Sustainability, an imperative: India’s label printers make efforts!

Sustainability is the ability to sustain, carry on or endure for longer periods of time. The definition of sustainability has undergone a sea change over the years. Gradually it conveyed the message referring to environmental protection, in real terms it means using natural resources such that their benefits are available to future generations. Moving on, it is the thought process evolved to give back to mother earth, whatever we draw from it. We need to replenish the depleting resources. There was a time when depending on forests for wood to be used in various applications was a way of life, whether it was for construction, furniture, firewood for cooking or heating, or then producing paper. It soon became evident that increasing deforestation was adversely impacting the environment. Reducing forest cover was impacting on animals’ natural habitat leading to human-animal conflict, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, disruption of water cycles, greenhouse gas emissions, changes in the climatic conditions. There arose an urgent and imperative need to curtail the depleting forest cover. In India, the government enacted various laws; the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act of 2016, along with initiatives like the National Afforestation Program and the Green India Mission. The paper industry rose to the need and started setting up and managing plantations, growing more wood than they consumed. They are now taking more steps using alternate materials like wood chips and veneer waste from the wood industry, agricultural byproducts like sugarcane bagasse, wheat or paddy straw for pulp production and increasing use of recycled paper fibers instead of virgin pulp.

No Label Look

The first half of the 20^th century was witnessing the invention of the wonder material, “Plastics”, the evolution of which is a magical story. It largely replaced glass as packaging material by virtue of which packages became lighter, breakages reduced, aesthetics of packages improved and the “use and throw” or disposable packaging became evident everywhere. Toward the early second half of 20^th century, plastics raw materials had started being manufactured and used in India, the usage spread fast across the country. By the 1970s plastic films gave rise to another rapidly evolving growing industry, “flexible packaging”! Households found it convenient and affordable to buy refill packs. Self-adhesive labels, which were predominantly made of paper until the 1990s, began transitioning to filmic materials. With the transparent films being adopted as face materials, started catching the fancy of the FMCG brands as they also provided the “No-Label Look” which aesthetically appealed to the consumers. While a large part of glass bottles transformed into usage of plastic bottles, the labels evolved from paper to filmic. With the evolution and  growing use, polyethylene as a versatile material, stretchable labels were produced to adorn squeezable shampoo and sauce bottles.

Single use plastics, banned!

It was also until the early 1970s that the primary packaging was labelled glass bottles, the secondary packaging was folding cartons and tertiary packaging was wooden cases. Thereafter kraft paper based corrugated cartons started replacing the heavy wooden cases. The steel strapping used to secure wooden cases was done away with. Glued flaps and remoistenable paper tapes were used to secure the corrugated board cartons, reinforced with plastic strapping. When plastic films evolved in the 1970s, self-adhesive BOPP tapes started being manufactured in India. These BOPP tapes replaced the paper tapes, and their usage grew rapidly across the country. It was a century of plastics! Plastics became a gigantic industry impacting all segments of industry from packaging, to automotive, electronics, sanitary hardware, engineering, hand tools and almost all segments of industry and society. By the 1980s, plastic was recognized as a potential environmental hazard, due to its non-biodegradability. Over the years this problem has escalated with several tons of plastic scrap dumped in oceans, landfills and elsewhere. They break down into microscopic particles that affect the health of humans, marine environments, and wildlife. Governments around the world started to enact laws to reduce the usage of plastics in day-to-day applications. In 2002, Bangladesh was the first country to ban single-use plastic bags and promote the use of jute or cloth bags in an effort protect the environment that was getting polluted due to rampant dumping of plastic bags and packaging. In July 2022 Government of India under their Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, banned the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of identified single-use plastic items.

