PackPlus 2016: Heading for unprecedented success!

On July 21 2016 when I received information that PackPlus 2016 had been sold out I tweeted; “Sold out! PackPlus 2016 July 27-July 30 Pragati Maidan, N Delhi Show heading for unprecedented success http://www.packplus.in  @PackPlus2016”

The show PackPlus, a complete packaging show, has grown more than 30 percent over the last edition with many more exhibitors, product launches and running machines. While there, one can learn about Package 4.0 at the AIA knowledge pavilion (stall no. 12A.40). There are free seminars on Next Generation Automation, Flexible Packaging, Open & Smart HMI, and Integrated & Vision Guided Robotics & Vision System for Quality. Register at: www.aiacampus.in/index.php/industry/automation-pavilion/click-to-register HP is planning free seminars for brand owners at their stand in Hall 12. The timings are at 4pm on 27 and 28 July and at 11 am on 29 and 30 July. In the gross area of 14,000 sq.mtrs., PackPlus will be happening alongwith SupplyPlus and CartonTech. The Show has positioned itself as one of the most sought for exhibitions for the display of latest innovations & developments from the industry. Some of the leading companies including Uflex Limited – Engineering Division, Pelican Rotoflex (P) Ltd., Ishida India (P) Ltd., Global Link Impex, Zhongke India (P) Ltd., Clearpack India (P) Ltd., Autoprint Machinery Manufacturers Pvt  Ltd., Hewlett – Packard India Sales Private Ltd., Intralox India (P) Ltd., AnyGraphics (P) Ltd., Domino Printech India (P) Ltd., Uflex Limited – Holography Division and many more have booked prominent stalls to showcase their wide range of equipment and to disseminate information. Visitors will get an opportunity to experience the running machines and have one-on-one interaction with the representatives from international companies

PackPlus is founded and organized by the husband wife duo Neetu and Anil Arora. They also happen to be the founders of India Label show which was subsequently acquired by UK based Tarsus and renamed as “Labelexpo India”. A decade ago I wrote about Anil Arora’s journey upto Labelexpo 2006. In 2007 it was acquired by Tarsus and for the 2010 edition they renamed it as Labelexpo India. I reproduce that article after moderate editing;

The path traversed by Neetu and Anil Arora:

It was during one of my visit to Mumbai in the year 2001, while planning a trip to Labelexpo Brussels with friends from Industry, I expressed my wish that we should have a label show in India. Immediately one of the label printer friends informed that one Mr. Anil Arora was already working on the project and had approached many in the industry in Mumbai. Since the subject was of interest to me I investigated and got Mr. Arora’s contact details. Before leaving for Delhi I called Anil Arora to enquire about his plan for the show. From the small chat with him I found him very convincing. I felt this man was committed to the show and would make success of it. I told him I would support him and if any help was needed I would be available. Three days later Anil was in my office in Delhi and we were discussing plans to make the show a big success.

By end of the year the whole industry was excited about the show and the first India label show was completely sold out. So much so that the organizer had to vacate their own stand to make room for demanding prospective exhibitors. The show was a big success.  It brought the industry closer and it was first time in the history of self adhesive labels in India that such fellowship was witnessed. It was also during the run-up to the show that the LMAI (Label Manufacturers Association of India) was formed.

The show then moved on to a much bigger Pragati Maidan. Anil Arora and his better half Neetu Arora worked hard to make the show bigger and better. The promotions were so well planned that road shows which gave insight on what to expect, were held in cities and towns all over India. There were road shows held in Srilanka and Bangladesh also. The second show in Delhi was bigger and better with the Tarsus group organizer of Labelexpo taking a big portion of the show. The India label show brand was fully established not only in India but also internationally. There are nostalgic memories of the awards nights and the parallel dinner meetings during the last show.

The third show in this series was held on (6-9 December 2006); the excitement in the label industry had built up. The show was bigger and attracted a much larger foreign attendance. The importance of the show was reflected by the fact that the Finat sponsored “Indo-European label Exchange” was held alongside the show. FINAT, the self-adhesive label trade association acted as ‘matchmaker’ between European and Indian labeling industries to create a forum to give small and medium sized member companies in both regions better chances of doing business with each other. The forum was supported by the EU’s Asia Invest programme and was organised in cooperation with the national trade associations VskE (Germany) and LMAI (India). More international presence, more working presses and a series of product launches from an industry that was waking up to global challenges confirmed the show’s resounding success. A conference was also held alongside the show, and was organized under the aegis of the world renowned Alexander Watson Associates (AWA).

Alongside the Show, International Packaging Conclave will happen on 29 July at Pragati Maidan Conference Centre. It will focus on Print Optimisation & Colour Management for Flexible Packaging. 25+ experts from the industry will unite for a daylong session where more than 200 delegates including Brand Owners, Package Converters, Packaging Technologists, Procurement Professionals, Print Specialists, QA, Managers, Pre‐Press & Media Professionals, Designers, Material &Equipment Suppliers and Consultants will attend the programme. We are all set for a record-breaking edition,” said Neetu Arora, President, Print-Packaging.com (P) Ltd., the organisers of the Show.

Neetu and Anil have two children, a son Nauroze pursuing his management studies and a daughter Garima Arora who is a celebrated Chef. After training in Switzerland and France she has worked in the famous Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant in Dubai, then in the world’s number one restaurant Noma in Copenhagen and is now working at the best Indian restaurant recognized globally; Gaggans at Bangkok. She is soon expected to open her own restaurant in Bangkok with support from Gaggans.

