Pamex 2023 justifies theme; “Convergence of print.”

 

Recreated Gutenberg press at the 
International Printing Museum,
Carson, California

Ever since 1450 when goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press, which started the Printing Revolution, printing technology has been evolving. The technology has come a long way from the first use of flat wooden blocks being inked and stamped on to paper to production of metal typesetting mechanizing the process. The history is very interesting and long. Printing process or technology has evolved in many forms of contact printing from flat bed to offset printing in sheet and roll to other forms of printing like rotogravure and  screen to finally reach the present-day non-contact digital printing without the need of blocks or plates and with just click of button from computer to print.

 

An Offset, Gravure and flexo combination press.

With time, labels and packaging evolved and there was a dire need to decorate the packages and labels to catch the attention of discerning customers. Embellishing processes have also been developed to become an inherent part of printing and converting process. These include varnishing, hot-foiling, cold-foiling, embossing, debossing, lamination, die-cutting etc. With the development of different printing technologies it became apparent that each technology has its own advantage. For high quality images to reproduce skin tones and vignettes, offset is preferred. For the desired pantone shades, flexo is preferred. To achieve higher deposition of ink, screen printing delivers the desired results and to get the good metallic effects in printing with metallic inks, gravure printing is used. To produce personalization in print, have variable printing, to achieve track and trace information and security information, digital provides the option. The advent of organized retail and e-commerce becoming a part of our daily life, has brought about the need to bring the best of each technology together and achieve excellence in printing and packaging. The organisers of Pamex 2023 exhibition, All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP), in association with Print-Packaging.com saw immense value in adopting the theme “Convergence in Print” and delivering the importance of this theme to printers and other visitors to this prime show.

Pamex Roadshow at Haridwar

The theme was conveyed to the printers in the nation at different geographical venues in India  by the promoters. Roadshows with presentations by sponsors offering equipment with convergence in print and panel discussions were a part of these presentations. Technical presentations on technologies such as printed electronics were also a part of the roadshows. Diverse information and knowledge was delivered to attendees at locations like Bangalore, Pune, Guwahati, Indore and Haridwar. The focused efforts by the team of AIFMP headed by President Ravi Joshi, Tushar Dhote and organizer Anil Arora of Print-Packaging.com produced a successful event. The final show Pamex 2023 held at Bombay Exhibition Centre Goregaon Mumbai on 27^th-30^th March 2023 was an immense success. 33,812 visitors and over 450 exhibitors thronged the venue and came from many countries around the world.

On the penultimate evening Pamex 2023 played host to a glittering awards ceremony at the Gala Exhibitors’ Evening. AIFMP decided to institute several new awards to add to the prestigious NAEP and  VCPLA Awards that were given away in the last edition. The awards was with full attendance and printers and suppliers networked and celebrated the togetherness.

 

I present my walk-through pictures of the event:

A. Appadurai and Abhishek Bhatnagar HP

Vetaphone-Weldon Stand

 

Ramesh and Sidhrath Kejriwal of Parksons Pkg.with
Nishikant Shirodhkar and Mahendra Shah at Omet stand

UV Graphic Technologies stand

Sailesh Nema Michelman

With Noel D'Cunha Editor Printweek India

VeePee Graphics Stand

The Gala dinner cum awards night

Entrance to Gala Dinner and AIFMP Awards night

Felicitations!

Author handing over award to winners

Jak Printers the most awarded! With their multiple trophies!

Written and compiled by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Ltd. New Delhi April 2023

