Trigon Digipack; trailblazers in digital, growing in fast forward mode.

Anil Namugade

In December 2018, I wrote a story on Anil Namugade and his company Trigon Digipack https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/search?q=trigon+Digital. As circumstances evolved, from becoming employee to enterpreneur in 2007, Anil initiated his maiden startup Trigon in 2008, as a proofing and mockups service provider. Commitment and hard work led him to success, and in 2015 he bought his first HP Indigo label press and in the three years thereon he was already recognized as a trailblazer in digital label and packaging. Unstoppable thereafter, he kept leading Trigon to more success with 3 wide web and one narrow web HP Indigo

Anil with his HP25K

The Pandemic had put on hold many businesses but for Trigon it amounted to keep providing service to their customers. During the pandemic in 2020 they decided to install a wider 760mm HP Indigo 25K first in Asia to get into short runs of flexible packaging and laminates which was already being done on their smaller width 330mm HP Indigo 6900. They saw a huge opportunity in short and medium quantity runs for startups and there were few suppliers focused on catering to that demand in a proper way. Anil saw that it was time to expand to cater to this opportunity. That is why they took a bold step to acquire the first HP Indigo 25K in India together with total inhouse finishing and converting equipment for lamination, production of pouches and shrink sleeves, in fact the complete set up to provide labels and flexible packaging.

Customer growth and retention is the way of life at Trigon as they are a one stop solution provider. By catering to more than 400 startups, SMEs and their existing FMCGs brand owner customers, Trigon has registered unprecedented growth in digital printing and converting. With the startups community growing so fast, Anil experienced business growth, so decided to expand yet again. In 2024 they moved to a new additional 50000 square feet facility in Vasai near Mumbai  and invested in another digital press installed at new factory, an HP Indigo 200K to increase capacity in flexible laminates. The converting capability was also enhanced by installing a 3D flat bottom pouching machine to cater to a premium market segment and be the only company to offer such pouches with digital printing. At the new facility, they also installed a whole line of equipment to produce rigid boxes and canisters, to cater to the demand of their existing customers. All this was done to become a ONE STOP packaging solution provider and be at the buyer’s doorstep when a solution is needed.

Anil says, “we always research the needs of customers in various segments and share knowledge, such that their confidence in our capabilities grows continuously and they believe in our vision of offering the best futuristic technology, remaining ahead of competition.” Trigon has attained the position as a market leader in digitally printed and converted packaging. Their customers are convinced of them providing packaging that will enhance their brand visibility and demand. Trigon is experiencing a rise in domestic demand but enquiries from international customers are adding exports to their focus.

Anil does not subscribe to the thought process of the label and package converting fraternity that digital is only for short runs, so how can one grow with startups? He explains that most startups initiate their work with multiple SKUs and once they order for example, 500 for each variant, it becomes a substantial order to start with. When there is an order to produce 5 or 6 variants, for them it is just one single job. They do not have to make any cylinders or plates or job changes on the go. Digital technology has a huge advantage with possibility to print on demand. For example, a dry fruit company cannot operate with only one product but maintaining an overly large and varied inventory can be inefficient. In addition to selling on an e-commerce platform, timing is a crucial factor for achieving success. Trigon has understood that the name of the game is quick production, good quality and on time delivery. For catering to such needs of their customer base we have invested to setup the whole manufacturing ecosystem in our factories.

Responding to question on how they reach out to new customers or vice versa, Anil expressed that despite them having a technically strong client servicing team, it is mostly word of mouth publicity. They give respect and importance to all customers irrespective of their size. Reference from existing satisfied customers has built up credibility and brand equity which has provided inertia for their growth. Trigon’s team is very active on social media and digital marketing, which generates substantial enquiries.

