlands, Italy and Spain ranked above the top end of this range.
This healthy recovery does not come without significant future risks and concerns however. Already in the late summer of 2010, FINAT members expressed concerns about disturbances in the supply chain that were building up pressure on raw materials' market conditions. According to FINATs quarterly member survey, this prospect tempered the optimism of executives at the beginning of 2011, although the balance of respondents continued to be positive about business prospects for the industry.
Over the past three to four months, the pressure on raw materials has aggravated. Between January 2010 and January 2011, the benchmark pulp prices increased between 20-25%, while resins for LDPE, PP and PET, crucial to filmic label materials, increased between 25-35%. Polymers necessary for the production of adhesives, even increased by 65-75%. Also ink suppliers are being faced with the impact of tight raw materials' markets and have announced price increases ranging up to 30%. The rise of crude oil, driven by the uncertainties in the Arab world, is further intensifying the pressure, not in the least because of the increase of related transportation costs.
According to FINAT Managing Director Jules Lejeune, “capacity limitations cause a gap in supply versus double digit growth in demand. A gap that is only closing slowly. Our members are confronted with quarterly price adjustments or even „spot‟ prices on materials not yet delivered. Under such market conditions and because of the time lapse, contractual raw materials clauses only offer limited shelter. Ultimately this could affect the financial stability of label businesses.”
About FINAT
FINAT, founded in Paris in 1958 and headquartered in The Hague (The Netherlands), is the world-wide association for manufacturers of self-adhesive labels and related products and services. With 600 members in over 50 countries around the world, FINAT has much to offer to label converters and all suppliers to the labeling industry in terms of information exchange and the opportunity to network internationally. www.finat.com
For more information, please contact
Duomedia Public Relations
Maria Laura Lombardi, Tel. + 39 339 32 66 476 – marialaura.l@duomedia.com
Lut Verschueren, Tel. + 32 474 04 49 40 – lut.v@duomedia.com
FINAT
Jules Lejeune, Tel. + 31 (70) 312 39 10 – jlejeune@lejeune.nl

Successful “With us, at Omet” Open doors Event staged in Lecco, Italy, from 9th to 11th March 2011

2011-03-17T01:16:00.000-07:00

The event, part of a fortunate series of happenings named “With us, at Omet” - whose tradition started with the spring open house event in 2010 – has underlined, once again, the strong relationship the Italian manufacturer of printing presses has built with label and packaging converters, in Italy and worldwide.

Lecco, 14^th March 2011

The 2011 “With us, at Omet” Open House has marked the occasion to see a few innovative machines effectively running and printing for the pleasure of clients. Customers, both existing and potential, flew from Europe and the rest of the world (for a total of more than 60 companies) to join a large group of Italian converters. The total number of guests amounting to about 100 visitors.

All the demos have been judged of great quality, a sign of tradition in Omet. The printed subjects were of strong impact and the simplicity of operation and ease and rapidity of set-up of the machines, thanks to the high level of technology reached, were, alone, worth the trip.

Customers particularly appreciated the demonstrations on 430 VaryFlex combination press including offset groups. The Omet Offset group is a compendium of technology, printing precision and robustness for the printing of added-value labels. Being the VaryFlex a true combination press, capable of harmonising in line different printing solutions like rotogravure, flexo, silk-screen, foiling, converting and, of course, offset, this press undoubtedly played the leading role in the open house.

A 430 X-Flex, the benchmark of label presses since its debut in 2007, was not less. Let’s not forget that this press - which included in the event configuration flexo, silk-screen and converting groups - is the winner of FTA Innovation Award in 2008 and of the Tarsus Label Award for Continuous Innovation during Labelexpo Chicago, 2010 edition.

As a completion of the tour, customers could view a 530 VaryFlex machine with a mix of printing technologies - specifically rotogravure and flexo - for the printing of flexible packaging film, another area where Omet holds the leadership firmly.Marco Calcagni, Omet Sales Director, was pleased with the exit of the event and is proud to admit that the no occasion could have been better than this one to have customers visiting Omet production plant. A fully operational factory, “stuffed” with machines being constructed or ready for shipment.

We showed, shared and now look forward to having customers back soon “with us, at Omet”.

Press Release from OMET Srl. Lecco Italy

The Label industry, his world!

2011-02-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

While I was still in school, I started to get training as a salesman in my father’s company. One of the first lessons my father gave was, “If you cannot talk, you cannot sell”. It has stuck to my mind ever since. Mike Fairley, the international label guru, also made a similar comment while recognizing and appreciating the master salesman in Roger Pellow, Managing Director of the Labelexpo Group. Mike said, “You have the gift of the gab!” Roger is the marketing face of Tarsus. He is a tireless traveler and trots around the globe, meeting Label printers suppliers and end users, in an effort to market his high profile Labelexpo series of shows. He can surely talk and live out of a suitcase. Mike further adds, “Roger is like a bouncing ball and cannot be kept down. Every time you throw it down it bounces back to you”. Roger appears at regular intervals at faraway destinations to renew his contacts with the label world. “The global Label industry is his world”.

The Labelexpo group headed by Roger Pellow was acquired by the UK based Tarsus group in 1998. Tarsus are the owners of Labelexpo exhibitions and summits. Additionally they produce a series of annual publications like Labels and Labeling along with the China and India editions to cater to the local markets, “Encyclopedia of labels and label technology” in several languages, “The Labels Yearbook”, “The RFID How to Book” and a host of other surveys and yearbooks. In 2005 Tarsus acquired the “India Label Show” founded by Anil Arora and later renamed it as “Labelexpo India” to be part of the global Labelexpo series of exhibitions. The Labelexpo exhibitions held in Europe, USA, China and India are the Mecca of successful label printers around the world. The Labelexpo exhibition was founded by Clive Smith in the year 1979, almost the year I entered the Self adhesive Label industry. In 1980 the first Labelexpo exhibition was held in London’s Royal Horticultural Hall, in a net area of 1000 square meters. Three shows later in 1985 the show moved to Brussels and in 1998 it was sold to Tarsus.

Roger Pellow joined Tarsus around 2001, the brief to Roger was to bring the show to global standard and scale of participation from exhibitors as well as visitors. There was lot of work to be done. His first task was to bring the global label community to a single platform. He identified the big three, Nilpeter, Mark Andy and Gallus and set himself the task of building a bridge of friendship with them. His first meeting was with Jakob Landsberg of Nilpeter in early 2003 at Copenhagen. Jakob was annoyed with Tarsus and Roger went committed to that meeting. He left that meeting happy and satisfied. Nilpeter was now a permanent and trusted partner to Labelexpo. In quick succession Mark Andy and Gallus shook hands with a highly indulgent Roger. Labelexpo 2003 was huge and successful. Roger was now aspiring to achieve more success at other venues. He started to clear the bottlenecks that he had inherited. He recognized the “Guru” in Mike Fairley and found in him a mentor in the Label industry whom he could consult at all times. Every successful professional manager has to respect the history of his organisation and understand the core inherent strength. To achieve this he found support from the founder of Labelexpo, Clive Smith, whom he befriended early in his career with the Labelexpo group.

Success does not emanate out of stagnation, one needs to move forward and expand. After the success of labelexpo 2003, Roger Pellow put together a team that thought like him and supported his endeavors. He led the group to launch “Labelexpo China” without a single employee in that country at that time! He followed this up with a series of Label Summits and events around the globe, topping it up by acquiring “The India Label Show”. When asked about the nightmares, he refers to the difficult situation that prevailed at the show following the 9/11 attack in USA and the show in New Delhi after the terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008. The shows finally did go through with moderate success but they were sad moments. Roger has divided his focused clients into four major groups i.e. Suppliers, Visitors, Media and End users. Recognising the importance of each of these groups in making the shows successful, he travels around the world and spends time adequately distributed between these focused groups separately. He has setup a good sales team but he singularly remains the marketing face of labeexpo group. His marketing mantra is, “Think global and work local” he further adds, “You have to understand what drives business” He now intends to focus also on the Middle East and African markets.

Roger Pellow was born in Cornwall, England into a family involved in shipping related business. As a young boy he was a keen sportsperson and due to this fact he still spends close to an hour in the gym in his office building each morning before starting work. Surprising as it looks he calls me almost each week at around 10.30-11.00AM when he is driving to work, I am sure readers will understand that it is 6 to 7 AM in the morning there in a bone chilling weather. After completing a B.A. in Geography he became a senior school teacher and soon realized that there was no money in it. Shifting job, he joined an fmcg company to sell Dunhill and Rothmans cigarettes and three years down the line he knew how businesses ran and was ready for yet another change. He joined a publishing company with a magazine for DIY products, building interiors and design. Seven years later he moved yet again to join United Business Media a division of CPM to get his first exposure to the exhibition industry. This company did shows for electronics. He liked the show business and moved eventually to his present job at Tarsus. Instantly he fell in love with the label business and found the job extremely satisfying. He found the people in the label business extremely warm and friendly. As time progressed he made close and dear friends everywhere in the world. He looks at the international label industry as a closely knit global family.

Roger travels 18-20 days each month and has active support from his wife Jayne, whom he met at a beach and initially they did not like each other. However still they ended up in love. She was a nurse who later became a stewardess in British airways. She now is a home maker taking care of their two daughters Kate and Sophie. Roger wishes that his daughter travel the world like him and be the “Children of the World”. If it was not for Jayne, Roger could not have done this, travelling 18-20 days each month. Having been a stewardess herself she understands the needs of a job that calls for extensive travelling. With her active support Roger Pellow would still be travelling around the world for many more years and getting the label industry together to create a global label family because, “The label industry is really his world!”

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 30^th January, 2011.

Still Breathless at show time!

2011-02-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

As we came to the end of 2010, the last month of the first decade of a new millennium, December 2010, saw hectic activity in the printing and packaging industry. The winter chill had started to descend in the capital city of Delhi. The wedding and party seasons that starts around Diwali festival time, was reaching a crescendo. At this time another set of events also began to unfold for our label industry, more so for the printing industry at large. A series of exhibitions and related events were to be held in New Delhi. The mood is generally is festive and upbeat at this time of the year. The way we look forward to meeting friends and relatives at weddings, we also are excited to meet industry colleagues and business friends at the trade related events. This is a time to meet, network and renew relations with fellow printers, material suppliers and equipment suppliers. It gives us the opportunity to update our knowledge of new developments in the industry. It is also time to plan expansion after witnessing the latest equipments and products on display.