LMAI Webinar: Label printers' woes, price increases and shortage of inputs

Frequent increase in paper prices have been adversely impacting the printing and packaging industry in recent times. The print industry has been at the receiving end not just because of the price rise but also due to shortages of paper and that too at a time when demand is rising. The printers have suffered because of long lockdowns due to Covid-19 pandemic; they had hardly heaved a sigh of relief as the situation started to improve when prices began their upward movement followed by shortages or unavailability of critical inputs, adding to their operational problems. The self-adhesive label printing and converting industry is an extension of the sheetfed or unsupported web printing industry. Unfortunately, the impact of the present situation on label printers is more severe, given the complex nature of their major raw materials, the self-adhesive or pressure sensitive adhesive labelstock. Unlike the single layer substrate that paper or board is, the labelstock is a laminate with many inputs. The face materials vary from various kinds of paper substrates, films, foils, etc., then there is a range of pressure sensitive adhesives like emulsion and hotmelts in variants like permanent, removable, for low and high temperature applications that are formulated with various polymers, plasticizers, emulsifiers, and other chemicals. Lastly the release base papers and silicone formulations. All these inputs are facing price increases. Realizing the impact and seriousness of the situation, LMAI (The Label Manufacturers Association of India) initiated by the current President Rajesh Nema, organized a webinar titled "Knowledge - Accelerating Growth" on 30^th October 2021. The panelists included Saurabh Agarwal-Avery Dennison, Ajay Mehta- SMI Coated Products, Prashanth Raveendran- Seljegat Printers and Manish Desai- Mudrika labels. The webinar was moderated by Jaideep Singh Secretary LMAI and coordinated by Anurag Mohan Management committee member.

Ajay Mehta

Ajay Mehta spoke on the gravity of the situation due to rise in prices with price increases being announced by paper mills frequently despite not getting their full requirements of materials. Forward contracts are made with paper mills but those are for quantities required and mills in general, charge prices prevailing at the time of dispatch. However still, the increasing international freight rates, reduced availability of raw stocks with mills and the upswing in demand impacts adversely. While the mills give a date whereafter new enhanced prices will be applicable, but the adhesive suppliers do not even give time for price increase and announce the new price with immediate effect. Paper mills supplying release base papers are either facing shortages of pulp so have lesser materials to offer or they to recover the losses incurred during lockdowns are directing their materials to markets where the get higher value for their products. He cautioned that by modest estimates, the label industry will stand to lose over Rupees 250 Crores annually and there is no way this loss can be absorbed, they have no alternative but to pass on the price increase to the printers. They do get resistance from some quarters but there is no way to compromise on this if one has to survive and keep the company in sound health.

Manish Desai

Manish Desai of Mudrika Labels mentioned that print buyers strongly resist the price increases by expressing that there are other printers ready to supply at lower rates, however according to him they must be persistent as there is no other option. The possibility to downscale the product specification by lowering substrate grammages and adhesive coat weights to keep the prices stagnant is not the right step and will lead to inferior quality and rejections at the customer’s quality control. Moreover, since many print buyers are now mentioning the standard brand labelstock usage in labels supplied to them, printers do  not have the option to consider alternate suppliers. He suggested to the labelstock manufacturers that since they interact with print buyers to get their materials approved, they should in turn also impress upon to approve price increases in tune with raw material price escalations. It would also be prudent for labelstock manufacturers to make forward contracts with raw material suppliers such that they in turn can give some breathing time for printers to settle down with new prices. Price rise is an ongoing process in growing economies and eventually the industry settles down with it in 3-4 months, unfortunately now it is at a challenging time and too frequent. He further added that amongst their customers, with privately owned companies it is easy to get price approvals as one can deal directly with senior management and justify the need for higher prices. Contrary to this, it takes 3 to 6 months to get approval from multinational companies as they have multiple layers of management and the price approval is a long-drawn process and by the time the approval comes, the prices may already have increased some more.

Saurabh Agarwal

Saurabh Agarwal of Avery Dennison mentioned “'The significant increase in demand post the improvement in pandemic impact, especially in the large economies of the world, while the supply environment continuing to remain constrained has been the single biggest reason for the serious inflationary pressures. The rising oil and energy prices and the prevailing ocean freight crisis intensifies the impact and is now impacting almost every region. At Avery Dennison, all our efforts are geared to continue serving our customers in the best possible way during these volatile times, while at the same time keeping them informed of the prevailing situation.”

Prashanth Raveendran of Seljegat Printers was more focused stating that they have reached a level of success by continuously investing in the finest equipment to manufacture labels to international standards and creating innovative products. He said, not getting the appropriate and remunerative price for their products will hamper their growth and not justify their huge investments. He stressed that if some print buyers do not understand the situation and do not agree to give the right prices, unfortunately and sadly we will have to forego such orders. After all, we have to service our financial commitments.