Non-renewable energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas are used to make plastics, contributing to CO2 emissions and climate change. To reduce the impact and aid sustainability, Indian government started to promote the renewable energy sources like solar power, replacing fuel run passenger vehicle with electric vehicles, encourage and drive in programs leading to afforestation, preservation of water resources like rivers and water bodies, etc. These endeavors have led to the adoption of the principal of  four Rs of sustainability which are Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recover leading to minimizing waste and resource consumption, promoting environmental responsibility, and fostering a circular economy. 

Reduce: It is making efforts to minimize waste and using less materials to arrive at the final product. Examples of industry’s efforts include; In 2022 liquor major Pernod-Ricard decided to do away with the secondary packs, the monocartons. This resulted in reduction of  7310 tons of carbon emissions every year while saving 2.5 lakh trees and reducing the waste going to landfills by 18745 tons. Diageo, another leading beverage brand, followed suit.

Reuse: We remember that in old times we used to have soft drink and beer bottles that were reused, though that concept has not re-emerged to the complexities involved in collection and cleaning, but several companies promote containers that find use after consumption of contents, reusable shopping bags are being preferred, and clothes also find usage after repurposing.

Recycle: This is a very important part of sustainability. It involves sorting to separate used material going waste and reprocessing to create usable material. Materials such as paper, plastic, glass and metal can be reprocessed or recycled to produce usable products.

Recover: This involves generating new products or energy from waste.

For self-adhesive labels industry it is a complex exercise as the label laminate is a multilayered multiple product construction. The label laminate consists of face material, PS adhesive, silicone and release base liner material. 50% of the laminate goes as waste before its application on the end product. The trimming from the slitting of laminate jumbo rolls, the waste matrix after die-cutting with pressure sensitive adhesive on it and the total release liner is waste that is either incinerated or goes to landfills. The label industry recognizes this and realizes that it is time that they make efforts towards  sustainable manufacturing. The author has requested many label printers on their endeavors toward this cause. Some who in numbers are a minor part of the total industry have responded about their efforts. A much larger effort is needed for the sake of this noble cause of sustainability, environmental protection and saving the depleting of natural resources for future generations. The responses are listed below.

Kuldip Goel of ANY Graphics NOIDA is the past President of Label manufacturers association of India and his initiative on sustainability are an inspiration for others in the industry. While building their new factory they have followed IGBC(Indian Green Building Council) Guidelines to create a certified green factory. Their application for Platinum Green Lead Rating which signifies a commitment to achieving the highest level of sustainability and environmental responsibility in building design and construction, is under process. Kuldip adds, “We have unwavering dedication to Innovations, and Sustainability. We have invested in impeccable infrastructure, cutting-edge technology, and a team of skilled professionals to create an environmentally friendly green infrastructure. For using renewable energy, we installed solar panels to generate 700KVA power for our captive use. 50 KL STP (Sewerage treatment plant) and 5KL ETP (Effluent treatment plant) are in place. All lights in the building are LED - to save energy. Our generators are run with PNG (Piped Natural Gas) fuel. The factory rooftop and all sides are insulated to minimize heat transfer between outside and inside. In areas within factory that have higher levels of fumes while in production, TFA AIRCONDITIONING is installed, which means the system has sensor based “Treated Fresh Air” option. There is a centrally located courtyard that has forest inside and the oxygen generated therein is being used in production areas. More than 1000 oxygen emitting trees and plants have been planted. These are special plants and not fancy decorative ones. For facilitating movement of handicapped and physically disabled easy access is provided within the factory premises.”

Krish Chhatwal, Kwality offset New Delhi; We are investing in ecofriendly technologies such as digital printing and waterless printing, to reduce waste, energy consumption, emissions and optimizing our production processes to increase efficiency.

Anuj Bhargav, Kumar Labels Noida; We are now 100% on LED UV with more than 100 units installed under one roof, reducing our energy consumption substantially. We have invested in renewable energy resources; Solar Panel installation is underway. Adopting recyclability, rPET(Recycled PET) liner is commercialized and its usage is growing. rPET labels were commercialized past year and rPET labels on rPET liner have been recently launched. We are committed to remaining sustainable and keep adopting alternatives and available options. 