On the 3^rd of December2010 PackPlus India 2010 opened in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. It was a fairly big show incorporating many different segments of the packaging industry. The visitor profile was extremely diverse and left many exhibitors confused. Even though the organizers had earmarked areas to different segments yet the intermingling of visitors does take place and exhibitors end up spending time on visitors from unrelated industries. While on one hand printers were exhibiting on the other hand there were other printers visiting the show. Similarly packaging product manufacturers were at the exhibition as visitors, looking for equipments and material suppliers while as exhibitors they were hunting for end user customers. Even though the show was successful with over 11000 visitors, yet the need for having more focused shows is becoming evident as the packaging industry continues to grow. Interestingly, end user packaging buyers who normally come looking for suppliers of packaging materials and packaging machinery were seen rubbing shoulders with some of their own vendors as visitors to the show. I guess the organizers saw the need to have a focused visitor profile and for this reason they have split the next edition of the PackPlus into three different shows at three different locations across India. On the sidelines of PackPlus, “Package” conference was held at the same venue. Some of the presentations made were of truly international standard. The All India Food Processors Association also organized a one day conference on “Inclusive growth of food processing industry” during this period at the same venue in association with Printpackaging.com.

After a gap of just one day, Labelexpo India 2010 was inaugurated yet again at Pragati Maidan to run from December 8-11, 2010. There were some common exhibitors who just had to move from one hall to another. For them it turned out to be one their longest showing as exhibitors at one venue from 3^rd December to 11^th. Labelexpo India is organized by UK based Tarsus group as a part of the Labelexpo series held around the world. A highly focused set of shows aimed at the label industry worldwide. The exhibition was extremely successful and left the visitors and exhibitors happy and satisfied. The show was of truly international standard. Renowned suppliers from around the globe were exhibiting and displaying the latest label printing and converting technologies. The international press manufacturers who were present with working presses included Mark Andy, Nilpeter, Omet, Rotatek, Gallus, Xeikon, HP, Orthotec, BangSung, etc. Indian press manufacturers put up a smart show as well. Leading from the front was Multitec with an all UV multicolor press running to perfection, others who also showcased their products include Jandu, RK and Apex Rototech. Presence of renowned dignitaries, in the field of labels, added value to the show. Mike Fairley-The label Guru, Jan Fredrik Vink-Past President Finat, Taco Zevenbergen-Finat, the entire Tarsus team, other members of Finat Young Managers Club, etc. were seen mixing and conversing with Indian printers at the show. On the sidelines of the Labelexpo a joint FINAT/LMAI YMC meeting was held at The Meridien Hotel on 6^th and 7^th December 2010. It was a networking event cum conference with inspiring presentations from noted speakers Professor A K Murthy and Professor Parimal Merchant both of S P Jain Institute Mumbai. The programme was a complete success due to efforts made by the LMAI-YMC President Sandeep Zaveri, General Secretary Pawandeep Sahni, who is also Finat YMC Board member and Taco Zevenbergen-Finat.

LMAI Label awards evening was held on 8^th December 2010 at Jhankar Banquet on the outskirts of Delhi. The whole team of LMAI leadership lead by their President, Vivek Kapoor was present to welcome the guests at this gala networking event. Mike Fairley the Label Guru was given the lifetime achievement award. I, Harveer Sahni was honoured for my services as a judge at the World Label Awards. It was an overwhelming moment for me to be given the dais to speak, express my gratitude and thank my colleagues in LMAI for the honour and support. Leading Indian label printers who had won awards for their excellence in printing were proud recipients of the trophies. Though there was some external entertainment yet the printing fraternity rose to the occasion, leading label printers, suppliers and others joined the fun by dancing onstage to Bollywood tunes. The LMAI team under the leadership of Vivek Kapoor had done a great job. No wonder that later in January the entire executive committee of LMAI unanimously voted and decided that Vivek Kapoor and his team should manage the affairs of LMAI for yet another term. On 16^th January 2011, India’s largest printing industry event “PrintPack India” opened yet again in New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. Being a big successful and regular event catering primarily to the offset printing and converting industry, it attracted visitors not only from India but also from most of the neighboring countries as well.

The series of printing exhibitions and events that took place in New Delhi one after the other gave credibility to the title of my column written earlier, “Breathless at Showtime!”

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 30^th January, 2011.

“ Funtime at Labelexpo India 2010”

2010-12-25T02:00:00.000-08:00

Labelexpo India 2010 was fun time for the Label Industry. Sometime it is not words but the pictures that say it all. I reproduce some pictures of the show and of the parties held alongwith on the side. Enjoy!

The show opened with the lighting of the traditional lamp by Roger Pellow, Managing Director Labelexpo Group and Government Officials. Earlier the LMAI President Vivek Kapoor and Treasurer, Sandeep Zaveri also spoke and participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony.

BST team at their stand stand!

Weldon team at their Stand.

Creed Engineers Stand.

Omet stand.

Multitec Stand

The picture on left is Finat LMAI Young Managers Club meet in progress.

Birds of a feather flock together, Sandhya Shetty of Synpac and Bibiana of Rotatek with another participant in the middle, enjoy the networking opportunity during coffee break.

The not so young also found their way to the young manager's meet and found a cozy corner. Jan Fredrik Vink, Past President Finat with Ms. Rodriguez of Rotatek. Cheers!

Pawandeep Sahni, Member Finat board for YMC and also General Secretary LMAI YMC with Roger Pellow, Managing Director Labelexpo group.

Creed Team at Label awards.

Harveer Sahni speaking at the awards night after being honoured for rendering services as judge for World Label.Association Awards at Brussels.

KayDee Sahni of Weldon Celloplast and Chandan Khanna of Ajanta Packaging chill at the LMAI Label Awards night.

Kaydee Sahni of Weldon and Sheila Harper (of Techtonics) dance to popular tune "Sheila Ki Jawani" with music blaring from Kaydee's car parked in the Weldon Home's drive way.

At the Weldon dinner.In the picture on right from left to right Douglas Emslie (Group Managing Director-Tarsus), Gary Hendel(Delta, USA), Harveer Sahni (Weldon), Paolo Grasso (Omet), Mike Fairley (Label Guru), Roger Pellow (Managing Director-Labelexpo group), Kavneet Sahni(Tarsus) and in front Andy Thomas (Group Editor Labels and Labeling)

In the picture on left, Isidore Leiser of Stratus Packaging, France in a "Balle Balle" mood at the Weldon party.

The picture on right has Gary Hendel (Delta USA) and Raul Sylvestre(Lartec) doing a Panjabi Bhangra number at the Weldon party.


Label Guru and me...

The above feature is compiled by Harveer Sahni Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Ltd,

Aspiring for Global Attention!

2010-12-19T04:57:00.000-08:00

Aspiring for Global Attention!


Multitec Factory

Shanti Pal Ahuja was an energetic young man of 24 years when he joined as a director in Sud & Warren, an Engineering company promoted by his close relatives. It was in the early sixties that the promoters of Sud & Warren, Baldev Sud, K L Arora and Ahuja (Shanti Pal Ahuja’s elder brother) foresaw the potential of computer related products and there consumables. Using imported equipment they started to produce computer stationery and business forms. Shanti Pal Ahuja was deputed to go to Germany for getting technical training on the machines that they were using. In those days of strict and controlled foreign exchange regime, getting import licenses and foreign exchange for imports was a difficult task. The hardship that they faced in importing machines or their spare parts led them to start their own venture, Sud & Warren. With Shanti Pal Ahuja as their technical Director the company started to build paper converting machines for their captive use as well for those in the similar trade. It was just a matter of time that the venture found success.

By 1983, a restless Shanti Pal Ahuja wanted to venture out on his own. He promoted Multitec Aids Pvt Ltd. to produce paper converting machines including equipment for making computer stationery. In fact he chose a product profile quite similar to that at Sud & Warren. He was fortunate that the bankers whom he approached knew his potential and experience from his days at Sud & Warren, so finance came relatively easy. After setting up the unit, the earliest success came from his efforts to associate with Indian Railways in indigenizing the machines for production of card tickets being used in those days. These tickets were being printed on old British machines. He fondly remembers that once his machines were in place, the Railways were printing, “2 tons of card tickets per day”. This order was followed up by providing machines for producing computer generated tickets for “Rajdhani Express” train. He also reminisces the time he got a lot of praise from Times of India management for having suggested and supplied to them a bailing press for waste management. Due to this their facility became much cleaner and manageable. Despite producing some ancillary equipment, Multitec was primarily a manufacturer of computer stationery converting machines. The printing technique used on these machines was initially letterpress and then later web offset with high speed rotary converting. Till date Multitec has made over 600 installations, which are servicing their owners well.

Thirteen years after Shanti Pal Ahuja ventured out on his own his only son Amit Ahuja, alumni of Manipal Engineering College, was ready to join him in business. Amit a qualified mechanical engineer with a penchant for computer aided designing had ideas of diversifying in to other arenas and developing new machines. He found support from his father. The father son duo dwelled on the future of their present business and foresaw the end of growth or decline in the dot matrix computer stationery market. This was due to the dramatic growth in the A4 inkjet and laser printer markets. As technology advances to make these desktop printers faster and affordable coupled with rising demand for paperless offices, the demand for computer stationery in fanfold format with sprocket holes witnesses a steady decline. At this point of time it was a necessity to consider Amit’s proposal to diversify. Since Ahujas had adequate experience in web converting, they became serious when a customer friend Abhay Datta of Datta Press convinced them to join hands with him to produce a narrow web label press. The self adhesive label industry in India was registering high growth rates and the equipment was in synergy with their production program. It did not take much time for the Ahujas to decide on indulgence in this diversification. Amit’s father remembered his own history of having been trained in Germany on the machines that he later started to build in Sud & Warren. He decided it would be appropriate for Amit also to do a stint on machines that he was going to build. Soon the son was on way to North Carolina USA to train as an operator on Mark Andy flexo label presses. With engineering qualifications and experience at Multitec, it was easy for Amit to grasp the nuances of working with flexographic label printing presses. The Industry is witness to the fact that people were surprised when at India Label Show 2002 at Nehru Centre, Mumbai, Abhay Datta was proudly displaying the Multiflex press built at Multitec Faridabad. The press was sold to a customer in Iran. Ahujas maintained a low profile at that show. They sold a few more presses but as luck would have it, discontent appeared in their relationship with Datta. Ahujas felt that they were not penetrating the market effectively and if a definite business plan was not put in place they would loose out. The association with Datta came to an end around 2008. Multitec redesigned their label press as a competitive product with all basic features. After renaming the press, “Ecoflex” they relaunched it.