Priyank Vasa

To get a wider view on the topic the author interacted with some more industry constituents. Priyank Vasa of Ahmedabad based Unick Fix-a-Form says, “The recent price hikes and inflation in raw materials has got us wondering how long we can sustain a healthy margin while continuing to offer the best rates and quality to our customers. Production efficiency has been impacted in the past two years because of the pandemic. Looking at the current situation, it is tough to offset increasing cost of raw materials with an improved efficiency. Labels have become a commodity, unlike older days where one could reap the benefits of developing a product for years altogether. Product  diversification could be the key which could offer a good balance between profitability and volume. Current market conditions do not offer many niche segments where business could thrive. Sustainability of the margins will take the driving seat vs the volumes. Expansion models must be feather light as nature of our industry needs repetitive investments that come with an interest burden.”

Mahendra Shah

Mahendra Shah of Renault Paper Palghar, a part of Manohar Packaging group says, “We call ourselves manufacturers of labels but technically, we are just converters without any consumer brand-value which can be encashed at a later part of our entrepreneurial tenure. Our current or past investments do not last long, due to fast changing technology. If you do not capitalize your investment in the first one thousand days, your time and energy is wasted in just recouping the investments done. Really, is this why we became entrepreneurs? Competition was always there and will remain in future, the only difference is the mindset. Now with fast evolving technologies we need to achieve the  return on our investment at a faster pace. As first-generation entrepreneurs, we took harsh calls and succeeded, with this huge price impact on our inputs now, we all need a fearless attitude to go for price increases from our customers before it is too late. We may lose some customers but with clear thoughts I am sure we can all make our business profitable and sustainable.” 

Anuj Bhargava

Anuj Bhargava of Kumar labels asserts that the price increase must be passed on and it is an imperative for survival. Another point he mentioned is that the industry is not realizing that people are a necessity in a company to work efficiently and the cost of people has dramatically increased post covid. So that cost combined with the enhanced raw material costs is a “Killer.” If label printers do not pass on the impact of the combined cost increase, then definitely it is a formula for suicide.

The PSA or self-adhesive labels industry is already at crossroads whereby evolution is leading to a lot of demand growth going off to different evolving technologies like shrink sleeves, inmold labels, wraparound labels and direct on product digital printing. Expansion in capacities coupled with commercial and other offset printers, facing pressure from the online communication, also investing in label manufacturing is bringing about intense competition and pressure on profit margins. Label manufacturing also has another challenge which is becoming a matter of concern and that is the waste management. Adhesive coated waste matrix and the release liner that form more than 50% of the laminate is either going to landfills or being incinerated. Facing pollution controls and attending to environmental concerns the printers must now invest in measures that support sustainable and environmentally safe production processes. At such a time when input prices are going up putting margins under pressure, their woes keep on escalating, prompting them to get together as an industry and ponder over workable solutions to counter the concerns that are arising. The positive side is that in a large country India with a huge young population, the growth is evident and there will be enough for all label manufacturing technologies.

Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi November 2021

Printweek India's edited version of this article  is also available at; https://www.printweek.in/Features/label-printers%E2%80%99-woes,-price-increases-and-shortage-of-inputs-55396  

Creative Graphics; Service to flexographic printers at their doorstep!

Digital Flexo Plates

Flexographic printing has evolved from being a basic printing technology to a technically advanced process that can turn out quality prints comparable to those produced by the best of printing processes. The credit of this advancement goes to the development of prepress and printing plates. Prepress is the term that we refer to as the process to make ready the press, the design layout and transforming the design into data files that will eventually lead to producing the photopolymer plates to print the files on to paper or other substrates. A technically strong prepress ensures success in producing the right kind of printing. Deepanshu Goel, an Alumnus of New Delhi’s prestigious Hindu College from where he completed his B.Sc. Electronics in 1994, joined his parental business of manufacturing communication cables that was started by his father 35 years ago. Having been a topper in studies, he was not comfortable in the cables business and wished to do something different and more to do with evolving technologies. In 1998, a friend who was having a stack type flexo press suggested that he start flexo plate making business. Even though he had no knowledge of flexography yet, Deepanshu quit the cable manufacturing business in 2001, to start a plate making business.