The general perception in label and flexible packaging industry is that digital is expensive and this fact is a big deterrent which does not justify the huge investment. “It is a misconception that digital is expensive, mentions Anil.” He further adds, “If a customer has 10 designs for making 2000 pieces each. How can you justify and cost of plates, cylinder, set up time, press time in changeovers and the time in producing 10 different sets of small quantities? In digital as I mentioned earlier it is just one online job of 20,000 pieces, which justifies the cost eliminating the plate and cylinder cost plus the time which is very important”. Moreover, at Trigon they just do not only print a design that a customer brings in, but they also study their job its marketability and add their own expertise in colour management and embellishing capabilities to enhance the packaging for the customer. Since prepress is the heart and soul of any print, they have invested in high-end sophisticated equipment to ensure excellence.

Trigon operates out of a total shopfloor area close to 100,000 square feet in both units at Goregaon and Vasai, put together with 150 workforce, four digital presses one 330 mm wide while the rest are 760 mm wide running at speeds of 30 to 35 meters per minute. Post press is the backbone of any digital printing business and for that reason they have invested in a wide array of digital finishing, embellishing and converting machines which also justify their need for a large shop floor. Anil says if not really the largest, then at least they are definitely amongst the top five companies worldwide in terms of the number of clicks made on their HP Indigo presses. Whether they will diversify to other printing technologies? Anil says that they have grown in digital and there is so much more happening, so there is not much need to change courses as yet, but then one never  knows, They are driven by customer demand, and what course is to be traversed hereon is difficult to mention at this stage. One cannot really comment on the efficacy, advantage or disadvantage of various technologies without really indulging. All processes have their plus and cons. Trigon is driven by their acquired customer profile which is limited to small, medium and customized runs  and are comfortably growing in what is suiting them best.

Talking of growth of digital printing and web converting, Anil feels that with a total of less than 10 machine of wide web digital printing now in India, the potential is huge. In his estimate this segment is registering a CAGR of 15-20%. There seems to be no reason for volumes to slow down as the country moves ahead. A young population’s demand for new products is providing the emergence of new brands offering frequent changes to attract the new generation, providing reason for digital printing and converting to make it convenient to respond to such changes. Regarding comparison of converting costs, there is no way that in volume converting digital will match the cost in volume converting as compared flexo or roto gravure. Marginal reduction of prices of consumables in digital may happen as volumes and competition escalate. As for different digital technologies, most have fairly decent quality and reasonable speed but for consistently producing high quality at good speed, Digital is the preferred technology for Trigon at the moment.

They already export 15-20% of their production but now with expanded infrastructure, they plan to enhance exports yet remaining focused to Indian demand without any compromise. India is one of the fastest growing economies and it is the market that has shown immense resilience. Trigon’s investment in the first HP presses 18k, 25k and 200K were all the first ones in India. They have been trendsetters becoming trailblazers. and have taken risks in investing which with hard work are paying off well. Presently operating at 80% capacity, it may as well be time for expansion yet again. Anil Namugade sums it up,  “Partnership with brands  and their needs make us to grow every time a requirement emanates; it is an opportunity for us, and we respond with full fervor.”

Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Ltd. New Delhi July 2025

Trigon Digipack Pvt Ltd, successful in digital printing of labels

On the 22^nd of November 2018 at the LMAI Avery Dennison Awards night, held on the side lines of Labelexpo India, the winner announced in digital printing category-Wine and Spirits was Trigon Digipack Pvt Ltd, Mumbai. Just over a week later, on the 29^th of November 2018, Trigon was declared the Printweek India “Digital Printer of the year”. This was Trigon’s fourth award; the first two were Printweek “Pre-press Company of the year” awards won in 2015 and 2017. It is an incredible performance by a company promoted by first generation entrepreneurs just 10 years ago, with no previous experience in running a manufacturing company. They moved into roll form digital printing of labels merely 3 years ago. They have invested in a digital printing press at a time when we are witnessing the evolutionary shift of label production in India from conventional processes to digital. Digital printing is a segment of label industry that leading label manufacturing companies have been extremely hesitant to invest in, due to high cost of equipment and consumables. Anil  Namugade the co-founder, along with partner Milind Deshpande, have promoted Trigon Digital and successfully led it on its digital label journey.