Their efforts produced results! In last 20 months they have sold 18 presses. They are almost at the initial target they set themselves, “A label press every month”. Multitec operates out of a 45000 square feet factory located on the outskirts of Faridabad, a suburban town in NCR Delhi and built on a plot of over 6 acres. It assures them availability of adequate space for future expansion. While most operations are handled at Faridabad, they have a marketing office a Mumbai. With a workforce of 80 they export 20% of their production. The factory is equipped with designing capabilities, CNC machines, computerized testing facilities, etc. They also have a demo centre where an Ecoflex press is kept on display for prospective customers to conduct trials. The most satisfying moment of their careers till now remains the time when they exported their label press to a mature market like Germany. Although 50% of their turnover comes from making computer stationery converting machines, label presses remains a focus area for them. They feel the label industry in India is largely unorganized however with continuous growth the label printers seem to be putting their act together and adopting modern production and management techniques. Multitec’s customer list includes big names like The Express Group, Times of India, Hindustan times, Avery Dennison, Technova, Thomson Press, etc. The company is committed to provide value for money. Amit feels that that for growing and improving upon their offerings the volumes need to go up. Though Amit is quite focused at present on making flexo printing presses, however from their capabilities and experience of making printing web by letterpress and offset, makes building a high-end combination label press one day, a strong possibility. They plan to exhibit their new development an all UV model of Ecoflex at Labelexpo 2010. Also on display at this show will be a module of their “Easyflex” which they feel will be an eye opener for the Industry. Trials have also begun on an all servo press with auto register features. If all goes as planned, this model will be displayed at Labelexpo Brussels next year in 2011.

With his father steadily withdrawing from this business to spend more time in trading in real estate which has given him rich returns, Amit has his hands full with so much more to achieve. His only son is only 8 years old. His wife, who is a homemaker, would prefer to be in the real estate business helping the elder Ahuja. Occasionally she does travel with her father in law to check out properties and learn about the trade. Amit works hard and hopes to excel in his field of building good label presses. He is confident that there are very good times ahead for Multitec. He is committed to adopt the latest technologies in web converting. He is sure after Labelexpo 2010 Brussels, Multitec will get “Global Attention”.
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 30^th November, 2010 for magazine "Packaging South Asia "

Appreciation!

2010-12-18T08:47:00.000-08:00

Recognition of an effort always generates satisfaction and encourages further indulgence!

Harveer Sahni

Service at your doorstep!

2010-12-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

Service at your doorstep

Rising prices and intense competition have made leading label printers to sit up and dip into their think tanks. To cater to the exacting demands of their customers, they need to upgrade their equipment with huge capital investment. To service the cost of these investments, they need to retain margins at a reasonable level. End user customers continue to demand better quality and service at better prices. With escalating raw material prices, label printers are considering cost effective processes to lower production costs. Large production runs, online defect detection to avoid rejections, lesser downtimes, operator efficiency, etc. are some of the issues that are being attended to. On the other hand printers are investing in complimentary equipments that can take smaller production runs economically. Cheaper flatbed presses, Chinese presses and second hand presses are being used to cater to the demands of smaller volume orders from large customers. No label printer supplying to a large volume customer would risk sending the customer to another printer for a smaller order. Neither can they afford to take small runs in their main expensive label presses increasing their downtime, expenses and production costs. While these cheaper equipments were being used for shorter runs yet there was a need for alternatives. Digital printing seems to be the ideal situation. As printing speed picks up and inks get cheaper, this technology is likely to be adopted by many large printers. All these are efforts to retain customers. Customer retention is a challenge that is facing many big label printers. Price is of course a sensitive issue but there are other factors that have also been becoming reasons for customers to shift loyalties. One big concern has been logistics. Printers, who were initially small in size, concentrated themselves in specific geographical zones. With growing demand for consumer and retail products, manufacturers or label buyers started to locate themselves across the nation, it became imperative for them to look for vendors closer to their facilities. As label printers grew in size with enhanced capital expenditures, it became a compulsion for them to retain these customers, who had multiple manufacturing locations. These customers were demanding just in time deliveries to control their inventory levels and to ensure strict delivery program. It was time for label printers to assure their customers, “Service at Doorstep”.

Gautam Kothari

Interlabels, headquartered in Mumbai and leading label printers in India, started the trend of manufacturing at more then one location. They started by setting up their second unit in India at Delhi and then followed it up with units at Baddi, Kolkata and Chennai. They also have a unit in Nairobi Kenya, taking the total no. of units to six. They are now in the mood to consolidate before considering further locations. Gautam Kothari of Interlabels says “The trend in recent days is such that a lot of the customers want their suppliers to be close to their manufacturing locations. This, because the lead time needed to execute an order has shortened considerably due to market pressure. India being a huge country, catering to all the regions from one location is difficult. Having multiple manufacturing locations has helped us to reduce the time to get the material reaching them apart from reducing the freight cost.” He goes on to further add, “The concept of multiple locations for us is extremely beneficial as our customers are based all over the country and speed of response is essential. As far as manufacturing goes, it helps in better servicing however at a cost since having multi-location manufacturing does add to much higher operational costs which no customer is willing to pay for”.


Amar Chhajed

Amar Chajjed of Webtech, Mumbai who has a voracious appetite for expansion and growth was one of the first one to start (his second) a manufacturing unit in Himachal Pradesh near Baddi. He finds the experience extremely beneficial and says, “If it would not appear so, we would not do it” He feels it is one of the ways to grow and hopes to add two more locations in India or elsewhere in Asia. Chandan Khanna of Ajanta Packaging says, “Having multiple locations is a part of Ajanta’s growth plan. Moreover it is in line with our commitment to our customers that we will go with you and grow with you” They have three manufacturing locations for label printing at Baddi, Daman and Sharjah (UAE). Their corporate office and offset printing operations are in Mumbai. They also have marketing offices in Kolkata and Chennai. According to Chandan, “If you have the patience and power to invest, multi-location manufacturing is highly beneficial. Ajanta will definitely add another location by 2012”.

Chandan Khanna on right

This mantra for growth is not restricted to printers in western India. NOIDA (Near Delhi) based Prakash Labels have also expanded to many manufacturing locations. Dinesh Mahajan heading the Praksash Labels management team states, “To serve customers in a vast country like India one has to be located in all zones if you wish to have a national presence”. Prakash labels have three manufacturing units in Noida, one in Baddi and one in Mumbai. Besides this they have marketing offices in various cities including Ajman, UAE. They are present in eight different cities. Dinesh further adds, “It is a definite way to grow”. Though they are fairly big in size he said he would be everywhere if he was bigger. They have recently put up the Mumbai unit so it will be a while before they think of yet another location. Zircon another Noida based label printer who commenced operations just a couple of years ago, has been reporting continuous expansion by adding new equipments. According to Sanjeev, heading Zircon, they have two manufacturing locations already and plan to add two more by end of 2011. Sanjeev feels that having multiple manufacturing locations is beneficial for rapid growth even though it needs a lot of administrative and supply chain management. I was quite surprised when Coimbatore (South India) based Rajiv Nair of Stallion Systems said, “We have four manufacturing locations and 16 marketing offices!” Rajiv used to work for another label company some years ago. Once he was on his own his company achieved grew vertical growth. He says,” Due to delivery delays to pan India customer base and high freight costs, it became necessary for us to locate at different places”. Stallion benefitted from the decision and feel that it is the way to grow. They will continue to add more locations with better equipment.

Other label printers who have invested in multiple locations manufacturing and marketing include Unique Photo Offset, Syndicate Printers, Paper Products, Sai Security and a few others. Customer service is now acquiring new dimensions as end user demand just in time service along with delivery. This helps the end users of labels to manage their inventory, production and achieve better profitability. The parameters of vendor selection are now just not limited to price and quality. The label users are auditing their prospective vendors more rigorously. While price and quality are important yet logistics, social responsibility and environmental concerns are also considerations that decide in vendor selection. Vendors need to be extremely responsive to their customers growing demands and concerns. Proximity of the label printer to the manufacturing facility of their customers and capability to provide world class service has become necessary. There is a paradigm shift in the way label printers look at their expansion plans. Locating themselves strategically is now imperative for label printers to be able to provide, “SERVICE AT DOORSTEP.”

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 30^th November, 2010 for magazine "Packaging South Asia "

Paper substrates in Self Adhesive Labels!

2010-11-30T22:42:00.000-08:00

Self adhesive labels originated in India around 1965 when a screen printer in Mumbai used a PVC film as face paper and a polyethylene film as the release liner. The hard to wet polyethylene or PE film performed as a release liner because the pressure sensitive adhesives available at that time were not designed to anchor on to PE. The label or sticker so produced would open with a crackling sound as it would be a little difficult to peel it from the PE backing liner. For the same reason paper could not be used on face as it did not have the adequate strength and would tear off while separating from the PE liner. The force required to peel was too high and thus the usage of PVC film was justified. That was the beginning! Soon special base papers and silicon release coatings were available in India. Siliconised glassine or “Silicon Paper” as it came to be known became the preferred backing liner for all self adhesive label materials. This also made it possible for paper to be used as face material. Silicone coating on these base papers provided for an “Easy Release” making it possible to peel off these self adhesive labels effortlessly from their backing release papers. Adhesive chemistries developed such that adhesives could permanently bond even to PE and silicon chemistries also experienced continuous development, such that they can now be applied to PE film for achieving excellent release properties. Since the silicone and adhesive chemistries are beyond the purview of this article, we shall dwell primarily on the various papers used in this industry.