Rajesh Chadha Update Prints Gurgaon: We are continuously putting  emphasis on energy and waste reduction by investing in right equipment using efficient processes, taking up regular maintenance of machines for optimal performance, training staff toward sustainability. 

Priyank Vasa Unick Fix-a-form Ahmedabad:

We participate in the matrix recycling program run by Avery Dennison for matrix waste and release liner materials saving it from going to landfills, impacting environment. We are getting FSC certification leading to usage of sustainably manufactured paper. We are planning to install rooftop solar panels for captive generation of renewable energy. We offer our customers sustainable products to select from with the help of our label stock suppliers.

Manish Hansoti S.Kumar Multi Products Pvt.Ltd.: 

We reduced energy consumption by implementing energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems. A 300 KVA solar plant covers 30% of our electricity needs. We implement water-saving measures, including recycling water and using a reverse borewell. We partnered with Avery Dennison to recycle label stock waste and run recycling programs for paper, plastic, and other materials. Most of our mercury UV systems have been converted to LED UV to save energy. For packaging, we use paper-based gum tape instead of BOPP. We regularly apply lean manufacturing principles to reduce waste and improve efficiency.

Manoj Kochar Holoflex Kolkata: We conducted an audit of our electrical efficiency and brought about changes. As a result of this we saved about 15% energy consumption. We have invested in new energy efficient and automated machines to produce finished labels with highly reduced wastages.

Mahendra Shah Renault Paper Palghar: Our Investments in fully servo auto register press have enabled us to produce with less wastage and improved efficiency. We invested in a semi rotary press for short runs, new job proofing , base coats  and overprint varnishes for complex short runs without much wastage of material and energy. Having color matching systems offline to save press time and electricity as well. We try to use more recycled material or green material. Investment in an ink kitchen is in the process of cutting down on ink wastages. We send our waste matrix and trim waste etc. to certified recyclers.

Himanshu Kapur, JK Fine Print Mumbai: We have tied up with an NGO for recycling trims, waste matrix and other production label waste. All other waste material goes to a cement plant for generation of energy via a catalytic converter. Wastewater is treated completely before discharge. We promote wash off labels. We are in the process of converting UV drying to LED to conserve electricity.

All UV lamps are ethically disposed with mercury separated. We are planning to promote rPet as a liner to replace glassine liners.

B K Manjunath Global Printing and Packaging Bengaluru: One of our key sustainability initiatives is the installation of solar panels on our rooftop to harness renewable energy meeting 40% of our energy consumption. We invested in advanced waste management systems, including a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) with a combined capacity of 10 KLD (Kilo Liters per Day). This facility ensures that all wastewater generated during operations is treated and disposed in an environmentally responsible manner. We have a rainwater harvesting system with a capacity of 1 lakh liters, supporting water conservation. We are FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) Certified, enabling us to supply cartons, labels, and leaflets made from responsibly sourced materials. 

Rajeev Nair Stallion Systems, Kochi: In our endeavor to be a sustainable producer, we have switched over to LED to reduce power consumption. Investment is made in new faster converting equipment with increased width to produce bigger volumes efficiently with reduced wastages. We have initiated the usage of thinner liners to reduce material usage. We now source our requirement of thermal transfer ribbons from manufacturers who are fully compliant to European Standards despite the products being priced higher. We are in the process of getting our EPR registration completed. 

It is a good sign that our label converters have understood the imperative need for sustainability are taking measures to implement. Though these are initial endeavors and much more needs to be done . It is hoped that industry at large will recognize the need to leave behind a safer planet for the generations that follow. 