At that time in 2001, when he did not even know what was CMYK which stands for "Cyan Magenta Yellow Black" the four basic colors used for printing color images, with a meager investment of 35000 Rupees, two employees and himself to help, he started his polymer plate making business Creative Graphics in East Delhi’s Vishwas Nagar. Those were difficult days since Deepanshu had no previous knowledge of the process. He acquired literature to understand the nuances of plate making and got hands on learning as they progressed.  Soon he had to relocate due to property sealing initiated by the Municipal Corporation Delhi, for non-permissible commercial activity in residential colonies. They moved their operations to a 1000 square foot factory in Noida’s Sector 10 from where they later shifted to Sector 9 in Noida. Mistakes happen when you are indulging in a technology that is alien to you, he bought machines that were not ideally suited for flexography and instead were meant for offset printing. Since the mindset was clearly focused on to flexographic printing plate technology and not Offset printing, the machines were sold off and new equipment that was suited for flexo plate making was acquired. In an effort to further educate himself and enhance his knowledge of plate making Deepanshu acquired literature published by BASF printing systems Germany which in 2005 became a part of the Flint group. Technology for the process at that time was not freely available so he was able to sharpen his skill by reading and practically implementing what he learnt from the literature. No doubt he made mistakes but those were taken in his stride to learn the intricacies’ of producing the perfect plates for flexographic printing.

Until 2008 Creative was making plates manually with help of small basic machines. Those were struggling days. Learning and finetuning as they went along, they associated with Flint who supported them in gaining required knowledge. In 2008 they moved to their own 3000 square foot premises in sector 8 Noida. The same year they bought the “nyloflex® Combi F III” from Flint, a Compact all-in-one system for back, main and post exposure, washout, drying and light finishing of flexo plates that would produce consistent quality due to process automation. Deepanshu Goel’s very first customer was a small flexo printer followed by printers having small stack type presses making flexible packaging and catering mostly to snack producers.  The actual break came when he started to supply metal backed UV coating plates for calendar and brochure manufacturing to Rajesh Batra lead Surya Print Process New Delhi, this was their take off point. Creative Graphics’ first Narrow Web flexo label customer was Vijay Jain led A & A labels New Delhi, who were at that time producing labels for Modicare. After this there was no looking back and it was just sharpening and perfecting skills. They also started to diversify into other segments like corrugated board, flexible packaging, stationery, etc.  besides expanding their reach to other printers in the fast-growing label industry. The flexo plate business is such that no single customer is very big, realizing this fact, for Deepanshu expanding customer base was an imperative for growing his business.

In 2008 yet again Creative Graphics acquired another 3000 square feet premises also in Noida’s Sector 8 taking their total shopfloor area to 6000 square feet. Once the economic slowdown of 2008-2010 ended, label business which was growing even during the recessionary period started looking up furthermore. In 2012-13 there was a rush of flexo press installations and it proved beneficial for the photopolymer plate business and helped Creative Graphics to grow. Added to this there was a substantial shift within the pharma, liquor, lube oil and other FMCG industries from wet glue to self-adhesive labels. Then in 2009 they bought and installed Kodak ThermoFlex Mid II Platesetter that helps turn prepress into a controlled, digital manufacturing process and enhance the quality of flexographic printing, reduce cycle times, and improve process control by eliminating variables in the plate manufacturing process. Having firmly established themselves in narrow web flexo label business, in 2012 they bought the Esko Spark digital imager followed by installing yet another processing line and a series of equipment from Dupont.

Once he was fully settled and operational in the flexographic plate making business, Deepanshu Goel decided to drive growth into his business, both organic and inorganic. He brought his total business under one company that is Creative Graphic Solutions India Private Limited. In 2017 he went on an expansion and acquisition spree by first starting operations in Mumbai then starting the Hyderabad unit that he has put under management of his brother and then acquiring the Nagesh Bakshi lead Chennai based Colordot. In 2018 he started his Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) unit bringing the total number of manufacturing units to five. Being in a service industry where time is the essence for a printer to cater to needs of large customers, he tries to be multilocational and near his label printer customers. In 2019 he moved his main unit in Noida to an 800 square meter plot in Noida’s sector 58 with 24000 square foot shopfloor. In first week of December 2020, he will be commencing production at his 6^th facility at Ahmedabad. Creative Graphics is presently working out of a total 50,000 square feet shop floor area across its five units in India employing 280 people. While in this pandemic year the growth has been flat yet in preceding times, they have continuously registered 15-20% annual growth. Since as mentioned earlier in this article that a large and ever-increasing customer base is an imperative in driving this business of photo polymer plates to higher levels, Creative Graphics has done quite well. Total number of customers has reached between 700-800 out of which 250-300 are from the narrow web labels industry which is the biggest segment of their business.