Labelstock essentially consists of three main components, Release paper, Pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) and Face paper. We will dwell on the various types of papers used to form the release paper and the face paper. It will be appropriate to mention here that the self adhesive labelstock technology has technologically advanced to a level whereby a substantial portion of the output has seen a definite shift to filmic substrates both as face papers and as release liner. Paper however remains the major and important part of the labelstock production. We discuss the two components separately.

Release papers: These are papers that are highly calendered, non-absorbent and with a smooth surface so that silicone can be coated on it for imparting release properties. The papers need to be densified and have uniform caliper for good die-cutting. The various types of papers used in production of release papers are as follows;

1. Glassine

2. SCK or Super Calendered Paper

3. CCK or Clay coated paper using bleached Kraft as base paper.

4. Polycoated papers.

5. Saturated papers

Filmic liners have also steadily found acceptability due to their uniform caliper, smoothness and specific character, still paper based liners constitute almost 90%of all the release liner used. While SCK was the preferred substrates in North America due to lower price yet the European market was always largely using Glassine due to performance and aesthetic reasons in auto dispensed labels. India for long years followed the European model. Labelstock producers and label printers opted for labels with glassine as release paper. To have a good die-cut label, that would dispense with ease and speed on an automatic labeler, it is necessary to have a good release liner. Any variations in caliper of the liner may result in nicks in the release paper that would result in web breaks at the end user level. While die-cutting is done by the label printer, the end user of labels is the one who is dispensing them. The two processes are complimentary to each other. The functionality of the self adhesive label is highly dependent on the liner. Any web breaks would lead to increase in downtime and create problems for the users. Auto dispensed labels and barcode labels drove the demand for glassine liners. This is due to the transparency of the paper through which the label is sensed by the sensor and dispensed or printed by a barcode printer. Things started to change but very slowly such that in the last decade, SCK which has very similar construction and properties to glassine started to be used sparingly. Since the bulk of the demand was for glassine, Indian stock manufacturers stayed away from promoting other varieties of paper. However in small manner some stock manufacturers were experimenting with SCK, CCK and Polycoated papers. The effort was extremely limited until stock lots of laminates and base papers from North America started to land in India in large quantities. Some printers under extreme pressure for cost reduction from customers started to use these stock lots. It was only a matter of time that the larger printers also started to consider these materials for customers who were not very fussy or rigid about the liners. This exercise created a definite segment of labelstocks with different release liners. While the auto-dispensed labels and barcode label segment partially started to accept SCK which had similarities to glassine, it was the sheeted product market that went in for a paradigm shift to CCK as liner. This is so because the laminate produced with CCK as backing and sheeted for Offset printing would have excellent lay flat nature. This would enable it to be printed on offset presses with speed, as curl in sheets was a printer’s nightmare. The siliconising operation involves taking the paper through high heat for thermal curing. This process depletes the moisture content of the paper and makes it unstable. Due to the highly calendered construction of glassine the paper cannot regain moisture quickly and evenly despite being subjected to re-humidification process. The uneven absorption of moisture when the labelstock is sheeted and exposed to atmosphere tends to make the release liner to expand and make the sheets to curl. CCK or clay coated paper has one side coated for imparting a good silicon hold out and the other side is left as it is, so that it can breath and regain moisture during the gumming process when emulsion adhesive are used and the heating chamber has high moisture content that helps the paper to rehumidify to a level of stability. Other segments of label printers who were now richer in their experience from using imported stockpots of labelstocks started accepting the stocks from local manufacturers with these non glassine liners for cost reasons.

Polycoated papers also have found usage in a limited quantity for the past two decades. These consist of normal maplitho variety of paper over which a layer of polyethylene or polypropylene has been extruded. Due to frequent defects in polycoating and lack of consistency in the earlier years, the growth of these papers was restricted. However in recent times imports from China and other East Asian countries with polycoated release papers made many people in the industry to rethink and improve upon the technology. So much so, that these papers have also found continued and specific usage in the computer label segment. Another paper that has started to find foothold in some segments is the saturated paper. This is very similar to polycoated paper, the only difference being that the plastic (PE or PP) is replaced by a proprietary chemical coating which provides a good silicon hold out.

Going by personal knowledge of the market over the years and assessment, I have tried to estimate the tonnage of paper used for release liners in all the labelstock consumed in India. The basis of my estimate are made on figures of total consumption of labelstock that I mention in the last Para of this article. I estimate that 45000 to 50000 tons of base papers form a part of all the labelstock sold in India solely for the purpose of self adhesive labels. The demand for other applications like tapes, Hygiene, medical, food, etc. is all separate and extra. The way this industry has evolved and due to cost pressures most of the base papers for labels are silicon coated captively by the labelstock manufacturers.

Face Papers: Face paper in labelstock is what actually and finally becomes the label. It carries the branding, product information and decoration along with the adhesive. The release paper only protects the adhesive so long as the label is not used. As soon as the label finds its application, the release paper comes to the end of its limited lifespan and ends up in a waste bin or a landfill or incinerated to dispose off. Efforts are being made to recycle them. Demand for face papers are according to the application they are needed for. The list is exhaustive and keeps on extending as per the imagination of the designers. I list below some of the commonly used papers;

1. C1S or Semi-gloss paper and commonly known as Chromo Art Paper.

2. Uncoated Matt or Maplitho Paper

3. Cast coated or Mirror Coated Paper

4. Thermal Transfer Paper

5. Direct Thermal Paper

6. Fluorescent Paper

7. Colored Papers

8. Metalized Paper

9. Foil Laminated paper

10. Textured paper

11. Security Papers

12. Papers for Digital Printing

The semi Gloss or chromo art paper and Maplitho paper together account for the biggest chunk of labelstocks sold in India. According to my assessment between the two, they account for nearly 70% of the total stock used, over 15% is filmic and 15% is others. Filmic should have been more but the shrink sleeve has taken away substantial market share. This would amount to about 55000 tons of paper used annually, both chromo and maplitho put together for self adhesive labels. The chromo art paper labels are mostly used for pharma labels, cosmetic/product labels, lube oil labels, and also barcode label. Maplitho finds extensive application in price marking labels for handheld labelers, computer labels, logistic and other EDP labels. Cast coated paper, popularly known as mirror coated paper is used for high-end retail labels with lot of decoration on them. These have lost much of market since printers have started to use semi gloss paper with UV Varnish to get high Gloss. Moreover labels for smaller diameter pharma bottles faced problem with cast coated paper as due to their stiff nature they would get an edge lift leading to rejection of labels. Thermal transfer paper is a special matt finish smooth paper used for producing barcode labels in barcode printers with thermal transfer ribbons. The heated print head presses the ribbon against the paper to neatly transfer the image on to the paper resulting in a barcode. Barcodes help in retail selling, inventory control, logistics, accounting and a host of other applications. The volumes of this paper which is mostly imported, grew at a fast pace due to widespread usage of barcodes. However due to rising cost and availability problems much of this business has shifted to chromo art paper which has found a high level of acceptability from label printers and users. Everyone recognizes direct thermal paper popularly known as fax paper. It changes color when a heated print head touches it. With the advent of internet connectivity, emails becoming the mode of communication and faxes being phased out, this paper was heading towards a slow death. It suddenly got a new lease of life with new applications arising in labels with a shorter lifespan. It can print barcode without the need of a thermal transfer ribbon. Barcode labels for grocery in malls, petrol pump sale bills, toll tickets, retail vends, courier co’s, etc. started to be made on direct thermal paper. The product consumption is now growing at a fast pace prompting many companies to initiate manufacturing this product locally. Colored papers, fluorescent papers, metalized paper and foil laminated paper are used for their eye catching appearance and for attracting the consumer attention. With growth of packaged foods, gourmet foods and wines, the need for textured and designer paper for label applications has become imperative. At this time these papers are not produced in India. They are supplied by specialized paper producing companies like Fedrigoni of Spain. These papers are not produced in India and smaller volumes along with the diverse nature of designs, makes importing these, a costly proposition. Some innovative printers have started to indulge in getting the embossed effect on papers by using special flexible dies supplied by companies like Lartec also of Spain. These dies actually do not emboss but deboss and yet produce a textured effect on the paper. I am sure this will create market for textured papers in India. With increased incidents of pilferage, counterfeiting and duplication, there is a growing need for tamper evident and security labels. Some mills even in India have started to offer papers with UV fibres that glow in dark when exposed to UV light for verification. Others offer papers with water mark. There is also need for paper that would be weak and fragment into pieces on tried to be removed but this property is against the target specification of the mills who try to achieve high strength in the papers they produce.

As the digital printing industry continues to evolve and pose threat to the conventional printing, the paper mills in India cannot ignore this segment which is growing at a very fast pace. As quality and speeds pickup in digital printing, I am sure that it will be difficult to match the versatility of this technology even for label printing. Tambola tickets, lottery tickets, short run product labels, security and sequentially numbered labels are some of the applications that have already shifted over to digital printing. At this point of time special papers with top coating are required and some label printers do a primer coating on labelstocks themselves to achieve perfecting standards in digital printing. Label stock manufacturers also offer stocks top coated by them. It may just be a matter of time that paper mills offer pre-coated papers. The possibility of the technology upgrading further cannot be ruled out when all digital printers will print normal papers that are available without any additional primer coat.

India with its 1.12 billion strong populations is fast becoming a global economic powerhouse. It is estimated that this year the country will have the highest number of English speaking people in the world. Almost 30 percent of the country’s population is between the ages of 10-24 years, while the average age is 26 years. 70% of these young people are literate. A Young and literate workforce are growing up to work more, earn more and spend more. With higher disposable income they are becoming a part of a bulging middle class, larger then the entire population of United States. For this reason the world’s largest retailers are making a beeline to India to be a part of this growth. If the number of mobile connections is an indicator, it is interesting to note that in July 2010 alone 17 million subscribers were added taking the total number of mobile users in the country to over 652 million. The demand for consumer products, packaged foods, pharmaceuticals and all packaged products is slated to see a quantum jump. With this will also increase the demand of labels. The self adhesive label industry is presently estimated to be growing by excess of 15% per annum. According to published data, 16 billion square meters of self adhesive labelstock is converted into labels in the world every year. By my own estimate total annual consumption of self adhesive labelstock in India is about 750 million square meters. This translates into a per capita consumption of almost 0.75 square meters. Compare this almost 3 square meters in China, between 13-15 square meters in Europe and a little more in the US. Based on the above estimation of total consumption of labelstock, I calculated the quantity of paper used for release paper and that of face paper for label stock consumed in India. I conclude that over 1,00,000 tons of paper is used for the entire quantity of self adhesive labels used in India!