Written by Harveer Sahni, Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi April 2025

Environmentally conscious and sustainable in labels

Another day in life many years ago, we would love to light up a bonfire on a winter evening and sit around it warming ourselves and enjoying it. It was a common sight to see construction workers and other labourers huddled around a small fire they would light up by burning tree branches or dried leaves to warm themselves and ward off the cold. This incineration, which was a pleasurable exercise once, is looked at as non-acceptable now because it generates smoke and adds to the already high level of pollution in our cities. In the 1960s all our groceries were shopped wrapped in paper or carried in paper bags. In India we saw a lot of paper bags made even from old newspapers and old magazines adding an element of recyclability to the already used paper. 

In 1965 Swedish company Celloplast patented the single use poly bag to start an era of convenience in shopping with plastic bags. By late 1970s or early 1980s the polybag evolution had reached India and started to grow at a robust pace. It also became the preferred packaging material for a very diverse range of end products. Rapid developments were made to create multipolymer laminates to achieve better shelf life and barrier properties.   So much so that it became difficult to imagine a life without these plastic bags.

Mountain of garbage termed as landfil

Ironically by end of the last century the ill effects of plastic waste due to non-biodegradability became the most worrying factor for governments. The plastic bags littered around the globe remained plastic for years and would remain so for hundreds of years. Bangladesh became the first country in the world to implement a ban on thin plastic bags, after it was found they played a key role in clogging drainage systems during disastrous flooding. Other countries began to follow suit. Soon the awareness came about that plastic was not only clogging drains but also adding to soil quality erosion, affecting life of cattle who devoured these while grazing and endangered the sea with tons of plastic dumped in. The heightened awareness of all kinds of waste going to landfills; in fact, they are no more landfills but have become garbage mountains occupying expensive and already shrinking land space in cities and emitting poisonous gasses impacting environment and health of population. Climate control, banning single use plastics, finding alternative to multi-polymer plastic laminates due to these not being recycled, conserving resources, recycling, reusing, waste management, etc. became imperatives for all governments. Environmental protection and sustainability became the necessity and buzzword for a safe future of generations that follow us. Sustainability is explained as the avoidance of depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance, in other words replenishing the mother earth with the natural resources that we use for our benefits.

Kimoha Solar plant

The author while returning from Labelexpo Europe in Brussels in the end of September 2019, stopped over to visit Dubai based label printing company Kimoha. While excelling in the world of labels Kimoha leadership had done a lot of work including investing for environmental protection, waste management and sustainability, setting example for others in the label industry to follow suit. Being fully aware that advancements and enhancement approaches are needed for the economic development of the present without compromising the capacity of future generations, Kimoha has taken steps to be sustainable and take care of the environment and its social well-being. They successfully completed the Green Building Initiative and are the first printing company within GCC to have the Gold LEED certification from the US GBC for its manufacturing facility. Under the new green clean energy initiative, they have commissioned own Solar Plant with Installed capacity of 1.0143 MWp, generating 30% of their power requirement. Kimoha Solar Plant is one of the largest Solar plant in the manufacturing segment within JAFZA. All the mechanical material handling systems are battery operated to cut off use of fuel and its associated pollution.

Integrated Waste Management System

Kimoha sources material from FSC certified partners as a responsible management initiative in protecting forests, being in paper industry.  The entire facility light management system is based on Motion & Occupancy Sensors. Occupancy sensors increase lighting energy savings by 23 %, auto turning off or turning down for amount of time with no movement. Skylights are used as natural lights here at Kimoha warehouse, thus further adding to Energy Management initiatives. As a part of its water conservation initiative, waterless urinals are installed in the facility washrooms. One waterless urinal saves approximately 3,250 gallons of water a year. The Solar cleaning system is also of dry wash robotic system which aids this program. On its Carbon footprint initiative, Kimoha has installed a state of art Integrated Waste Management System for auto extracting and compacting its label design and trim waste. Most of the paper waste is bailed, to reduce size and skip loads and sent to recycling vendors for a circular economy. Right from inception Kimoha has always believed in human capital and thus refrained from using Solvent Inks.  Kimoha also has a Sedex Member Mark which is a testimony to their responsible and sustainable business practices.