After graduating in Economics from Mumbai University Anil Namugade, also a Printing Technologist from the Government Institute of Printing Technology, took up jobs as a scanner operator from 1994 to 1997 in few of the leading pre-press houses in Mumbai. Here he acquired immense knowledge in repro-colour separation and prepress. In 1998 he joined Heidelberg as a software specialist and continued to work there until 2003. Anil joined Kodak as packaging and proofing specialist in 2003. It was a purely technical job where he developed his passion for proofing, learnt the nuances of colour management and the imperative need of good prepress for excellence in final print. During his stint with Kodak he was also handling technical and sales support which helped him gain experience in selling as well. Unfortunately, by 2007 Kodak was seeing a decline in business and as restructuring process was being put in place, he had to exit Kodak. Suddenly that one day he found himself jobless, away from a stable job in an MNC(Multi National Company). He firmly believed in and followed a simple mantra of success and excellence; “Look at problem as an opportunity and learn to grow and excel”. Drawing inspiration from this mantra, he along with partner Milind Deshpande who is also a printing technologist, set up their maiden start-up venture Trigon Digital Solutions. 

From past experience and knowledge he had acquired from working in the previous jobs, Anil knew that customers needing packaging, wanted to see how their product would look, before they opted for actual printing and production. He saw the opportunity in this need, so Trigon was set up as a proofing and mock-up producing company. His knowledge of prepress and colour management helped him to achieve his goal. Earlier it used to be the creative agencies that visualised and created a format for packaging, Trigon creating an actual marketable mock up for the companies was a new and welcome development for brand owner companies. The first equipment they invested in was Kodak Approval NX that printed in sheet format and started to take up proofing and mock-up creation for customers. Finding success in their endeavors he soon realised that being closer to the customer is an imperative.  In 2010 Trigon opened a facility in Bangalore and followed it up by setting up a unit in Delhi in 2012. In 2015 they went international by setting shop in Dubai and later an office in Singapore. All the units except the office in Singapore are equipped with Kodak Approval NX.

In 2015 they saw the opportunity in customers demanding label mock-ups in roll form, so in their Mumbai facility they invested in an Epson Surepress to produce samples including Flexibles, Laminates and Labels by digital printing in roll form. Moreover, the production on Kodak was turning out to be expensive and limited to sheet format. Soon their customers upgraded from demanding just mock-ups to ordering short runs for their specialised marketing needs.  They also started to see business emanating from the shrink sleeve segment as also a growing demand for other roll form variants. The slow speed of Surepress could not cater to the demand they were getting and also there was a limitation that it could not produce shrink sleeves. At this time in 2017 Trigon decided to take a major step of investing in an HP Indigo 6000 digital press and enhance their capability to produce a larger range of products. A year down the line in 2018 Trigon yet again upgraded their HP Indigo 6000 to HP Indigo 6900 which had enhanced features. On this HP 6900 they could do inline primer coating saving them the time and valuable space, print metallic inks and florescent inks. With a widened customer base and enhanced capabilities they now cater to applications in FMCG, Liquor, Personalised labels, Variable Data labels, QR codes and a lot more. They now produce and sell a range besides labels, offering flexible packaging, complex laminates, lamitubes and shrink sleeves. Anil Namugade firmly believes that digital is the future of printing and innovative packaging. Dwelling on the general apprehension of label printers regarding ROI (Return on Investment), he feels that it becomes better from an expanded vision of providing specialised services to the customer. These services that Trigon offers include brand management, database management including validation, preparing the mock-ups for test marketing before indulging extensively, offering creativity to customers for their evaluation and aiding decision making, personalisation or customisation and incorporating variable information on each label or package at short notice. Their experience in pre-press has helped them greatly and he believes that by adding full post press setup Trigon has become a one stop shop for the needs of brand owners. The additional cost of digitally converted products needs to spell value for customers to justify the cost. Anil asserts that the vision for success of flexo graphic printing and Digital printing should be looked at separately and not as a comparison. 