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 1^st November, 2010. The article was published in October-November 2010 issue of the magazine "Paper Mart"

Breathless at showtime!

2010-10-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

New Delhi or for that matter India, is still rejoicing at the success of being a proud host for the prestigious Commonwealth Games in October 2010. It is also the start of the festive season which brings with it feelings of celebration, elation and a boost to the markets. Public spending goes up and so does the sales of consumer products, which eventually leads to a high usage of labels. During this season we hope to see high growth rates in this market segment. The trends in the industry are already buoyant. Equipment suppliers are ecstatic at the growth in investment in Label Presses by Indian Label Printers. While many existing printers are the ones who are expanding and increasing their existing capacities yet it is interesting to note that an equal, if not more, volume of investment into self adhesive labels is coming from offset printers and flexible packaging companies.

Preceding and following the commonwealth games we have and have had a spate of shows relating to the label printing, Offset printing and packaging industry. I wonder how this situation is going to be taken up by the printers who have already been voicing their concerns about too many shows being held not only in a year but now, in matter of weeks. However at this point of time let me dwell on the fact that the Indian printers are in for an extravaganza of a show after another show! Some of the best suppliers/exhibitors will be trying to woe the Indian printers while they showcase their finest wares. The industry can look forward to multiple opportunities to learn, indulge, and technically update themselves. Fortunately for the exhibitors, the audiences they are targeting at are in a positive mood and as things stand these visitors are willing to see, investigate and shop. It indeed is time to show!

Towards the end of September 2010, Roger Pellow, the Managing Director of Labelexpo group and his team landed in India after having held a successful Labelexpo America at Chicago, earlier in the month. They held three road shows across India. In a whirlwind tour while they were in India for a week they organized road shows in Chennai, Mumbai and Ludhiana. Immediately after this it was Mumbai’s turn to showcase “Indiapack 2010” organized by the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) from September 30^th to October 3^rd 2010. Being the show of the premier government sponsored institute, it attracts a lot of interest from the major converters and users. It is interesting that majority of the packaging development managers in big companies are alumni of IIP. As we get closer to the end of the year, “Pack Plus 2010” will be held from 3^rd to 6^th December 2010. Just after a gap of one day “Labelexpo India 2010” will open up at the same venue Pragati Maidan. New Delhi from the 8^th to 11^th December. As a matter of fact both these shows were the brainchild of the husband wife team of Anil and Neetu Arora. Anil sold his highly successful “India Label Show” to Tarsus, they renamed it as Labelexpo India. This gave the show an international perspective as it became a part of the Labelexpo series of shows around the world. The day Labelexpo will be opening its doors to printers in Delhi’s Pragati Maidan, another printing show “Screen Print India 2010” (8^th-10^th Dec.)will be inaugurated at Mumbai. One is left wondering how the printing fraternity is going to be at two different places in one time. As we enter the second decade of this millennium, on January 16^th 2011 “Printpack India”, the prestigious show of IPAMA and ITPO will throw open its doors yet again at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. It indeed is going to be a busy time for visitors and exhibitors. These exhibitions are expected to generate a lot of business and the market sentiments are pointing towards that. It is also time to network and meet counterparts in the industry repeatedly during this season. The printers will rejoice in the festive spirit.

On 27^th of August 2010, the Label Manufacturers of India (LMAI) organized an event for their members and the label community at large. The programme commenced with the executive committee meeting followed by their AGM. After the AGM a presentation on lean Management was made by Dr. Mohan Parmeswaran and was well received and appreciated by the printers. The evening culminated in welcomed networking over cocktails and dinner. It was an extremely successful evening, rarely witnessed before, in the industry. It was a proud moment for the LMAI president Vivek Kapoor when 120 guests turned up to give value to the eventful evening. The camaraderie and networking was evident and brought satisfying cheer to the printers. They were sharing thoughts, gossips and discussing technical up-gradation. The evening ended on a happy note with many a printers shaking a leg or two on the dance floor!

He wished to fly high!

2010-10-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

Amit Sheth

As a young boy, Amit Sheth would look up to the skies and wished to be flying in the clouds. He wanted to become a commercial pilot one day. As he grew up his ambition became stronger and he found support from his father Kirti Kant Sheth. Amit did manage to start training as a pilot, he had trained and had completed over eighteen hours of flying when life took an unexpected turn and he was asked to give up training to join the family business…

Kirti Kant Sheth had started trading in printing machines way back in 1955. His flagship company “Sheth Bros.” with his brothers as partners became highly successful and respected sellers of printing and packaging equipment. By late seventies or early eighties Sheth Bros had reached their pinnacle. Their name was synonymous with printing and packaging machines. They spread across India with offices in Calcutta, Delhi, Guwahati and Mumbai. As luck would have it in 1985 the brothers decided to go in for a separation. Kirti Kant Sheth had to call upon his son Amit Sheth to give up his ambition of becoming a pilot and join him in business. Amit did accept the need of the hour and stepped in to become a salesman in his father’s company, looking after sales of letterpress printing and bookbinding machines in Eastern and North Eastern India besides making efforts to export their equipment.

In 1991 Amit accompanied their family friend Dushyant Parekh of National Art Press Calcutta to visit Taiwan. Little did he realize that this visit would be a turning point in his life and would be decisive in making his entry into the world of self adhesive labels and narrow web printing. During their visit Dushyant Parekh showed to Amit equipment that could make “Stickers”. It could print multi-colour, Hot-foil stamp, over laminate, die-cut, remove waste matrix, etc in roll and also do sheeting at the end of the line. Amit was fascinated! The presentation and introduction of the machine and its operation was made to them by John Huang of Orthotec. Amit became Orthotec’s business associate and eventually a dear friend of John. This commenced the journey of Amit Sheth into the Self Adhesive Label industry.

In the excitement of making his first sale of a label press in 1993 to Antarctica Limited, Calcutta, he accepted a condition of restricted additional sale. Due to this he had to restlessly wait for two more years to sell another press. He was getting uneasy as the new technology was fast spreading. The relief came when in the opening hours of “Printpack India 1995” in New Delhi, Amit found his most satisfying moment! He sold the press he was displaying at the show to Rajesh Chadha of P C Chadha & Co. Rajesh a third generation entrepreneur, whose flagship venture is now called Update Prints Pvt.Ltd., has by far been Amit’s biggest supporter, customer and friend. His company Label Planet has not looked back ever since. Label Planet now represents renowned international principals like Orthotec, Focus, Cartes, Miyakoshi, Inktek and Rotary Technologies. Amit Sheth has been a hands-on man and the best sales person of his company. Travelling extensively he remains personally in touch with all his customers. It is incredible that till date he has sold over 200 presses and his appetite to sell many more at a fast pace is not letting up. He finds active support from wife Rupa, homemaker and a great mother to their two wonderful daughters Ruhi and Kyra.

Amit has done pioneering service for the Indian Label Industry. Despite being an industry supplier, he initiated and actively indulged in setting up the Label Manufacturers Association of India (LMAI). He brought together leading printers from across the country to meet one evening at Mumbai. He provided the necessary support from his office premises and his staff to do the groundwork. In appreciation of his work, he has been given the honorary membership of LMAI for life, he is also the honorary secretary. He has been instrumental in bringing together suppliers and label printers together on the LMAI platform. Having gained knowledge, experience and stature in the Indian labels industry Amit hopes that one day he is able to establish a Labels Institution and would like to indulge in educating the new comers in this field. Expressing his views on the changing technologies in label industry he feels the digital will continue at a fast pace however the conventional presses will remain the workhorses and retain their charm. He feels Laser printing and die-cutting will be a technology to watch in coming times.

Amit Sheth sums up his achievements by quoting his late father,” You wanted to fly high, you do not really need an aircraft, success will do the job”

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 on October, 2010.

Pack Plus provides Label Printers the opportunity to showcase!

2010-10-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

In 2002 Anil Arora launched his maiden trade event “The India Label Show”. The show was a great success and kept on getting bigger with every edition. In 2007 this show was acquired by UK based Tarsus Group who later renamed it as Labelexpo India. It became a part of the chain of shows branded as “Labelexpo” held around the world. Anil launched many shows thereafter, India Packaging Show, India Converting Show, India Flexo Show, India Corrugated Show, Food Technology Show, Pharma Technology Show, India Automation Show and India AIDC Show. 2009 saw the amalgamation of the 8 niche shows with the additional strengths of India Retail Show and India Logistics Show giving rise to the Total Packaging Processing and Supply Chain Event- “Pack Plus”. According to Anil,” The 2010 edition of PackPlus to be held at New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan from 3-6 December 2010, will be more technology driven and will showcase more exhibitors, value additions and business avenues than ever before”.

Anil’s first show India Label show was targeted at label printers with suppliers of presses, materials, consumables, equipment for pre-press and post-press, etc. as exhibitors. Label printers were always the visitors to his show. In contrast Pack Plus is meant for the end users like FMCG, Pharma, Food and Package using companies. This time the end users are the visitors to this show. The show has been aggressively promoted to these companies. Anil realized that the visitors to Pack Plus who are the buyers of packaging materials, are also buyers of labels. The visitors to his first show, who were the Label Printers, could be prospective exhibitors as now the visitors to this show were their prospective customers for them!

Anil Arora and his team noticed the void. The label printers had no platform to exhibit to prospective customers. They could exhibit generally at Pack Plus but in a big show the printers felt they would be lost in a crowd. The Pack Plus show now has decided to create a separate area only for Label Printers to exhibit and effectively promote their offerings. I feel it is a very good move and will give good exposure to the label industry. It is time when we in India agree that to sell more, we need to showcase. The label printers need to do the same, they needed the platform, and it is there now, thanks to Pack Plus.