Deepanshu Goel’s wife Sarika is a home maker, his elder son Tanul is a budding cricketer studying in class 12 and the younger son Utsav is in class 6., both are studying at Pathways School. When asked whether his sons will join his business Deepanshu is clear in his mind and says, “I cannot say, they will decide for themselves as I did for myself. Times are such that decisions must emanate out of interest and passion to achieve success”.

Looking at future Creative is trying build capabilities to project themselves as solution providers. While upgrading themselves with timely investment in technology to enhance their capabilities, they are also trying support growth of flexo label industry by providing sponsorship to industry related knowledge delivering events. When asked how he sees himself in 5 years, he says “we strive to double our turnover in maybe 2 to 3 years with both organic and inorganic growth”.  On the evolution of different print technologies entering the label industry, he is not worried and insists that all will grow. Market share may get divided but by the natural growth in demand, volumes will still grow and there will be enough business for all.  In fact, he is confident that flexo is evolving as a substitute for other printing technologies. He does get a little pensive when we talk of sustainability and environmental concerns as most plates after being used up either go to landfills or are incinerated. For this he feels the larger producers of plate material who develop the chemistries are the right people to address this problem. 

Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi November 2020

Printing magazines are permitted to reproduce this article only by giving credit to the author and mentioning the blog address http://harveersahni.blogspot.com

Covid-19 impacts global print events industry adversely!

Covid-19 or Corona virus that has struck populations in countries across the globe creating a scare that has impacted adversely most affluent economies in the world. Governments are taking very strong measures to curb the proliferation as also find remedies for curing and containing this virus which is already declared a pandemic. Increasing numbers of affected people and deaths have created an alarming situation whereby vast geographical areas are being cordoned off, schools are shut, travel has become restricted, congregation of people is being restricted and businesses are suffering. The global printing industry at large is also facing the brunt of the impact. Important printing events where major buying decisions are taken and seminars that enhance knowledge besides providing networking opportunities have been postponed. Millions have been invested in planning the event by the event organisers, exhibitors and the visitors. Some of the important events that have taken responsible decisions to postpone in view of public safety concerns are as below.

Sri Lanka Print 2020 Colombo

FINAT Technical Seminar Barcelona

Labelexpo SEA Bangkok

LMAI Digital Label printing event Mumbai

PackPlus South 2020 Hyderabad India

Interpack Dusseldorf Germany

Drupa Dusseldorf Germany

FESPA Brazil 2020 Sao Paolo

Fespa Global Print Expo 2020 Madrid

FINAT European Label Forum 2020, Rome is under consideration

The label industry has been greatly impacted by the spreading virus. China and Italy are two major producers and suppliers of label manufacturing equipment, both countries have been hit badly. Covid-19 originated in China and Italy became one of the largest sufferers of this spreading pandemic with tremors of this being felt by label printers across the globe. Even though China has indicated containment of the virus at their end yet since the virus has spread to other countries, governments around the world continue to make travel advisories and entry restrictions to contain the spread in their respective countries. These travel restrictions or self-control in avoiding travel has greatly impacted the events business. With news of Covid-19 spreading to Spain; FINAT, the European association for the self-adhesive label industry postponed their FINAT Technical Seminar Barcelona. According to Chris Ellison, President of FINAT “Apart from the public health risk, the virus is now also spilling over into the real economy, and members of the label industry are taking measures to contain the risk for their staff’s well-being and their business’ continuity. In some cases, more far-reaching measures are taken than those recommended or enforced by local governments and public health institutes.” He further adds, “We are also reviewing the scenarios for the European Label Forum in Rome next June”.