Note: Magazines may reproduce the above article by giving credit to the author.
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi July2016

Inline Hot foiling: Pantec Open House!

VICTOR HUGO, a French Poet in the mid nineteenth century, once remarked: “You can resist an invading army; you cannot resist an idea whose time has come. When mobile telephony came in, one could not imagine the reach it will provide to a common man who would not have means or will to reach out to the world at large. Telephones with internet connectivity have transformed life magically. No one could imagine that the only communication link that people had, “the landline” would one day become just a show piece. Such ideas, whose time comes by, evolve with such speed that the generations are left in awe of the change. Label industry is now faced with many such ideas like the move from conventional to digital printing, linerless labels and now evolution of in-line converting. Given the large investment in space and manpower, sheet offset, over a period of time is surely going to evolve to inline printing, decorating and converting using multiple technologies with lesser space and just a few people. At the recently concluded Drupa 2016, many such types of equipment were displayed attracting interest of printers. If it was just printing, the offset presses are doing a great job. It is the decoration and finishing that needs space, manpower and a host of different machines spread over a large shop floor. In modern retail highly decorated labels and packages are an imperative for consumers to reach out for the products. Hot foiling is one of the many processes that catches the eye of a consumer and becomes the preference of many a brand owner. So far most of the hot foiling is being either done offline on flat bed hot stamping machines or in-line with slow intermittent presses. It has been the wish of label printers who are so used to doing the conversion from start to finish in a single pass on their high speed rotary presses, to do the hot foil also in the same pass without compromising on the speed and quality.   

On the 3^rd of June, Peter Frei, CEO Switzerland headquartered Pantec GS Systems AG pulled me out of a busy Drupa to take me to the premises of Gewa Etiketten located on the outskirts of Frankfurt some three hours drive, for an “open house” to showcase their in-line hot foiling application equipment “Rhino”, that can be integrated into flexo label presses without really compromising too much on speed. Pantec GS Systems AG is an independent subsidiary of Pantec, a worldwide operating technology supplier for industrial applications and medical devices offering services, products and solutions in the field of machinery and medical engineering. They provide sophisticated in-line refining solutions. Their dedicated equipment for rotary and flat bed hot foil stamping & embossing, high performance vacuum foil savers, high speed & precision hologram placement is made to provide efficient high quality refining, directly in-line.

The company hosting the Open House, Gewa-Etiketten is leading producers of labels for Wine, Sparkling wine and spirits in Germany and Europe. The family owned enterprise was founded in 1931 and the third generation headed by Mathias Walter is still in control. The company operates from a total area of 7000 square meters and a production area in excess of 50,000 square feet. With 170employees at two locations, one that caters to sheet offset segment for wet glue labels and the other for self adhesive labeling, they achieve sales of 23 million Euros. The unit that we visited had 6 Gallus combination presses and one HP Indigo digital press besides a range of other complementary equipment. They cater to customers demands from 10,000 to half a million labels per day. As we reached the venue of Open House, Uwe Reflinghaus, CEO of Gewa-Etiketten welcomed us with lunch and introduced us to his team. Some more printers and suppliers were also present. 

Peter Frei

All visitors after introducing themselves heard Peter Frei, CEO Pantec GS Systems give his presentation. He said “I do believe  that single pass printing  and converting of packages is the real new opportunity for label printers having such web machinery already” He further added, “ I think there is a ‘huge opportunity’ that arises for label printers in packaging after integration of Pantec Rhino in an existing label press, as you will see being done here at Gewa”. After his presentation it was time to go to the shop floor for the demonstration of Rhino inline hot foiling system. 

Oliver Jung

Oliver Jung, the printing expert handling the Pantec implementation project at Gewa took charge to explain and demonstrate the equipment and its technology.The Pantec Rhino was integrated in line on a Gallus RCS combination press to demonstrate In-line package printing and decoration as alternative to sheet fed package conversion. A label press was being used after integration of Pantec Rhino to produce highly decorated cartons. Contrary to the rotary web operation where the web continuously moves, this equipment has web Stopping-Stamping-Moving on, giving sharper images of stampings. The interesting part is that while the stop start operation is limited to the Rhino, the web otherwise keeps moving steadily and continuously at regular machine speed without stop and go motion. The equipment shown was capable of making 18,000 strokes per hour however they now have one that can do 25,000 strokes per hour. The movement and stamping is well portrayed in the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA6SWgTqI-g&feature=youtu.be . 

In one demo they ran a Pantec Rum Chocolate carton with printing, embossing, hot foiling and die cutting all running at 120 meters per minute in a single pass. 
















In another demo they ran a carton with also placing of registered hologram, printing on it and embossing around it. The equipment has advantage of speed in roll and as compared to sheet it has no wastages that occur at grippers and at gaps.

Rhino system brings the quality of sheet fed hot foil embossing, attractive patch placement for prestige markets and hologram stamping for security into web presses;

·      Consistently designed for in-line economy

·         High frequency stamping for high press speed (up to 25´000 strokes/h)

·         Quick job change (no format parts) for high press availability

·         Crosswise foiling and multistroking allow single pass production of multifoil designs

·         Reduced per-unit costs (no off-line preparation, less maculation)

·         Up to two foil saving servos

·         Significantly reduced cycle times for orders

Note: Printing magazines and publications may reproduce this article giving credit to author.

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Ltd. New Delhi India July 2016