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 15th October 2010

Labelexpo India Roadshow at Ludhiana, a roaring success!

2010-10-02T01:18:00.000-07:00

Some months ago the Tarsus management decided to hold roadshows across India to promote their premier Label show, Labelexpo India 2010, which was called “India Label Show” before they acquired it. They had already decided to hold one each in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. My friend Roger Pellow, the Managing Director of Labelexpo Group, wanted my opinion. I was not in agreement with him. I personally believe that the Metros and big cities have reached a point of saturation and it is now time to move to smaller towns. The real growth is coming from families of people who once thought that industry was only the forte of those who lived in big cities. A young and literate India is changing all that. They understand the dynamics of business and know that to be successful one does not have to locate in big cities. Even if we look at our label industry, we find big investments happening in towns like Sivakasi, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Nagpur, Nasik, Pune, Bhopal, Indore, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, etc. I requested him to shift the last venue from Delhi to Ludhiana. I suggested Ludhiana in the state of Punjab, for many reasons. To list a few famous traits of the Punjabi’s (As those belonging to the state are referred to); they are great hosts, they are hard working entrepreneurs, they love to show and they love to splurge! No wonder the makers of automobiles like Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Jaguars, Rolls Royce, etc. make a beeline towards Ludhiana. Moreover a few years back in Ludhiana, I had the pleasure of attending an exhibition and later another label road show. The strength and unity of the local association (Offset Printers Association, OPA) was amazing! They were and still are one of the most effective trade associations in the country. Reluctantly Roger decided to give in and try what I said. Reluctantly because there were no direct international flights into Ludhiana and that the logistics were not as appealing as he would like them to be.

The labelexpo group’s final announcement about the roadshows did surprise me and others. The three shows were to be held on three consecutive days i.e. 27th September in Chennai, 28th September in Mumbai and 29th September in Ludhiana. The itinerary that Roger communicated for himself and his team was even more surprising. They were to land in Delhi on the afternoon of 26th take and evening flight to Chennai, after the roadshow next morning they would go to Mumbai for a roadshow that evening, next morning they were to fly to Chandigarh and drive to Ludhiana and later that night drive to Delhi to catch a flight to London. Anyway I left the logistics for them to worry about. I was worried if the OPA would deliver and bring the required audience to the show! I felt, maybe I have over indulged. However despite reservations my faith in this association was very strong. I called my friend Kamal Chopra, Secretary of the association to ask whether we will be able to gather enough people. In true Punjabi traditional style Kamal asked reassuringly, “How many printers do you want?” The question was the assurance.

Roger landed in Delhi on a Sunday 25th September around noon and had almost five hours before his flight to Chennai. We discussed the roadshows and he was very optimistic about the Chennai and Mumbai venues but did appear concerned whether Ludhiana was the right choice. As luck would have it the Chennai and Mumbai road shows were in his words, from “Not too bad” to “OK, well, good” To put it in plain words I understood they were not up to the expectation and the turnout was small. He now hoped Ludhiana would deliver. I got worried too. While the Tarsus team was flying to Chandigarh enroute to Ludhiana, I was in a train from New Delhi to Ludhiana with my son Pawandeep Sahni. I could not resist calling Kamal Chopra and asked if he was confident that the printers will come. Yet again he laughed and said, “The press carried the news of the roadshow this morning and printers will come from many cities in Punjab and also from the neighbouring states” I was surprised and reassured once again and agreed to meet Kamal for Lunch. After checking into the hotel we went straight for Lunch with Kamal and some guests from the printing community, we were amazed to see his phone kept on ringing constantly. Printers were calling to ask about the roadshow. I was pleased.

The roadshow was planned to start registration at 7PM. I and Pawan reached the venue at 6.30 PM, even before anyone from Tarsus was there. The venue was all decked up, stage was ready, Bar was laid out, Dinner tables were all set and only the guests were awaited. As the evening progressed it was surprise after surprise. The first guests arrived at 6.45 PM and at a steady pace they just kept coming in. The whole team of offset printers Association alongwith the President Parveen Agarwal and Kamal Chopra were there to welcome the guests. Representatives of MSME (Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises) came, surprisingly the General Manager, Directorate of Industries came in and to top it all the media came in. The President OPA welcomed the guests, Roger Pellow and Andy Thomas made excellent and informative presentations. Jade Grace, Show Director Labelexpo India was the perfect hostess. Michael Hatton The Tarsus head of marketing was managing the event excellently. The OPA honoured and felicitated the Tarsus team and the important guests by presenting traditional shawls and garlands. I was really surprised and overwhelmed when Kamal Chopra called me to also to receive the felicitations for having brought the Tarsus team to Ludhiana. As I stood up to receive the honour and turned back, I was overjoyed to see the audience. It was a full house!

The evening ended with a lot of networking over drinks and dinner. The Punjab printers were happy to have delivered the taste of Punjabi hospitality to their guests. The news was on television in the local news and the Press carried it in all the leading local newspapers next morning. Kamal Chopra and his colleagues at Offset Printers Association need kudos for having made the “Labelexpo India Roadshow at Ludhiana, a roaring success!”

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 on 1st October, 2010.

Indian Label Association (LMAI) meets for Business, learning, networking and partying!

2010-09-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

Vivek Kapoor,the President of LMAI, Label manufacturers association of India, had been a stressed man for almost two months since he announced the LMAI’s eventful evening to be held at the Mayfair banquet in Worli, Mumbai on the 27th of August 2010. He was calling me virtually every day discussing modalities and wondering on the success of the move he made. I am sure others in his management and executive committee would also have received calls for endless discussions. He wanted to put up a good show and tried hard. By far it was planned to be the biggest of events so far to have been organized by LMAI on its own. LMAI awards night in 2008 was bigger but that was organized by Tarsus and was a part of the India Label Show events. The success of any event is evident from the number of people who attend and from the level of their indulgence in the proceedings. Vivek was not sure on the numbers that would turn up. Considering the strength of LMAI membership to be around 140, he felt if we got over 65 people it would be good. I assured him we will get more and promised him my support as also others in his management team also reassured him. Vivek himself along with Sandeep Zaveri treasurer LMAI and Amit Sheth honorary Secretary formed the core team at Mumbai to take care of the preparations. As usual the gusty Ramesh Deshpande, General Seceratary, LMAI provided support on interaction with the government. They worked hard made a sincere effort to deliver.

The evening started with the executive committee meeting at 3.30 pm. Most of the members travelled from across the country to be present. I must say a very interactive and constructive meeting took place taking stock of the industry in the country. Modalities of taking the association forward and creating a feeling of comradeship amongst label printers in the country were discussed. The committee also gave its approval to the Presidents initiative to launch the LMAI-Young Managers Club. A proper review of its working so far and plans for the future were on the agenda that was dwelled upon. The committee meeting was to be followed by the AGM of LMAI. As the meeting was coming to an end committee members were worried if we would have the necessary quorum as very few members had turned up. Fortunately by 4.30PM enough members were there to start the AGM.

The AGM began with regular stuff that forms the part of such meetings. The AGM had to be followed up by a seminar on Lean management. As the AGM was coming to an end the flow of people coming in kept on increasing and the audience started to get highly interactive. They were asking questions from the LMAI managements and also making suggestions. The hall was three quarters full and we had overshot the estimate of the LMAI president of 65 people. The AGM got extended due to a highly indulgent audience and the next programme got delayed. The AGM that was supposed to end at 6.30 pm got over only at 7pm and was followed by a seminar on lean management. The presentation was made by Dr. Mohan Parmeswaran, Lean Management and HR Expert. It was an interesting presentation that evoked a lot of interest and questions from the audience half way through the presentation on lean management, the house was full!

We had over 120 guests almost twice the number Vivek Kapoor had looked for. The success was showing already. The audience just did not wish to give up asking questions or commenting on issues. The President had to request the audience to discuss their issues over dinner that was to follow. A recorded presentation by Mike Fairley, Roger Pellow and Andy Thomas of Tarsus was delivered. Following this the world Label Association awards winners were announced. These were Anygraphics from NOIDA who won two awards and Wintek of Bangalore. As the seminar and presentations came to an end it was time to party!

It was really interesting to see so many printers and industry suppliers from across India. They came from Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Sivakasi, Chennai, etc. Unfortunately I could not identify anybody from the Eastern India. I am sure our association needs to make more active members from that area.

With drinks flowing and moods relaxed after some hard work, it was networking active all around. Suppliers were interacting with prospective customers and printers gossiping with fellow printers. It was a rare sight, these people who indulged in fierce competition in the market place were sharing moments of joy and togetherness. There were topics of mutual interests being debated upon. Many a members were expressing satisfaction on the success of the event and wished that such events are held more often across the country.

As the evening was coming to and end and the alcohol had done its good job a few printers were ready to shake a leg or two on the dance floor. It was time when I also joined in for a while but then like all good things have to come to an end, it was time to go. It was great evening, a good show, with a satisfied LMAI management team and a beaming president bidding the guests, “Good Night”, I left the venue.

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 6th September 2010

Reminiscence of a Great Labels Evening!

2010-09-12T02:31:00.000-07:00

The forever travelling Roger Pellow, Managing Director of Labelexpo group, was in India recently as a prelude to leading his team’s effort in making the forthcoming Labelexpo India in December 2010, a resounding success. Roger has expressed his desire to meet the leading and progressive label printers in North India for a relaxed evening and a thought provoking discussions on the trends prevalent in India. Roger is perhaps one of the most well known faces in the “World of Self adhesive labels”. It is a typical style of his to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the industry, wherever he travels. He spends quality time with printers and understands the ground realities by indulging in thought provoking discussions with printers in their local environments.