Back home in India the author tried to touch base with label printers in India to understand if they too were investing to make their industry and products environmentally safe and sustainable. It was heartening to note that the process has begun but it is just the beginning. To have a large-scale impact down the line, it appears legislation will provide the necessary impetus required in this direction. Noida based Any Graphics lead by Kuldip Goel is building a new huge new certified green factory spread over 15500 square meters that will be ready to move into in 2020. Kuldip Goel says: ‘The green manufacturing unit will be our contribution towards being environment friendly and sustainable. The process began right from the time when we started building the plant. For instance, we cannot uproot any trees from the new land without having a plan to re-plant and nurture them and plant maximum number of local varieties.’ Complying to the Green factory requirements they are procuring maximum construction materials produced from within 500 kms of the construction site, using minimum 50 percent old material and furniture from previous factory, minimum usage of wood, covered car parking, usage of less water and big fume taps to save water, natural sunlight inside the factory, usage of light and insulating Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) panels in the building, amongst others. They also plan to install both sewage treatment plant (STP) as well as an effluent treatment plant (ETP) at the new facility. ‘With the STP, they will be able to re-use almost 50 percent of our water that would otherwise just go down the drains. With the consumption of almost 40,000 litres of water a day, this will be a huge saving. They are also installing state of the art 600-700 KW rooftop solar power units. This will reduce 5.5 to 7.5 MT of CO2 emissions annually, equivalent to planting about 35,000 trees. Goel further added, “We have even studied air direction at the new site to maximize the impact of air flow and sun for most efficient use of solar light and energy. There is a list of above 40 requirements listed by The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) that we must adhere to for our factory to be qualified as a green building and we are passionately working on each one of them”.

The author with Anuj Bhargava

Another Noida based Label Company Anuj Bhargava lead Kumar Labels who also produce labelstock for their captive consumption has put in place many processes in their production plan to make their contribution to environment and sustainability. They have shifted to 100% LED lighting in their factory. They plan to replace UV lams with LED UV lamps on all their presses by 2021, the process has begun. They have developed and commercialized SRTF (Single Release with Two Face stocks) which saves 50% release liner. Spreading the concept globally. Other endeavors include elimination of corrugated boxes and using multi-use plastic trays for dispatches within 200km distance which saved over 15 Tons of kraft each year. Selling labels on bagasse, mineral paper and recycled kraft label stocks (though to begin with the quantity is small). Work has started to use thinner liners. 70% of factory is on evaporative cooling instead of air conditioning, saving energy. No plastic bottles or cups are used for water or food, even during group dinners. Segregation of waste is done so that most unsupported material gets recycled. Employees are encouraged to shift closer to factory to avoid commute and save fuel. To set an example, owners have also moved closer to factory. Used UV lamps are disposed off through a recycler who removes the mercury.

The self-adhesive labels industry as it continues to grow, has been facing a gigantic task for disposal of side trim, waste matrix and liner waste. Almost 50% of the label material after conversion is waste and earlier converters were either sending the same to landfill or incinerating it. Both the actions are adversely impacting the environment and require urgent attention. Multinational labelstock manufacturers Avery Dennison has taken some pioneering initiatives towards this problem. The Company under their “Avery Dennison’s Recycling Services India program” has been concerned about the accumulation of waste and is on a mission to also reduce the amount of packaging materials used beside recycling and managing the waste generated. They in association with leading brand owners started collecting the label liner generated as part of the labelling operations centrally before passing these on to the appointed recycler for this Liner Recycling Program. The collected liner waste is then reprocessed, and this recycled pulp is used to create new materials such as cardboard, paper, and tissue. On another front they are interacting with converters to co-process or reprocess their leftover label matrix instead of landfilling it at no cost, given that the paper and film materials are sorted at the converter end. The matrix that is made from either paper or film material is usually discarded. As per Avery’s initiative through co-processing, paper matrix can be re-used as fuel in industrial processes. Through reprocessing, filmic matrix is converted to polymer pellets used to manufacture products like boards and benches.