Tarsus which was looking forward to a successful second Labelexpo southeast Asia at Bangkok has also announced its postponement. According to Lisa Milburn, managing director of Labelexpo Global Series, “We have taken the difficult decision to postpone Labelexpo Southeast Asia 2020 in May due to coronavirus/COVID-19. This is an unprecedented situation and given the vast amount of preparation that goes into our shows, not a decision we have taken lightly. However, the health and safety of our exhibitors, visitors and staff is our top priority, and working on the advice of our local partners and BITEC, we feel the best course of action is to postpone the show until September.” 

Drupa is the world’s leading trade fair for printing technologies. The last Drupa saw 1828 exhibitors from 54 countries, 260,165 visitors from 183 countries with the largest group from outside Germany coming from India totaling at 5% of the total visitors.  Until a few days back the Drupa website stated that the event will be held on the stipulated dates and that the organisers were taking adequate steps to screen the visitors as also to sanitize the venue for safety of all. Then on 13^th of March 2020 came the press release from Messe Dusseldorf stating that both Drupa and Interpack are postponed. 

A resilient Indian label industry has had its own share of voes over the past few years. Every time it is faced with a challenging situation it recovers to face yet another tough situation. First came the demonetization, hardly had the effect of that had worn off came the implication of GST. The industry took its time to reconcile and adjust itself on to a growth path but as 2019 was coming to an end the country was facing an economic slowdown stemming the rate of growth. The resilience of this industry segment still makes it go on, sometimes rapidly and other down at a slower pace. Now the Corona virus has brought with it a new kind of situation whereby travel is curtailed, and expansions have gone on hold. With the Indian label industry starting its move in to digital label printing in line with trends in the western world, India’s label association LMAI had planned its 2^nd event, “"DIGITAL PRINTING IN LABELS - THE WAY FORWARD" to be held in the evening of March 16th, 2020 at Hotel ITC Maratha Mumbai. The interest in the event got a huge response and was fully sold out two weeks in advance. As the situation of Corona Virus became alarming the LMAI management decided to postpone the event. Amit Sheth founder member of LMAI requesting postponement had said, “The way it is seen it is better to postpone the event. I think this is a National concern!” Commenting on the cancellation Kuldip Goel President LMAI said, “It is so unfortunate that immense effort had gone in preparation but for a humanitarian cause, it was needed to take precaution.!”

While the corona virus goes on unabated it is hoped that the containment happens soon bringing relief to the vast humanity that has got affected. While efforts go on by health authorities globally to find a vaccine, yet it is prudent for all to practice safety as suggested by bonafide governments and certified health authorities.

TLWritten by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Ltd. New Delhi India March 2020

LMAI Conference Kochi- knowledge, bonding and celebrations par excellence!

LMAI Board of directors

The 3-day LMAI label conference from 25th-27^th July 2019 was an event that was efficiently organized and delivered the promise of comradeship, entertainment and knowledge sharing. From the time of landing at Kochi to the time of departures on 28^th, it was all done with clockwork precision. It was a gigantic task of hosting over 550-600 delegates from all over India and various parts of the world attending this biennial event. They were put up in 317 rooms spread across 3 hotels The Bolgatty Grand Hyatt, The Marriot and The Taj. The event was held at Grand Hyatt, perched on 26 acres of plush green land on the serene Bolgatty Island, Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty is a waterfront urban resort overlooking the backwaters of Vembanad Lake.

Registration

After a smooth check-in and registrations, the delegates reassembled for start of conference. 

Lighting of lamp

It all started with traditional lighting of the lamp.

Welcome address by Kuldeep Goel President LMAI followed next.

Pankaj Bhardwaj Senior Director and General Manager Avery Dennison delivered the thought-provoking keynote address, setting the tone of the conference. Pankaj, while referring to the growing Indian market mentioned, “Diminishing divide between urban-rural population in India and an aspiring middle class means a growing demand of consumer products and also label”.

Due to a delayed flight, special guest Lisa Milburn Managing Director Labelexpo Group UK could not reach in time to deliver her address and in her absence, Pradeep Saroha country manager Labelexpo spoke to update the audience about the forthcoming Labelexpo Europe in Brussels, it being the 40^th anniversary of Labelexpo additional features included will be on sustainability, flexible packaging, digital printing and a host of other technologies.

Manish Desai Conference chairman spoke on the flow of events at the conference.

Shahidi Ainain

Shahidi Ainain Director SIES School of packaging who was moderator for the event gave the guidelines to be followed while making presentations and advised speakers on the need for time management.