Trigon Digipack plans to remain focused in digital Printing. With already a facility in Dubai and an office in Singapore they are a global entity and they will be expanding their global reach by establishing a setup in U.K. in 2019-2020 as they already have customers in 18 countries including UK and Europe. They have endeavored to remain logistically close to customers to be able to provide service at their doorstep. Surprisingly due to their business model of being linked to packaging development, marketing and brand management, their revenues do not come from purchase budgets of customers but come from their marketing budgets. Trigon making optimum use of space operates out of around 1800 square feet shop floor area of all facilities put together. Headquartered in Andheri East, Mumbai they have a workforce of 102 persons. At Trigon every new creation is a challenge but developing it is not. Anil proudly says innovation, technology, extensive knowledge of prepress, and having “People with Passion” in their team has always been a winning force for Trigon. They are committed to improve upon what the customer wants or brings to them for creation of a label or package that will spell success for their products and brand. 

Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi December 2018

Digital Label Printing in India; Growth trends and experiences

Label printing technologies have undergone a sea change after the onset of 21st century. In the beginning of new millennium, the flatbed and letterpress processes made way for the narrow web flexographic printing which eventually grew to become the most preferred print technology for labels. With technological advances in prepress and plate-making process, Flexo print quality became closer to offset. This was followed up by hybrid printing using flexo, screen, gravure and later also offset printing in a single pass. We have been seeing the convenience of desktop office printers, inkjet or laser but they remained that way for long and were not used for high quality labels in roll form. It is only in the second decade of the 21st century that digital label printing began evolving. By middle of the decade, it was growing substantially in the western part of the World, yet but in India it did not find many takers.

In May 2015, I reviewed and wrote about the indulgence of Indian label industry in Digital printing equipment, I interviewed leading label printing companies of that time in an article titled; “Label Printing in India, digital has to wait”, available at the link;   https://harveersahni.blogspot.com/2015/05/label-printing- in-india-digital-has-to.html. 

In the summation I wrote; I am quite amazed by the similarity of responses from most of the persons who responded. All of them had expressed that the cost per print in digital does not prove it to be a viable proposition, considering the prohibitive cost of the equipment and that of ink and consumables. The undercurrent in all expressions is that digital printing as things stand now will not be the mainstream technology. It will co-exist with existing technologies and will be used for specific demanding needs. As for the time frame before digital printing becomes largely visible and used in label printing in India, they said it varies between 3 to 5 years. So, for the time being, “It has to wait a while!”

Two years hence, on May 7th 2017 I did yet another survey and wrote my article titled, “Digital label printing in India, the journey has begun!” Self Adhesive Labels Industry In India and The World: Digital label printing in India, the journey has begun! (harveersahni.blogspot.com). My estimation was as follows: By latest count, the population of leading brands of digital label presses in India had reached twenty-two in number. This was besides the low value small printers that some companies may have acquired. Now this was a fairly impressive figure when just until over a year back the industry felt that digital has to wait. Estimating the size of the digital label market, I calculated the total consumption in the industry for digitally printed labels to over 52 million square meters per annum, which translated into to almost 5% of the total self-adhesive labels in India to be printed digitally. This surely indicated that for digital label printing in India, the journey had begun!

European Label Industry Association Finat had revealed in a statement that European digital label press installations overtook conventional press sales for the first time in 2017. The journey that began, has now progressed to be on a growth path. In fact, repetitive purchase confirms that the technology is not only here to stay but also attain steady growth.