Himanshu Kapoor of Mumbai based J K Fine Prints lists the processes that they have implemented in this direction: The have started liner recycling program with Avery Dennison, all plastic ink bottles are sent to MPCB(Maharashtra Pollution Control Board) waste handling unit, used UV lamps go to hazardous waste collection unit, they pack finished rolls in paper and not in plastic, all waste is shredded and sent to cement kilns to use as an energy source to replace natural gas, cores/boxes/packing materials etc. are reused to reduce carbon footprint, waste water from water purification system is reused for cleaning purposes, all ACs/fans/lights are switched off when not in use, Auto stop taps installed resulted in reduced usage of water and collection of used liner from end users and sending to recycle in pipeline.

Sustainability is important for many reasons including environmental Quality in order to have healthy communities and a safer planet for generations that follow, we need clean air, natural resources, and a nontoxic environment. Government has now realized the huge negative impact of this and due to their efforts to spread awareness, words like sustainability, environmental protection, circular economy, recyclability, reusable, etc. have become frequently debated topics in industrial conferences and CSR initiatives of leading industrial houses. Even the common people now are impacted and concerned about this problem. Label industry has been implementing many such initiatives to reduce the impact of waste. For a lot many years we have seen press manufacturers making the label presses with short web pass to reduce setup waste, usage of thinner filmic liners have been implemented at many places to reduce the tonnage of liner going into manufacture of self-adhesive labelstock and more so because the filmic liner can be recycled to produce other plastic products. In recent times we also witness the development of linerless labels to entirely do away with the liner by use of a filmic liner that is peeled off in the manufacturing process and laminated on top of the same label. One solution cannot cater to all labelling needs, every process has its advantages and disadvantages, but the heartening fact is that now the industry is taking steps both to reduce wastage and eliminate it from going to landfills and incineration. The social responsibility of the labels industry is evident!

Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi December 2019

History of Indian Label Industry part 2D

This is the final part of History of Indian Label Industry” up to third quarter of 2019 written by the author. The history would look incomplete if mention was not made of those who started their label journey from scratch or very humble beginning and then rose to a pinnacle achieving success not only in the home market but also internationally and continue with their journey to greater heights.

Ole Rugland MD-Skanem who acquired Interlabels with
Gautam and Bhavin Kothari promoters of Interlabels

From the start of new Millennium in 2000 until the time of writing this part of the history, enormous changes have come about in the Indian label industry. Label printing companies who started from virtually nothing, grew and spread to multiple locations. Some of the bigger ones on the way, decided to sell out to or partnered with foreign companies who were entering the Indian market for label manufacturing. Label, being a miniscule portion of the total packaging cost of a product, does not deliver very large turnover as compared to that of package printing or flexible packaging companies. However, it does generate relatively higher profit margins than that of high turnover package printing industry. For this reason, we did not see any label companies in the earlier part of the new Millennium who could reach a coveted target of Rupees 100 Crore or a Billion Rupees as annual sales turnover. However, some packaging companies or multinationals who invested in labels as well, were above this figure. It was incredible that at least three Indian startup companies who started their business purely with stickers that later evolved as labels, grew to cross Rupees 100 Crores turnover or more in 2018-2019.

