Nostalgia is an important trait
of human existence. We have memories good and bad but if we live only the
nightmares, life will not be worth living, essentially; we need to put the not
so happy past, behind us and move on. On the other hand if we get nostalgic and
sentimentally reminisce a part of the past that brings back smiles to us,
remember the pleasurable moments that gave solace and whereby we made happy associations
that have left yearning and longing for the time gone by; life becomes so much
more meaningful. Evolution and nostalgia are inseparable. Imagine a time when
we did not have cars, planes and other modern modes of transport. I can
remember my father with a strange smile on his face talking about the early
days of his business. Those were the days when he started his career in the 1930s;
he peddled his stationery articles in retail markets on a cycle. Even though he
bought his first car in 1947, yet the thought of times when he used his cycle,
brought a look of satisfaction and euphoria on his being. I remember somewhere
in the 1950s we got our first telephone. Before that when our father left for
work each morning we knew we would see him or talk to him only in the evening
without any communication in between. With evolution we have reached a pinnacle
of connectivity, every member of the house has mobile phones and we can see and
talk to the person in real time all across the globe. Now it is difficult to
imagine a day without wives calling every two hours to check on you and ask, “Where
are you?” Even though when through activated location services she can see
where her husband is. When we got our first black and white TV in the 1960s
there was only one TV channel broadcasting two hours in the evening. Neighbors
used to come over and sit to watch the TV with us. It was like a mela (a
village fair) each evening. Now with evolution of television which is history
in itself, we see our neighbors maybe once in six months. Label printing in
this country has also evolved from a very nascent stage in the 1970s to what it
is now. I feel extremely nostalgic about this evolution that has taken place
and continues to progress at a rapid pace, this so because I have grown and
lived with it for most of these years in evolution of label printing. People
who have contributed to the industry in the early years and have set the
foundation of the industry have been very close to me and have shared their
individual experience in the industry with me over the years. I personally
believe chronicling the events that lead the industry to reach where it is
today is a service that the industry at large will be appreciative in time to
come. The generations that follow will have something to refer to when they
wish to learn and take inspiration from the past. It is for this reason that I
wrote my article, “History of Indian Label Industry” eight years ago in August 2006.
For a long time now I have wanted to update the article but the exercise is
arduous and calls for indulgence in time and money because of the industry
having spread over the length and breadth of this country. When my elder son
Pawan asked me to write this article on the “Ten most defining moments of
Indian Label Industry” I agreed for various reasons like, it links me to my
passion of writing about labels, it will be an extension of my article on the
history and it will further trigger the mindsets to take evolution in this
industry to another level.
My efforts to collate the events
and defining moments has been possible with support from industry veterans like
Bharat Mehta of Super Labels, Kamlesh Shah of Letragraphix, Sudhir Samant, Rajesh
Nema, Manish Desai, Kusum Dunglay of Reydun, …. I appreciate their inputs and thank
them for this. I have listed the ten most defining moments of the Indian label
industry below.
1. For the label industry what
more defining time than the time
when the industry was actually initiated and came into existence. The credit of
bringing self adhesive labels, in their present form, to India goes to a US
multi-national, Johnson & Johnson. It was around 1965 that they entered
into the manufacture of self adhesive labels. They installed a rotary label
press. They sold only converted labels and did not offer any labelstock to
others in the market. The first self
adhesive label produced by an Indian printer also started around the same time
in 1965, almost thirty years after Stanton Avery produced the first self
adhesive label in Los Angeles, California. Manohar Lal Bhatia, a screen
printer, producing water transfers in his company, Sharat Industries, did
pioneering work and produced what was the first self adhesive sticker in India.
Using a PVC face stock with pressure sensitive adhesive supplied by Calico and
a Polyethylene sheet as a release liner they manufactured their stickers. The
reason they did not use paper as face material is that silicon release liners
were not available and Polyethylene provided for a very tight release due to
which the paper would tear off. Thereafter these stickers became the forte of
many screen printers. It was in the beginning of the 1970s that Shanti Lal
Doshi & Co. started to produce self adhesive labelstocks in Mumbai.
1972-193 was a landmark year that lead to birth of the self adhesive labels made
by Indians, in roll form. It was at this time Jeetubhai Shah in Mumbai imported
a flatbed Iwasaki label press to produce self adhesive labels. In the second
half of 1970s Super labels, Pressure Tags and R K Papers had started to produce
self adhesive labels at Mumbai, Better labels in south while Liddles and Rikki
Sales in New Delhi.