In the present private survey or research in respect of digital printing of labels in roll form, done personally by me, I have arrived at interesting results. The data being presented here is entirely my own estimation and I have not depended on any already published authenticated information. I have interacted with the following renowned brands to arrive at figures that I present in this article;

Domino

Durst

Epson

HP

Konica Minolta

Monotech

Screen

Xeikon

The number of digital roll label presses of leading brands in India has expanded from the 22 in 2017 to 51 in 2022 registering a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of 18% as regards the number of press installations. Out of these HP Indigo accounts for 16 presses  which include two 25K which find usage both for labels as well as for flexible packaging and one HP Indigo for Lamitubes, Konica Minolta 10, Monotech 8, Domino 3, Xeikon 2, Durst 4, Screen 2, Epson was 5 machines as assessment done in 2017 since they did not respond I believe there have been no additions thereafter. Two water-based  inkjet presses from Astronova are also in the tally of 51 presses. If we consider just the numbers, Hp has 32% share of the installations, Konica Minolta 20%, Monotech 16%, Durst 8%, Domino 6%, Epson, Screen and Astronova account for the balance . However, this is not a real indicator of the quantum of investment by label printing companies in digital printing technology. I have done the calculation on the approximate costs of these equipment, the total investment in digital roll label equipment is more than Rupees 215 Crores or about 28 million US Dollars.  HP being the most expensive equipment of the lot, accounts for a whopping 66% of the investment made in value  while all others remain less than 10%.

Considering the geographical spread in number of installations; 36% of the established brand installations are in the West of India, 36% in the North and 11% in South. However, in terms of value,   the West leads the way, followed by South. As for label materials consumed, in 2017 I had calculated that 52 million square meters of labelstock was converted by digital printing. The consumption with increased investments and faster speeds appears to have more than doubled to over 109 million square meters registering a CAGR of 16%. As indicated by the people I interviewed there are many more installations being planned that will ensure continuous growth in this segment of label printing and converting.

Digital printing means web to print; it is an exciting process as compared to the analogue or conventional printing, yet it brings with it, challenges that translate it into a not so simple process. A technology that was initially being promoted as a complementary technology to conventional printing has reached a stage of being referred to as a competitive one. With presses going wider and running at higher speed and consumables getting affordable, it will not be long before it becomes a contemporary mainstream technology . However, those who have had the success and have understood the nuances of digital printing, are looking at expanding further in this segment of printing. I sought comments from many who have invested into digital capabilities and their responses make interesting reading.

Denver Annunciation, Janus International:  Janus International are pioneers, they were the very first label manufacturing company who invested in an HP Indigo press at their Thane facility. The brothers Denver and Janus are very enterprising. They have offset, flexo and Digital printing capabilities, all of which are doing well for them. They are a company who are growing beyond the inflationary growth. Being  manufacturer of beer and liquor labels, they wanted to do something different, and they took the challenge of investing in digital label printing. Since HP was the only established supplier of digital presses at that time with a proper setup, it was natural for them to install an HP Indigo press. Denver says, “Digital helped us cater to smaller businesses and widen our customer base while our other capabilities drove in the volumes.”  According to him digital does provide opportunities for creativity but it is not a standalone equipment that will deliver. You need different prepress and post-press finishing setup. It also involves additional resources that add up to per unit cost like requirement of same amount of manpower for packing, delivering and invoicing smaller shipments. Despite this adds Denver, “it gives a fair return and we will definitely look at expanding our digital capabilities“. Referring to their experience with digital Denver says, “Initial challenges were there, it has been a long journey, but surely enjoyable”.

Anil Namugade, Trigon Digital: Trigon Digital has been in the news in recent years for their multiple investments and expansion in the state of art digital equipment. Anil Namugade Managing Director of Trigon while answering why he opted for digital says, “Good label finishing and converting for me is like oxygen to heart, blood and brain for creativity.” Trigon has invested in multiple digital equipment and the biggest of them an HP Indigo 25K, his second HP Indigo after the first 6900. He asserts that digital has helped them grow, as since their inception 14 years ago they have been using only digital technology. Their business has been growing. Anil expresses, “digital is a mindset, we need to have a bit different approach in understanding the customer’s requirements and our capabilities to serve them.”

