North Indian Label Printers at LMAI Technical workshop!

Part of the audience

After Sandeep Zaveri took over as the new president, LMAI (Label manufacturers association of India) organized the second technical workshop and networking meet in his tenure at Chelmsford Club, New Delhi. The first such event was held at Mumbai in December 2015. It was interesting to note that almost all of LMAI printer members from Delhi NCR pre-registered for the show and more than 100 delegates attended the workshop as against a targeted and expected 80 members. This was despite the fog, chill and an extremely difficult traffic situation in New Delhi that day.

Kuldip Goel of Anygraphics and Vice President LMAI,
welcoming guests. Behind him is Naveen Goel, the host
for the evening

Welcoming the guests Kuldip Goel, Vice President LMAI and Managing Director of Anygraphics, speaking in Hindi (India’s national language) likened the association LMAI to a devotional place like a temple. He said a temple is built on four pillars, each of which has a special significance. “In our association” he said, “the four pillars are members, suppliers, sponsors and the media!” Initiating the technical part of the workshop, Shailesh Kumar Sharma, senior manager-technical, Flint Group India, spoke on the quality aspects of inks as well of the role of UV light in curing. He also dwelled on the present UV curing scenario undergoing transformation leading to the implementation of LED UV technology as a more stable and futuristic one.

Carston Barlebo

Explaining the capability of LED UV to cure ink on thinner substrates and provide better adhesion, Carston Barlebo of AMS (Air Motion Solutions) cited a case study conducted by them with their AMS Flexo Series LED UV system for the narrow web label industry at a food packaging converter in Italy whereby this system is fitted on a seven-colour 530mm Omet VaryFlex F1 530. He informed that this is the largest UV LED system ever installed which provides savings in energy, replacement costs and increased productivity. The system is compatible with LED-optimised inks and varnishes from leading manufacturers. 

Manish Kapoor

Manish Kapoor of Nilpeter spoke about the growth and increasing market size of Flexographic printed labels segment and it extension into the packaging industry. He also dwelled on the need for printers targeting the huge packaging industry to invest in combination printing so as to derive benefits from each technology to create innovative and highly decorated packages. According to him even though the label industry was growing at 15% per annum yet it was a miniscule portion of the packaging industry whose size he said is Rupees 1.5 lakh Crores or about 24 Billion USD. He emphasized that it was opportune time for the industry to invest in these emerging technologies. Flexographic printing is highly dependent on the quality of pre-press. Deepanshu Goel of Creative Graphics, a pre-press company, spoke on the importance of pre-press in plate making. He also explained the importance and proper use of double tapes and anilox rollers.

Chirag Chokani

Finance and wealth management are a sensitive part of growth in any business. Chirag Gokani an expert on the subject spoke on the importance of financial planning leading to wealth management. Sandeep Tiberwala from Yes Bank commenting on Kuldip Goel’s remarks on the constituents of the association being the pillars of association remarked, “Banks are an inherent part of this structure that provide strength to the pillars”  He also spoke on the procedures and requirements for getting adequate finance by label printers for their businesses.

Harveer Sahni

Finally there was an interactive session by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director Weldon Celloplast Ltd. where all the speakers were a part of the panel. Most of the questions were about the LED UV and were answered by C P Paul of APL and Carston Barlebo of AMS. Harveer Sahni commented, “Pre-press is the heart of flexo printing that has evolved in quality over the years” in response Deepanshu Goel further elaborated on the imperative need of good pre-press in flexo printing. Shailesh Sharma of Flint while replying to questions informed the gathering that Flint will be hosting many open house sessions for LED UV inks in the near future.

Aditya Chadha

Finally the host for the evening Naveen Goel invited Aditya Chadha of Update prints to deliver a vote of thanks. Aditya in his concluding remarks stressed the need for the label printing fraternity to be more interactive, so as to share the importance of better prices for raw materials, selling prices, employee retention, etc. and more profitability. It was evening where one saw a big number of next generation young managers that included Aditya Chadha of Update prints, Anuj Bhargav of Kumar Labels, Naveen Goel of Anygraphics, Rishab Jain of Jain Transfer, Parshav Jain of Jain Transfer, Pawandeep Sahni of Weldon, Gurdev Jandu of Jandu Engineering.

The evening ended with a networking cocktails and dinner. Happy at the success of this event, Sandeep Zaveri President LMAI and Rajesh Nema Secretary LMAI announced that the next similar workshop would be held in the south of India, probably at Bangalore, followed by one in Ahmedabad.

More pictures from the event:

Pawandeep Sahni,Weldon, handing over the mike at
the interactive session for delegates to ask questions.

The President and Secretary felicitating Nalin Sharma of Intergraphic

C P Paul, Rajesh Nema & Sandeep Zaveri President LMAI
felicitating Harveer Sahni for conducting interactive session

Audience

Rajesh Chadha, Update Prints & Rajesh Nema, Pragati Global

Written by Harveer Sahni Managing Director Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi January 2016

The above article maybe reproduced by giving credit to author.