2. The
initial growth of labels came from flatbed label presses followed by the semi
rotary letterpress and then on to intermittent rotary letterpress. This
intermittent letterpress printing technology that was and still is, in use,
came from the eastern countries like Japan, Taiwan and then China. The shift
from letterpress to flexo started in the 1990s. Though in 1983 Liddles in New
Delhi had acquired a used Mark Andy press but it was in 1993 that Patel
Printing Press in Ahmedabad bought a new Mark Andy Label Press. Around the same
time Super Labels at Mumbai installed an Aquaflex. This shift from letterpress
to flexo was indeed a very important and defining
moment for the Indian label industry. As flexo printing came to India, with
it in the mid 1990s Dupont introduced their photo polymer plates in India. At that time it was in the form of analog plates
for conventional flexo printing. In 2002 Numex Blocks, Mumbai bought the 1st
CDI (Cyrel* Digital Imager) in India and thus DuPont introduces digital plates
in India, which brought revolution in high quality flexo printing in India. Eventually with installations of ESKO CDI Digital
imagers with the workflow (Software), India moved from conventional Flexo to
Digital Flexo (Standard resolution) These exciting happenings brought the
quality levels of label printing in India to the next level, matching Gravure
and Offset quality.
3. With introduction of full
rotary flexo presses in the 1990s the label stock consumption in India
picked
up pace and with that also started the setting up of coating and lamination
plants all across India in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Chennai. Labelstock
production technologies also started evolving.
It was during this period that the ordinary sticker started to become an
engineered product called self adhesive label. At this moment I would like to
quote Kamlesh Shah of Letragrafix, he says “Meanings of both the above words are different.
Stickers” are used for publicity purpose whereas Self-Adhesive Labels are being
used on products (Containers, Bags, Bottles, Information, etc.). One would not
necessarily get repeat orders for stickers but will definitely get repeat
orders for Self-Adhesive Labels”
.
The labelstock consists primarily of three
components, the release paper, the adhesive and the face paper. As label
dispensing technologies found automation in packaging plants across the nation, exacting
demands were being made on the quality of labelstocks being produced. Silicone
coating chemistries changed from the solvented tin catalyst system to solvented
platinum catalyst systems to finally settle down with now largely used solvent
free platinum catalyst silicone coating. This provided consistent and
reproducible release levels required for faster converting and dispensing
needs. A market that was passionate about using only glassine liners has
evolved now to use different base papers like CCK, SCK, Polycoated, Polyester,
etc. At this time the adhesives also
found a lot of shifting first from solvented to hotmelts and now to largely emulsion
adhesives. Variants like permanent adhesives, high temperature adhesives and
removable also started to be offered. A market that was predominantly limited
to Semi-Gloss or Chromo Art paper and Woodfree or Maplitho paper, transformed
into using face stocks like, high gloss paper, BOPP, PE, PET, etc. Such changes
in the Indian label scenario brought India in the focus on the international
stage. At this time in 1996-97 the world’s largest labelstock producer Avery
Dennison moved into India by setting up manufacturing facility in Gurgaon in
North India. This was followed up by Raflatac setting up slitting facilities in
India. This entry of multinationals into India was indeed a very defining
moment that changed the way labels and labelstocks would be sold in the
country.
4. The Indian label printers are
unanimous about one change that defined its future till date. All the leading
printing companies who I approached for their inputs came back so strongly to
reaffirm that this was the
most defining
moment that I felt like researching more on this and writing in detail
about it. However due to the space constraint I will just present here some of
the comments of various printers who responded. Now the defining moment!
“The switch over to UV Flexo”.
The
comments;
Bharat Mehta of Super Labels: “It was a game changing time and
Super Labels was the first in India to install an all
UV label press Gallus EM280 in 1997” This
was reconfirmed by industry veteran
Sudhir Samant.
Kamlesh Shah of Letragraphix: “U.V. Printing is a “Must” in all
printing Methods!”
Rajesh Nema of Pragati
Global: “I
went from sheet fed offset to full rotary water based flexo. In 1996, I started
with water based flexo and the learning curve was too big. The color matching
of each job (even when it was a repeat) was a big problem because of the ever
changing viscosity of the ink in the shelf & in the pan (while running on
the press). Changing temperatures did also affect the print quality hence there
was a lot of changes. Around 1999 I heard of full UV flexo and studied the
press as also availability of inks. I could sense that UV Flexo would change
the flexo printing scenario at one go and this is what happened. Although the
ink costs were prohibitive and availability was a big question mark, I decided
to go in for this technology. The learning curve was extremely small and from
day one, my operators could operate the machine, handle the inks without any
difficulty whatsoever. Gone are the days of measuring ink viscosity, ink pH,
color variation, setting time (to get the exact color), and the wastage stands reduced. Because
of higher strength of UV inks vis-a-vis water based inks, I could use higher
line count aniloxes which enabled me to go to higher plate screen line count,
finer print and reduced ink consumption (and higher speed too). Although the
overall power consumption is higher in comparison to water based inks (this
also is being taken care of by new UV technology), other advantages are far
more than higher energy costs and more than compensates the higher energy
costs. Any company moving from offset/letterpress to flexo is well advised to
straight away move to UV flexo to get the grip in shortest possible time.”