Honey Vazirani, Leap Digiprint:  Honey and Vikram, both directors of Leap Digiprints, spent 25 years in labels and packaging industry working for Paper products Ltd. later renamed Huhtamaki PPL Limited after acquisition by multinational Huhtamaki Oyj, so packaging is what they knew best. Wanting to be more futuristic, ecofriendly and wishing to initiate a small boutique business of their own, they made the choice to setup their maiden startup venture in Noida NCR Delhi. Selecting a strong digital print partner that time, HP was the best choice. The technology has helped them grow, giving the desired results from producing variable and short run of labels. Says Honey,” The turnaround times, print runs of 100-200 meters, variable printing…all the capabilities that attracted us to digital are still clear advantages.” Further she  adds, “Overall it has been good experience. However, it is not as trouble free as one would expect it to be. Also, the costs and pricing need to be handled effectively but unfortunately the downstream conversion for labels (post digital printing) is not as well developed as it should be to support short runs”

Harish Gupta, Sai Digistik: Harish Gupta led Sai Digistik has invested in two digital label presses HP with liquid toner & Konica Minolta with dry toner technology. According to Harish, the dry toner technology has limitations of only CMYK printing, no white and printing on limited substrates, so we have both liquid toner and dry toner printing capabilities to have the best of both. Cost of digital printing is high, it was very good working with digital during pandemic phase-1 when manpower was short, and requirements were instant. Short runs are easy to handle, and we got focused to help startups for their smaller needs with our motto “Startup for Startups.” With no need of plates and make ready etc., the turnaround time is less, yet it is not a simple technology, one needs to study thoroughly before investing. Cost of producing labels is higher as compared to flexo, but it is felt that, as we grow in volumes the costs of consumables will reduce. However, as we see the trends globally, with manpower becoming a challenge and reducing length of jobs, digital is bound to grow and find preference.

Surendra Shriyan, Maa Flexi-label: An offset printer who realised that volume-based production has decreased with more variables and short runs, in the given scenario digital is the future for good printability and  fast turnaround time. They opted for HP Indigo label press. Being new entrants, they are exploring exciting possibilities but feel pricing in digital is a challenge. After observing the changes in the western world regarding the digital label printing, even though they are convinced that it is futuristic, yet they say, “It is not all, a bed of roses.”

Nilesh Jain, Mahavir Impex: They opted for a Durst UV Inkjet label press for its print quality output without applying any primer on most substrates. Nilesh expresses that digital has helped to achieve desired results within minimal time and reduction of undesired wastages. They feel it will become the predominant technology , but the results from different digital print technologies (dry toner/liquid toner /UV Inkjet etc.) would not give a uniform and similar print result on various substrates. The advantage of digital for them is outstanding quality achieved at good speed and reduction of waste with no investment on plates and other expenses.

Manish Hansoti, S Kumar: Narrating his experience with digital label printing, Manish Hansoti says; “Looking to cater to demand of small quantity, variable printing multiple S K U’s and label on demand, we have invested in a Screen digital label printing press. We had assessed all technologies and found Screen ink jet printing technology was a better fit for us as we wanted to print labels with less ink coverage for specific customers. The cost of the ink in this process was found lower as against dry toner FASMA/click charges. We consider digital technology as part of customer service because in small volume there is no chance of making topline but can get customer satisfaction. The technology will grow if the capex goes down and ink price or click charges drop, then there will be big changes in global printing scenario. Short run or variable printing is profitable but there is limitation in getting many such orders, so we always have spare capacity. We do not see another investment in digital until costs of inputs come down.”

Priyank Vasa from Unick Fix A Form: “The Domino N610i digital label press was acquired by us in 2018. Wanting to free up our flexo capacity to improve turnaround time and job throughput, we started exploring options. We narrowed down to the Domino N610i because of Domino's strong presence in India and its service network.