The audience dispersed to re-assemble again later for welcome dinner with Thallaavia theme.

L to R: Ajay Mehta, Amit Sheth, Dinesh Mahajan, Raveendran, Harveer Sahni
Pankaj Bhardway-Avery, Kuldip Goel, Rajesh Nema, Sandeep Zaveri,
Vivek Kapoor, Ramesh Deshpande and Amar Chhajed

The conference being held in Kerala, it was an imperative to give it a local theme on the very first evening. All the Board of Directors of LMAI and Committee members dressed up in the local Malayali traditional dress, giving the evening a local celebratory touch. After felicitation of sponsors by committee members and their walk on the ramp there was Carnatic band playing, networking and dinner.

A surprise announcement was made for bestowing upon Amit Sheth of Label Planet and Intergraphic a lifetime award for contribution to the Indian Label Industry! After an emotional thank you speech, Amit walked the ramp with wife Rupa and their two daughters.

Next day after breakfast the audience reassembled for a busy day full of presentations by eminent sponsors and of very high standards. Past President Vivek Kapoor’s welcome address was followed by presentation by Manoj KM and Parag Bagade of Avery Dennison. While Manoj spoke on futuristic labelstock offerings, Parag spoke on the sustainability endeavours by Avery including collection and recycling of liner and self-adhesive waste.

Presentations made were as follows;

Avery Dennison India, Manoj KM and Parag Bagade, "Emerging Technology & Sustainability"

Pulisi Technology, Olive Liu, "Relationship between Technology and Life"

SMI Coated Products: Ajay Mehta and Rohit Mehta, "Technical Aspects of Applications of Label Stock Solutions"

Domino Printech India: David Ellen, "Advantages of HYBRID systems for labels and Packaging converters"

Vinsak India: Ranesh Bajaj, "Future Based Solutions"

Retail Solution and Technologies: T. R. Ravishankar, "Trends in Barcoding and Enterprise Mobility"

WEIGANG: Spring Xu, "Features enhancing to choose a good flexo machine"

Luster LightTech Group: Carrie Duan, "Mining your potential"

Nilpeter India: Manish Kapoor, Indian Label Indusrty - "The question of Scale and Scalability"

Insight Print Communications: Ajay Aggarwal, "Transition to Digital – Now and for Future"

Loparex: Manish Jain, "Future Sustainability"

Heidelberg and Gallus: Samir Patkar, "The Power of 2 – when conventional meets digital (hybrid technology)"

DuPont Advanced Printing: Shyamal Desai, "End user benefits"

Flint Group India: Shailesh Kumar Sharma, "New Gen Color Management"

HP India Sales: Appadurai, "Future is Now"

BOBST Firenze SRL: Ludovico Frati, "Connectivity"

Dragon Foils - Inter Films India: Raymond Lu, "Innovation and frontier of cold foil technology"

Two interactive and knowledge imparting Panel Discussions moderated by LMAI Board member Harveer Sahni of Weldon Celloplast were held after lunch. The first one was with printers where the topic was, “Creating the future vs embracing the future”. Panelists included Priyata Raghavan Sai Security Printers, Tejas Tanna of Printmann, Aaditya Kashyap of Marksfine, Mahendra Shah of Renault Paper, Shakti Jain of Great Eastern IDTech, Yudhviram Solanki of Sicon Packs and Anurag Mohan of Interact.

The second Panel discussion was with industry suppliers as panelists and titled, “Evolving trends in Labels manufacturing!” Eminent suppliers who were in the panel and gave thought provoking inputs included; Bhupinder Singh of Avery Dennison, Samir Patkar of Heidelberg Gallus, Appa Durai of HP, Ranesh Bajaj of Vinsak, Pawandeep Sahni of Omet, Manish Kapoor of Nilpeter, Prasenjit Das of Dupont and Sreenivas Goud of Flint. Time being a constraint the audience wished there was more time for these engaging discussions but since the schedule for the conference was so packed that there was no room for extension

Gaur Gopal Das

After the day’s presentations ended, there was an excellent talk sponsored by SMI and Pulisi on “Secrets of Impactful Success” by motivational Guru, Gaur Gopal Das which left a full packed hall of almost 600 people spellbound and in awe of what he delivered. 