Manish Desai-Mudrika Labels

First among them is Manish Desai led Mudrika Labels. Sandeep Desai working at a greeting cards company started trading in stickers that he outsourced in 1975 and a year later he started screen printing them at home. His 10-year-old cousin, Manish was always excited to see stickers being made. In 1977 Sandeep moved his sticker manufacturing to a 500 square feet factory in Malad. In 1985 they started outsourcing pregummed sheets and get them printed on offset to finally finish them to be stickers at their factory. They grew and expanded into packaging, making cartons and corrugated boxes. Sandeep eventually moved into packaging and the young Manish who had labels in his heart, in 1996 expanded into labels with Kopack label presses and later many Gallus presses. He further expanded integrating backwards to produce self-adhesive labelstocks and collaborated with a Korean company to produce heat transfer labels. By 2019 Mudrika labels were working out of 100,000 square foot shop floor, 550 workforce to achieve a Rupees 160 Crore (1.60 Billion Rupees) annual sales turnover.

Kuldip and Naveen Goel of Any Graphics
With their awards

The second person to achieve this Kuldip Goel of Any Graphics started from very humble beginnings. At a tender age of 14 years he started making stickers by screen printing manually himself to earn some money while still in school. He did this in his one room home. Despite extreme hardships in life he remained honest and focussed on providing the best in quality and indulging in innovation. In 1989 he started his maiden venture Stickline in Noida. By start of the millennium Kuldip’s company Any Graphics was recognised as one of the best label manufacturers in quality and one that never cut prices to get orders but prove their innovative capabilities to convince customers. From mere screen printing he went on to add dome labels and letterpress printed labels in his portfolio. In 2009 he moved to a 100,000 square feet clean sanitized dust free factory adding, Heidelberg Offset Presses, Orthotecs and a fully loaded Omet flexo and screen combination label press. He also became one of the largest makers of rigid boxes. By 2019 he had crossed the Rupees 100Crore sale without compromising profit margins and becoming one of the most awarded companies in India. In 2019 he commenced construction of a certified green factory spread over 15000 square meter plot size and 250,000 square feet shop floor.

T

Sanjeev Sondhi of Zircon with Pawandeep Sahni-Omet with
OMET Varyflex press 

he third printer who grew in similar pattern, a stout follower of Lord Shiva who greets people with, “Jai Bhole Ki” (Victory to Lord Shiva, lovingly referred to as Bhole) Sanjeev Sondhi, started his career as a medical Representative and carried on in the profession switching jobs until 2005 when he decided to trade in Barcode labels, printers and accessories. He was looking for bigger things in life! Two years later in 2006 he launched his maiden start-up venture Zircon Technologies India Limited with a Mark Andy 2200 Label press in Dehradun. Being a salesperson himself he drove the company in fast mode expansion and in a few years added multiple Mark Andy and Omet label presses which include the high-end combination Omet Vary flex 430mm. In just 15 years of inception Zircon crossed the Rupees 100 Crore reaching 120 Crores annual turnover mark coming purely from label manufacturing, “a record in itself”! While other successful label companies at this stage would look for foreign suitors, Zircon in 2019 was the first totally indigenous label manufacturing company planning to go public to raise capital for future expansion. They got the approval from SEBI in November 2018 with plans to open a 90-100 Crores public issue. Waiting for an appropriate time to launch their public issue Zircon continued to grow and invest in expansion. Sanjeev hoped to invest 80 percent of the receipts in expanding labels business while the rest in other allied products. Sanjeev was even looking at inorganic growth by indulging in Mergers and Acquisitions. With 3 factories in Dehradun and one in Chennai Sanjeev Sondhi aims to grow multi-fold with blessing of Bhole (Lord Shiva).