I was given the responsibility of choosing the group and also the venue. It was a daunting task to have a mix of diversified, successful printers catering to different label segments. Also the venue had to chosen. I indulged and started to look for a restaurant that would have a lot of space and great ambience. I firmly believe that when the place is well spread out and open, the mind works in a similar fashion. In a crammed up space there is crowding of the thought process. We found an ideal place called CIBO in Hotel Imperial in the centre of New Delhi. We met on the 13th of July, 2010. The place provided a perfect mindset, as the restaurant management gave us a large private area with perfect settings, such that all of us sat around a table that was not too big and neither too small, an ideal set-up. The printers who were invited and came were also the right blend of many label segments. Those who attended this dinner evening were; Anil Goel of Gopsons Ltd., he came with his son Gaurav Goel, Dinesh Mahajan of Prakash Labels, Kuldeep Goel of Anygraphics, Aditya Chadha of Update Prints, K K Bajaj and Rakshit from Regal Creative, Pawandeep joined in as member of Finat board of YMC (Young Managers Club) and myself as member executive committee of LMAI and coordinator. Ajay Agarwal of Syndicate labels and Prem Khanna of Rachna Overseas requested to be excused for personal engagements in their respective families.

Roger Pellow in his opening remarks reiterated his company’s commitment to the Indian Label Industry. He noted that while the industry around the world had suffered due to the economic downturn, yet the Indian industry had remained more or less stable. He also noted that the present trends showed that the no. of label presses being installed in India were almost 100 annually and felt this was an indicator of the health of this industry in India. Interestingly all those who were present had already made capital investments in recent times or were in the process of making them. Concern was expressed on waste management and environment issues in the label industry. All present did give their inputs and yet agreed that much needed to be done in this area. There is need to work on this as also to brainstorm the industry on waste reduction and disposal to find effective solutions.

A healthy debate took place on digital printing. Roger informed those present about his groups effort in educating printers in this emerging and fast spreading technology. He also informed the group that Mike Fairley would be visiting India during the Labelexpo India in December and that he would be holding a master class for digital printing. This was well received, though printers in India have not been very indulgent in this technology yet their interest is very evident and definite signs of growth in this digital printing segment are evident. Printers expressed their concern about the increasing prices of high end label presses. Dinesh Mahajan of Prakash Labels said, “If a Mercedes can be sold for 70000 Dollars then why a label press cannot be made cheaper.” To which Roger could only explain in more down to earth way that a Mercedes is a part of mass production done on an organized assembly line and the presses are custom built. Each press may have some thing different incorporating a continually changing technology. Costing was another issue that was debated, on initiation by Pawandeep Sahni that the need to implement lean manufacturing is imperative, there was a very interesting discussion with inputs coming from all printers. They shared their personal experiences on how they implemented processes to reduce cost. These included waste reduction, reducing down time and measuring expenses as a ratio or measure of the final cost. I was surprised when Kuldeep Goel of Anygraphics stated that he had in his computer data like how many units of electricity was spent per square inch of labels that he produced! No wonder he has recently set up a hundred thousand square foot factory. The printers also discussed the foray of our printers to go global. Gaurav Goel informed the group of their investments in Srilanka and Mauritius. Prakash Labels have been running a company in the UAE for many years, the group also recognized the efforts of other printers who had gone global to setup units in foreign lands like Syndicate labels, Interlabels, Unique Offset, etc.

Summing it up Roger made a presentation on the forthcoming labelexpo India. He informed that the show was sold out and that there would be many more working presses. He assured that printers will benefit greatly from this show. All good things do come to an end as did this very interesting evening. While all the above was being discussed and debated upon, there was continuous servings of good food and drinks. Shows what good ambience, good food and good drinks can do to the thought process. CHEERS!

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008 28st August 2010

Brand Protection and Product security through Self Adhesive Labels

2010-08-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

Introduction:

Protection is one of the very basic human reflexes related phenomenon. What if you suddenly feel a hand touching your pocket where your wallet is placed.. Immediately your reflexes work & “Pat” goes your hand over your pocket in an evident effort to protect your wallet. In the middle of the night, you hear a noise and realise that someone is moving in the house or is trying to make an entry. Impulsively your hand goes to the light switch in a clear effort to protect your home from burglary. You are in the market for shopping and your child is in the back seat. Suddenly you see your child getting out into the middle of the busy road, you run and grab the child away from the traffic protecting him or her from getting hurt. Obviously people who are not quick in their reflexes end up losing their wallets or getting their houses burgled or suffering from their child getting hurt. But the more sensible and clever persons in todays world would go a step further and opt for security systems and devices. The person carrying his wallet would probably start using credit cards, a more secure form of carrying money. The home owner would probably opt for a burglar alarm, a cctv or a sensor light that would come on at the slightest of movement and the car owner would probably opt for the simple child lock in the car. In todays world protecting ones life earnings and valuables is a necessity. Similarly brands, which have much more value then a wallet, a car or a home, need protection.

Overview:-

A life time effort goes into building brands and protecting them is as mind boggling as it is necessary. As with time brands become more and more valuable, the need to protect them from counterfeiters and their fraudulent intentions becomes imperative. Corporate brand owners are raking their minds to find ways to protect the brand from duplication. It is not just brands that have problems with counterfeiters, currency notes, ID papers, credit cards, passports, share certificates, banker cheques, etc., are all the targets of forgers and counterfeiters. Brand piracy and product duplication are large scale frauds. The global anti counterfeiting group which represents the interest of the brand owners worldwide, estimates that fakes and duplicates cost the brand owners about 368 billion US dollar this represents 5-7 percent of world trade. Billions of dollars are lost in sales by brand owners. The government loses tax revenues; and the consumers suffer from the problems due to fake products. Pharma duplication remains the biggest area of concern as it is facing the highest level of threat and the consumer of pharmaceuticals products are the worst sufferers. Liquor is another area, greatly affected by duplicates. It is generally talked about in all the cocktail circuits in India that the amount of Johnny Walker scotch sold in India is more than what they produce in Scotland.

Senior level management teams in FMCG companies are dwelling more and more on security options available to fight this menace. Self-adhesive labels are now in the forefront offering a range of options to counter the attack from counterfeiters and duplicators. The narrow web label printer is playing a very important role in development of the security label. It is necessary that to arrive at the most appropriate security label a close co-operation of the end user, the narrow web label printer and the labelstock manufacturer is very important. The end user has to be aware of the possibilities that the labelstock producer can build-in at the production stage of the labelstock. The labelstock manufacturers has to have a variety of capabilities and skills to improvise in the laminate, similarly the narrow web label printer is required to have advanced capabilities to perform conversion on the label and build-in feature that contribute to the security of the product.

The role of labelstock manufacturers here is very important. He has to bring to the forum of these partners i.e, the user, label printer and himself, the information on the availability of raw materials and his own capabilities and the options that can be built-in at the time of producing the stock. The user brings to the forum the knowledge that he possesses about the skills of the counterfeiters and the techniques they employ in faking. The label printer who brings the label to its final shape has to have specialized converting and decorating capabilities to be able to contribute fruitfully to the efforts of this forum to design a label that would make the fakes easily identifiable. The label so produced should prove to be an effective deterrent.

The present scenario and the need for security label provides opportunity for the producer of security label, as a new market, where price is important, but not of prime concern is opening up and growing at a steady 20% per annum. Labelstock, primarily consists, of three main constituents- the release liner, the adhesive and the face paper. The release liner in most of the cases ends up in the dustbin. There are exceptions like the piggy back labels which have two liners and one ends upon the package as a part of the end label. So in general terms there is not much security built into the backing liner. It is however necessary to customize it according to the converting and dispensing requirement of the end label. The other two constituents i.e, the adhesive and face paper play an important role as these go along and are an integral part of the final dispensed label. The labelstock manufacturers needs to be well informed and equipped with the possibilities which can be employed to customize and secure a label. Most of the security is built into the facestock and the adhesive is designed to compliment the requirements of the security functions built into the facestock.

Some examples of duplication

Every country has its own type of counterfeiters & duplicaters. I mention here on what we have in India:-

1.FMCG products: I personally would probably rate toothpaste as the most widely and easily duplicated product in India. Every now and then we find the brand owners reporting raids on illegal packaging companies and catching the criminals. Yet the process of duplication goes on un-abated. The hawkers on the payments of metros or the smaller shopkeepers in smaller towns, stock & sell. Fakes or look-alikes of a famous brand Colgate being sold fraudulently under brands like Golgate, Collate or Colage in exactly similar looking packaging to many poor illiterate consumers. I wonder if it amounts to dental hygiene or not.? I feel simple a security seal affixed on the product packaging and adequately advertised, would be a deterrent but then the brand owners are the best judges, they may already have put their minds on this.

2.Bank frauds: I now bring to you a classic example of cheque forgery. A particular person in collusion with a postman got hold of a bankers cheque issued by a bank favouring Canara bank for Rs.Eight Million This is how the word Canara bank was written.

Canara Bank

The person used a matching pen & changed it like this.

"Tucanarain Bankey "

by affixing “T U” before Canara and in after it and then “e y” after bank. The cheque now read Tucanarain Bankey which appears to be a normal Indian name. He opened an account with Syndicate bank in name of Tucanarain Bankey, deposited the bankers cheque and withdrew the money. The fraud came to light when the man had vanished leaving some 50000/- in the account. To check frauds like this a co. in Mumbai had opted for affixing transparent filmic labels on all the written text of the cheque to prevent such tampering. Temporarily this did act as a deterrent. Now we have a request from the same customer to further modify the product as duplicators use hair dryers to heat the product label and peel it off when the adhesive softens. They make changes in the amount/name and refix the label.

The above examples clearly indicate the imperative need of introducing security features on all products. Labels play a very definite and important roll in this. To reach the final security labels a sincere effort and collective thinking of the brand owner, the label printer and the labelstock manufacturer is required. Without hampering the brand image, security has to be built up in the product and the method for educating the end user to verify the authenticity of the product has to be devised.

Security Option:-

I list below some of the security options available-

1. Barcodes

2. Consecutive or sequential numbering

3. Holograms

4. DNA Inks

5. Thermochromic inks

6. Multi layered label

7. Transfer labels

8. Security cuts on labels

9. VOID stock

10. Security inks (UV sensitive)

11. Micro Taggants in labels

12. Destructible label

13. Sub surface printing

14. Security threads

15. RFID

16. UV Fibres in pulp or adhesive

17. Water mark paper

I now dwell on the some individual security labels and the construction of such labelstocks. Some features are overt those that can be seen and others covert that can not be seen normally.