5. Like “makeup” is an important
part of a woman’s finishing touches to her appearance before she presents
herself in front of an important audience, "finishing" as we term it in label
converting, is a very essential part of creating a label that will attract
the all important attention of a consumer. A label needs to be decorated before
it actually becomes the engineered product that will become the inevitable
sales tool for any product. It needs to have the right makeup on its face. To
decorate it so we need more than just printing in flexo; a higher ink
deposition of a particular ink, a shining gold/silver on it, an embossing that
will catch the eye, a metal effect, a gloss and so on. India’s young and
literate middle class is turning out a young middle class that is more
demanding in value from the consumer products in modern day retail. Label
printers wanting to deliver a product need to equip themselves with
capabilities to dress up labels appropriately and for this, different print
technologies need to be incorporated. An offset printer who is used to moving
piles of paper from machine to machine in large factories may be able to do it
but the effort is too cumbersome and in the end the labels will be in sheets
and not in rolls. A narrow web label printer who is used to converting self
adhesive labels into labels in a single pass would need to do this online in
one go. Combination printing presses now provide the answer. Introduction and
installation of the first combination presses in the first half of the new
millennium, the decade of 2000, is another defining moment in the Indian label
industry. Wintek in South India was one of the first to install a press with a
combination of flexo and screen printing, Goodwork Company in New Delhi with
letterpress and screen and Veekay Graphics in Mumbai with a combination of
flexo and offset pioneered this change. The combination technology has
continued to evolve and culminated with Pragatipack in Hyderabad opting for
flexo with gravure, Zircon following it up similarly and then to top it all it
is Renault Paper, part of Manohar Packaging group, who have installed a press with capabilities to print
flexo, offset, screen and gravure along with foiling and embossing
capabilities! The advent of combination presses being installed is another
defining moment.
6. As the label industry started
to evolve and printers aspired to meet global standards in quality, there
was
need to look around for machines and equipment that will help them print
quality that would excel. Some printers would travel to Labelexpo in Singapore
or to the main show in Brussels to see the machines displayed and evaluate
where to invest. The smaller printers could not afford the exercise. As the
last millennium was coming to an end, the need to have a label show in India
was being felt. At the same time there appeared an imperative need for an
industry association.
In 2002 Amit Sheth
of Label Planet in Mumbai took the initiative and gathered a few printers in
Mumbai and announced the formation of Label Manufacturers Association of India.
The very same year Anil Arora organized the first label show in India, “The
India Label Show” at Nehru Centre Mumbai. I am proud of my association and
support I gave to Anil for making this show a huge success. I also managed to get Andy Thomas
Group Managing Editor Labels and Labeling and another colleague from Labelexpo
group part of the holding company Tarsus UK to visit the show.
It is history
there after that by the time India Label Show reached its third edition it had
been taken over by Tarsus and two years later it was renamed Labelexpo India. Nowadays exhibitions have become an important part of label industry in terms of technology
up gradation and networking opportunities that they accord. The success of LMAI
conferences in GOA have proved that the label printers look forward to such
opportunities. The formation of LMAI and launch of India Label show (renamed
Labelexpo India) was another
defining
moment.
7. As flexo and other Label
printing processes continued to find up gradation in technologies around the
world, printers in India also were looking out for adopting such changes that
would make them globally comparable in quality. Like the defining moment when
UV Flexo came in, similarly changes in machine design by international label
press suppliers came to be noticed to become unique defining moments. Set up time for a job in a regular label press
would waste at least 100 running meters of labelstock. Press manufacturers
innovated to produce presses with short web path and chill drums and then
further innovations brought in automatic registration control. These changes
not only reduced material wastage to single digit but also reduced manual
intervention in register control decreasing dependence on operators. Operators
are already a commodity that is becoming difficult to source in times of
increasing label press population. Similarly gear, marks wearing shafts,
difficult changeover times tension controls were a consistent cause for worry
for the quality conscious label printers. Servo motor technology changed life
for printers as these are welcome changes.