Having achieved such success through sheer commitment and hard work it is natural for companies like the three mentioned above to look at other avenues in synergy with their business to achieve a faster growth. All the above, while they continued to be proud of their beginnings and aware of the evolution, started to study or invest in new technologies.  We had reached a time when multiple labelling technologies surfaced, and future had many surprises in store. From the primitive times when a label had to be either tied to a product or riveted on to it or affixed with a wheat flour paste, we believed to have reached a pinnacle when self-adhesive or pressure sensitive adhesive labels that were developed and grew to establish as a predominant labelling technology. Initially it was the manually applied wet glue adhesive paper labels that were in use. With development of starch and dextrin-based glues and availability of automatic wet glue labelling equipment, wet glue labels became the most widely used method of labelling. Most of the organised industry employed packaging lines incorporating wet glue labelling. It was used in all segments like pharmaceuticals, Liquor, cosmetics, oils and in fact most of the products that were packed in glass bottles or metal cans. When plastics, mostly HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), started to evolve as a preferred packaging material for glass bottles and cans due to ease of manufacturing, reduction of freight due to lighter weight per can, possibility to produce in different shapes and colours, labelling with starch or dextrin based adhesive became a challenge. This change was taking place during the 1970s and 1980s. Since HDPE is a low energy material, paper labels with water-based adhesives made from various gums, starches and dextrins would not anchor on to the containers or would fall off in transit. Labels with pressure sensitive adhesives or stickers had already started being made initially by screen printing methods and later by offset printing, these labels would stick well just by application of pressure. They did not have to wait for drying and could be packed instantly after labelling while the wet glue labels would have adhesives oozing out on the sides and attracting dust and shifting in packing process, adversely affecting the aesthetics. More and more companies were opting for these stickers.

Heat Transfer Labels for pens

Towards the end of last century self-adhesive labels evolved in roll form and the automatic labelling equipment for pressure sensitive adhesive labels became available. Many companies did resist shifting from wet glue to self-adhesive due to the high cost of label applicator replacements. This is a big challenge that the likes of printers mentioned above faced and yet with their firm resolve they became a part of the change that brought them success. As the retail became dependent on customer choices and there was need for better decorated labels, self-adhesive labels became the preferred labelling technology and grew at fast pace. In between screen printing on containers also started but a slow process that did not have much decoration as compared to printed labels, it did not grow as a preferred process. Self-adhesive grew so much that it became almost 50% of all the labels produced in India. As we entered the new millennium and started looking also into future the thought process for future of labels is becoming extremely diverse and evolving in different tangents. Shrink sleeves came in to take away a big market share given the possibility of 360 degrees visibility. Wrap around labels also became extensively used in the beverage segment. Heat transfer label technology that had originated as Therimage Label technology developed by Dennison Manufacturing company in USA in the 1990s did not flourish then because Avery, who acquired Dennison, did not promote it as it was not in sync with their core business of self-adhesive labels. Once the patents expired, the Heat Transfer Labels or HTL reappeared in the second decade of new millennium and started growing. In mould labels is another labelling technology that had found usage in many segments and started registering growth in large volume usage. At this time, I try and link the changes to the three above who understood the need to expand the scope of labels in their business portfolio. While Mudrika as I mentioned invested in heat transfer labels, Any Graphics into innovative labels and rigid boxes and Zircon also started moving into brand security and innovative packaging including spiral wound containers.

Matrix waste in addition to liner waste

Around this time environmental concerns also impacted the self-adhesive label industry as almost 50% of the converted product is waste going to landfills. Much work was being done on this to reduce the liner tonnage by opting for thinner filmic liners that can be recycled and by developing linerless labels. Digital printing on to the products is another technology that may replace some of the usage of self-adhesive labels. All said and done, the sheer market size in India and the inertia, brings business to all label technologies and for this reason the self-adhesive labels market continued to grow at double digit rates. The industry will keep evolving both in terms of quality and innovation as also taking environmental concerns in its stride.

In over a year, as another decade ends, the author will update the history on the outcome of such endeavours. The total History as chronicled by the author until now is now available on this blog on links as below:

Part 1: https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/2010/08/history-of-indian-label-industry.html

Part 2A: https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/2019/07/history-of-indian-label-industry-part-2a.html

Part 2B: https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/search?q=History+part+2b

Part 2C: https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/2019/08/history-of-indian-label-industry-part-2c.html

Part 2 D: Above

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

Note: No one is authorised to reproduce, copy or reprint this article until permitted by the author in writing.