1. Barcode labels:-

I am sure most people recognize barcodes. These are present on labels as a band of verticle lines of varying thickness. These contain a whole lot of information in them. Barcodes are used for billing, inventory control, product tracking and a variety of control systems beside providing a fair amount of security. Barcodes can be printed by many printing processes but the most widely used process to print barcodes with the highest level of sensing remains the Thermal transfer printing. For accurate printing of a barcode the labelstock needs to be specially designed. The face paper is double coated on top for smoothness and for firm anchorage of the barcode to the paper. The reverse side of the face paper is also coated to prevent any seapage of the adhesive to the top, especially when the thermal transfer barcode is printed by application of heat. The adhesive has to be designed to adhere to a vide range of difficult and low energy surfaces. One can imagine the trouble that would erupt if these labels that provide a lot of information besides security, fall off the packages they are supposed to adhere on. The release paper has to be a highly calendered glassine which provides for a certain amount of transparency to enable the barcode printer to sense the label through the release paper. The release paper is also designed to offer release values which compliment high speed convertion and further dispensing on automatic labeling machines. Today demand for barcoded labels is coming from users on different substratres like BOPP, Polyester, Metalized films, etc. Again here these substrates need to be given a top coat to make them suitable for the required printing process and proper sensing and reading of the barcode thereafter.

2. Holograms-

Holograms are optically variable devices. The opticall interaction of the holographic image with the human eye makes it ideal for both brand promotion and security. These are generally produced out of polyester films and the labelstock manufacturing is a part of the process involving production of holograms. The hologram producers has to work hard to keep innovating and developing complex origination process to make it difficult for counterfeiters to copy. Many holograms produced today are tamper evident they also have other security features built into them like sequential numbering,UV fluorescence in the adhesive, etc. The area of holography is quite well developed and there is a lot of scope in it for producing newer security options. The hologram manufacturer does have special capabilities to produce the label face yet the adhesive and release are generally sourced outside. The release paper has to be specially designed with extremely low peel values for the tamper evident holograms. Smallest hindrance in the case of release may tamper the hologram before it is applied. This will render the hologram useless.

3. Security Inks and threads and UV Fibres- Creating security features into labelstocks or labels using security inks is possible in many diverse ways. This is possible due to the wide variety of inks available.

Some examples-

(a)Thermo chromic inks:- These inks change colour with change of temperature e.g, if you keep a bottle of cold drink or a beer in a freezer, the moment it reaches a temp of say 10 degree C the otherwise invisible printed text “chilled” would be visible and readable. It would disappear with the rise of temperature. Similarly we have inks that change colour at higher temperature.

(b) UV sensitive inks- These glow under UV light or change colour when exposed to sunlight.

(c)Metameric inks- These are inks that are similar in day light condition but change under different light sources. One can print an invisible message which becomes readable when light condition change such images cannot be photocopied.

At the labelstock manufacturing stage the face paper can be printed on the top or the reverse with any of the security inks. The front side is generally printed with these inks by the label printer at the time of producing labels. However if printing is desired at the reverse before the adhesive this has to be done prior to producing the label laminate security threads can also be introduced into the laminate . UV fibres can be incorporated into the the pulp by the paper mill or in the adhesive during production of labelstock. Such fibres can be seen under the UV light.

4. Tamper evidents-

Sealed

Opened

Resealed

Tamper evident labels are the most widely used security labels. These labels generally have features built into them, such that they show when they have been removed and reapplied. The classic example is the label which when removed leaves the message VOID behind. Today labelstock can be designed such that the residual message VOID can be customized to customer needs. Destructible labels are another form of tamper evident label materials. Such a label fragments into small pieces when somebody attempts to remove it. These labelstocks can be top coated for accepting barcode printing. Generally used materials for destructible are acetate and vinyls however some companies do have some proprietory constructions. Other products falling under the category of tamper evidents is the multi layer, where the layers are designed such that they split when the label is removed. In the case of the transfer label whole or part of the label is transferred to the substrate on which label is applied, blank film or partially printed film comes off from the top.

5. RFID-

The list of security labels would be incomplete without dwelling on the RFID or the Radio frequency identification. It is perhaps the most interactive technology that is making its impact on the world of packaging & labeling. It has far reaching impact on the supply chain and marketing systems. Large retail chain stores are demanding that the vendors provide smaller and compact RFID that adhere to the products. Benefits of these devices include inventory control, theft detterent, data of purchase of a full basket products be transmitted instantly for billing as also setting off the alarms if an uninvoiced product is being taken out of the exit. It is at this stage a lot of development being undertaken to incorporate the RFID into labelstocks and finally into labels. RFIDs can exist with barcoded labels and are difficult to copy or simulate. The cost of equipment to be used for inlay of chips into the labelstocks presently is huge and in face of fast changing technologies there is substantial risk. The equipment may soon become obsolete.

Producing finished RFID label is a challenging job. Many of the inlays may be damaged in the process and losses are estimated to be upto 15 percent. The labels and chips may get damaged in the converting process itself. Special cushioned substrates can prevent damage to the chip thus making it extremely necessary for testing the functionality and readability of the chip before and after insertion into the labelstock.

A typical construction has been developed by a leading US based co. Here the chip is inserted into the labelstock with a foam layer then a antistatic coating is given to prevent the RFID from static charge thereafter the face paper and finally the top coating to accept barcode printing. There is a lot of hipe of RFID being the technology of the future. It will change the face of labels that aid retailing. Then there are others, who do not agree with the line of thought. At this stage I would like to add a word of caution lest one may over indulge in a technology that changes fast and may not eventually be implemented.

Summary- The scope of security labels is wide. The efforts of innovative labelstock manufacturer and label producers can produce new and effective security solutions. The list of other options available can further include DNA inks, taggants that are microscopic particles or even biocodes, water mark papers or labels with security cuts, the list extends as far as the imagination of the innovative labelstock or label manufacturers extends. Preparing security labels is only one part of the exercise, educating customer to check its authenticity is the more important part. What good is a security label if it cannot protect the duplication and if you do not know how to check if it is a genuine product?

Before I conclude I must state that developing security labels and producing them is an ongoing process. No single solution is a permanent solution for a product, because if someone can make it then someone can fake it. It just may be a matter of time.

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008

Chandan Khanna; I wanted to be different!

2010-08-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Partition of India uprooted Jai Gopal Khanna from his birthplace in Multan, now in Pakistan, and he migrated to Mumbai. By 1950 he took on the profession of being a commercial artist. His work was good and his customers were happy with his work. Creativity had a different meaning those days when no computers were there to aid designing. Those days the only cosmetic cream that sold around the year was called snow. One of his customers, a snow manufacturer, was so impressed by Jai Gopal Khanna’s work that he urged him to start printing and converting of packaging material for them. They partly funded Khanna to buy his first treadle letter press. His work increased and he started to carry his designing work home. His sons lived with him and in typical Punjabi tradition, they also joined his business. While working on his designing the elder Khanna let his little grandson play with the colors that he was using. In fact he encouraged the child to play and enjoy the colorful experience. Little did he realize that he was delivering his first lesson as a mentor to the little boy, Chandan Khanna.

As Chandan grew, he saw his father and uncles work hard to make Ajanta Printarts, their startup venture, a successful packaging Co. but his mentor remained his grandfather. Ajanta got their first Japanese four color offset press in 1987 and did not have to look back thereafter. They started to acquire new presses and equipments every couple of years. After graduating in commerce stream, from NM College in Mumbai, Chandan Khanna left for London for specialized training in Offset Printing. He returned to join Ajanta in 1992. While the business was growing, customers like Unilever and Wipro were driving them to further expansion, Chandan was restless. He wanted to do something else, he wanted to be different.

On an international flight to an industry printing event he met Vivek Kapoor, now owner of Creative Prints and President of LMAI. During the journey Vivek answered all of Chandan’s questions about the nuances of self adhesive label industry. Little did he know at that time, that Chandan would soon be a competitor to him. Nerker of Unique Photo Offset and Gautam Rajani of PM Industries are others who influenced Chandan to satisfy his urge of doing something different by indulging in production of self adhesive labels. He started studying a lot about narrow web label presses. Letterpress was not of interest to him and his heart was in offset printing. He finally bought an Iwasaki waterless offset narrow web press in the year 2000. This was the only one of its kind in India and hence it was different! People in the industry thought he had made a big mistake by opting for a new technology when there were no operators available for such a press. They were laughing at him. Though momentarily, yet Chandan wondered if he really had made a mistake. Not ready to accept defeat, he worked hard trying to get knowledge about the press and the technology. Six months down the line he successfully printed the first self adhesive label in roll for clinic shampoo. The label was well accepted and appreciated. Another few months of running the machine was making profits and Chandan was having the last laugh. Ten years after joining work, Chandan decided to acquire further skills and he joined the S P Jain institute in Mumbai and to get his masters degree in Family Managed Business (FMB). I personally feel happy to have suggested to him this course at that time as my own son was pursuing that course and I was pleased by the outcome.

Chandan has a busy family. While he and his father look after the joint family’s label business, his wife is a successful solicitor and his mother, who was a teacher till a couple of years ago is now devoting much of her time to social work. A five year old son and an eight months old daughter account for Chandan’s spare time. I asked him when he will make them splash colors like his grandfather did. To this he laughs it out and says, “It will be good if they take to family business however I will not force them”.

Ajanta packaging has steadily grown since then. With 150 employees they have production facilities at three locations i.e. Daman, Baddi and Dubai(UAE). A total of ten label presses have been acquired till date. Three waterless offsets and a one Nilpeter at Daman, One offset and two MPS flexo presses at Baddi and two offset presses at Dubai. Even though he is an outrightly offset man, Chandan surprised all at Labelexpo 2008 in Brussels by announcing the purchase two Flexo Presses, a nilpeter and an MPS in one go! As his business continues to grow he gives all credit to the team he has put in place. Important customers like Proctor and Gamble, Unilever, Wipro, etc. have helped him to implement efficient management systems. He is committed to excel in labels and reach the topmost slot in five years from now and would still be doing something different!

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi-110008