8. As mentioned in the beginning
of this article, a multinational Johnson and Johnson initiated label
production in this country. Thereafter the Indian indulgence started at a very
basic stage in screen printing, evolving and progressing into flat bed
letterpress and then on to flexo and combination printing. Printers grew in
size and stature as the economy and population grew. With the world’s eye on
this huge growing young workforce creating a mind boggling marketplace for
retail in consumer and industrial products, the multinational large players in
label world turned their attention towards India. We are coming to a full
circle. While many small deals brought in some international players like
Brady’s-USA, Reynders-Belgium, Nordvalls-Sweden, Printcare-Srilanka, etc to
India it was in 2012 that controlling stake in India’s largest label printing
company Interlabels was acquired by European label company Skanem. This was indeed a defining moment that changed the way
the larger Indian label companies would move ahead. This acquisition was
followed up by ITW acquiring Wintek in Bangalore, Positive packaging acquiring
SGRE in Bangalore and Huhtamaki acquiring Webtech in Mumbai. One goes on hearing
rumors of other foreign companies on prowl but another positive sign is that
Indian label companies have also dared to venture out. Ajanta Packaging has set
up units in Daman, Baddi, UAE & Thailand. I would not be surprised if his
next step is Europe! Syndicate labels, Prakash Labels and Stallion are some of
the other label printers who have offshore manufacturing in UAE besides India.
9. A growing market registering
double digit growth consistently for many years is always susceptible to
investment beyond its natural growth. When such happens, it creates capacity
higher than the demand which in turn results in intense competition. Even
though the market is there and volumes are there yet margins come under
pressure making ROI (return on Investment) a difficult proposition. Even when
one continues to see expansions and investments in new equipment yet printers
are found complaining of difficult times. At such time there is always a need
felt for innovation and indulgence in new technologies. The need became an
imperative in the middle of first decade of the new millennium. Somewhere
around 2003-2008 printers began to actively indulge and experiment in
innovation. One such initiative that has impacted my mind is a butterfly
promotional label in film pioneered by the late Kartar Singh Dunglay at
Goodwork Company. These were defining times when printers broke away from the
custom stickers turned into labels and moved on to produce booklet label,
multilayer labels, Security labels, customized promotional labels, etc. This
change brought the much needed margins to the indulgent printers who dared to
innovate. Evolving further printers are today buying presses with additional
capabilities so as to produce unique and innovatively converted label products.
10. Printing Technologies in
label printing have undergone a sea change from the time of inception. For the
last two decades we have seen most of the development in flexographic printing.
It surely remains the predominantly used label printing technology today. With
continuous enhancement in plate technology, aniloxes, machine design, etc. this
technology has become comparable to the best today. At this time one cannot
ignore the entry of Digital printing and converting. Year after year at print
shows around the world we see and ever increasing presence of digital printing
technologies and equipments. While the digital seems to have impacted and
succeeded in the sheet fed segment, it still has not found widespread
acceptance in the label printing. Looking at the technology from computer to
print without the plates, aniloxes, doctor blades, etc., pared with digital
laser die cutting without the needs for magnetic cylinders and dies, it all
looks and sounds so interesting. However the forbidding price structure for
short runs in roll form, the cost of equipment, inks, etc indicates that the
technology will need to evolve further and it will. The convenience in
application hints that the time when this printing technology will find
widespread usage in labels may not be too far. Pioneering efforts of label printers
like Janus and Webtech in Mumbai and Reydun in Delhi, who acquired digital
label presses, will go down in history as a defining moment.
The label industry in India has
still a long way to go, as consumerism is on the rise and retail selling gains
in significance; label usage is set to rise steadily. The per capita usage in
India is still a fraction of what it is in Europe or USA. For a large
population base a small increase in the per capita usage will amount to a huge
amount in numbers. As volumes grow the waste generated by this industry is also
going to grow manifold. It is an industry in which almost 50% of the product
ends up in landfills. We have a gigantic problem at hand and need to address
this problem is an imperative. Government legislations when they come will make
life difficult for the industry. It is better that the industry leaders both
users and converters of labels as also the users, apply their mind on this
problem. At present we are just reading and watching what is happening in the western
world. The local industry associations and other forums need to debate on it
and find innovative solutions for the self adhesive label industry. If they do
find solutions on this front, it will be the next most defining moment that
will deliver a better environment for generations that follow.
Written by Harveer Sahni Managing Director Weldon Celloplast Limited, New
Delhi October 2014 and was first published by Printweek India Vol VII Issue 7