The evening ended with yet another program sponsored by SMI and Pulisi, a musical performance by the visually impaired performers from the National Organisation of Disabled Artists. They sang old Bollywood songs so well that it left the audience full of awe and at that moment, compassion turned into joy, watching their special abilities to deliver so well to a large audience.

The label printing fraternity was up on its feet and on to the dance floor enjoying the renderings of this awesome group. Towards the end, the President LMAI on behalf of his team announced an additional sum of Rupees one lakh over and above what they had contracted for. This was followed by many in the audience committing large sums to support the social cause of encouraging disabled artists.

On the final day after a welcome address more presentations as mentioned below followed;

Apex Asia Pacific: Carl Brock, "Nothing short of revolution in flexographic printing"

Flexo Image Graphics: Ian Pollock, "Future of Printing Technology"

ROGLER International Sàrl: Hannes Rogler, "Future based solution"

Multitec Aids: Amit Ahuja, "Life beyond labels"

RotoMetrics: Cain Harper, "It's about more than the die"

Brotech Digital Graphics: Ramon Lee, "The future of hybrid printing and finishing"

GEW: Marcus Greenbrook, "Upcoming Technology"

Numex Blocks: Supachai Theravithayangkura, "Innovative Flexo Plate Solutions for Narrow Web Printing"

JN Arora presentation

A panel discussion jointly hosted and moderated by Ajay Mehta of SMI Coated papers and Amit Sheth of Pulisi Technology was conducted with young panelists that included Hemanth Paruchuri of Pragati Pack, Vidur Agarwal of Veekay Industries, Krishh Chhatwal of Kwality Offset, Denver Annunvciation of Janus International and Naveen Goel of Any Graphics titled “Young printer’s perception on future of label industry”

After the presentations concluded that afternoon it was time for a “Sadhya” typical of that area. Sadhya in local language Malyalam is a feast of Hindu origin and of importance to Hindu Malayalis, consisting of a variety of traditional vegetarian dishes usually served on a banana leaf in Kerala, India. Sadhya means banquet in Malayalam. It is a vegetarian feast prepared by both men and women, especially when needed in large quantities, for weddings and other special events. Sadhya is typically served as a traditional dish for Onam, the state festival of Kerala. It was a feast for the eyes to see, a diverse gathering Indians and foreigners relishing the local cuisine and eating with bare hands.

Past president Sandeep Zaveri updated the audience about the next program of Round tables, the interaction between sponsors and Printers.

“Round tables” program with all sponsors attending to a rotating groups of label printers was a much-appreciated part of this conference. 

It gave the sponsors opportunity to interact with existing and prospective customers. This program was highly appreciated by the sponsors.

The final evening sponsored by Avery Dennison was themed “The Great Gatsby!”. 

American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional towns of West Egg and East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. Fitzgerald—inspired by the parties he had attended while visiting Long Island's North Shore—began planning the novel in 1923, desiring to produce, in his words, "something new—something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.” In the novel the character Gatsby throws very extravagant, excessive parties with hundreds of guests, all for the purpose to attract a lady’s attention. The evening had the settings of the 1920s.

The evening began with a vote of thanks by LMAI treasurer Dinesh Mahajan of Prakash Labels.

It was then time for SMI Managing Director Ajay Mehta’s talented daughter Nikita Mehta who trained in the USA and is all set to go professional in the Indian singing arena, to go on stage and give a melodious heartwarming singing performance.

Ferdi Reusch of Gallus and wife

Vivek and Wife Shveta

Finally, while people enjoyed photo ops and networking over drinks.

Aakriti and Pradeep of Tarsus

Hemanth-Pragati Pack, Harveer Sahni-Weldon, K D Sahni-Weldon,
Andrea Calcagni-Omet,PaoloGrasso-Omet, Pawandeep Sahni-Omet

Bollywood singer Nakash Aziz took the stage while the LMAI conference delegates hit the dance floor and enjoyed the fun until late in the night.

Credit goes to Hemal Bhagwat who heads the event management company Mercury Integrated along with her husband and a dedicated team. “Thank you Hemal for making this a memorable event, memories will linger on till it is time to plan yet another better and bigger LMAI CONFERENCE”

Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi July 2019

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