Evaluating its media compatibility, color matching, accuracy of pantone reproduction, ink cost analysis, it looked the right press for us. The press was commissioned in the beginning of 2020. Dealing with a modern technology we knew there lies a learning curve ahead. In the present-day scenario, we have been able to take up new business both for flexo and digital. Digital has added to our sales where we are able to completely leverage the opportunity cost which could not happen in flexo. We do not limit use of the digital press to small runs. It has also opened new avenues for us in respect to products like IML, Shrink sleeves, Cartons and VDP.”

Vinod Vazhapuli, Skanem India: Having run a very innovative campaign for the FMCG company Reckitt Benckiser(RB) Vinod Vazhapuli Managing Director of Skanem India is very optimistic about including more digital printing capabilities in his company’s expansion plans. Skanem  had been a part of Dettol’s unique packaging commemorating Covid warriors. Please see my blogpost titled Dettol Labels used to salute "Covid Warriors"! Skanem India, a part of Norway headquartered Skanem AS was one of the two approved vendor of RB who were roped in to execute this special campaign of Dettol customized labels. The deliberations for this campaign started when Reckitt approached Skanem in second week of May 2021 and discussed the possibility of creating one hundred variably printed unique labels. Having an HP Indigo press, the capability was there. They were given an order for two million labels. It was a gigantic task as there were one hundred artworks. RB wanted the right pantone shade of Dettol and the job had to be done in speed, so Skanem requested RB to give them the artworks also in CMYK because to match the green Dettol shade as close as possible to the required shade it is necessary to have the prepress right. The approvals were done online and the material delivered in time. That is the power of digital, the rest is history.

Rajeev Chhatwal, Kwality Offset: Rajeev sums it all well, he says he sees a good future for digital label converting. Printers need to look at this technology positively and separately without drawing a comparison with analogue or current capabilities even though it is a business that needs to run parallel with your current profile of business. One of the biggest advantage of digital is that it helps one to increase customer base. A larger customer base, if attended well, ensures continued growth. To find success in digital arena one needs to accept that there is a definite learning phase and one must provide for contingencies while planning and be prepared for them. Rajeev says, “It is a business that has a bright future in which the fittest, the one with guts and endurance, will survive and excel. It is a business that provides impetus to your present business and when you do short, variable and personalized run for a customer, you have a happy customer! In a young Indian population becoming spenders, ecommerce is looking up, does it not ensure positive growth of Digital which permits variable and personalized printing? Are we not looking at the numbers of startups on rise? My next investment, maybe a year down the line,  will be digital, I invested in a Xeikon with dry toner technology, which I am happy with, I will probably go for a UV Inkjet next to expand my capabilities”.

The author is grateful to the people without whose help and inputs this compilation may not have been possible. Those whose support I got, include Umesh Kagade and entire team of HP, Shayak Mukherjee of Konica Minolta, Ajay RaoRane of Domino Printech, Vikram Saxena of Xeikon, Jimit Mittal of Monotech and Ajay Agarwal of Insight Print Communication for Screen and Venkatesh Selveraj of Printronics for Durst.

Note: Printing magazine and portals can republish the above ONLY after giving credit to the author Harveer Sahni and mentioning blog https://harveersahni.blogspot.com 

Written by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited New Delhi India April 2022

Digital label printing in India, the journey has begun!

In May 2015 I wrote on this blog that the verdict from the Indian label industry, after I had interviewed some leading printers was, “Digital for labels has to wait”. In the concluding part of my article I mentioned, “The time frame before digital printing becomes largely visible and used in label printing in India varies between three to five years.” 

Amar Chhajed Huhtamaki PPL-Webtech

I must here appreciate and commend Amar Chhajed of Huhtamaki PPL-Webtech labels for his foresight when he said digital printing in labels will become evident in 2-3 years. He said this in May 2015 and two years hence as we enter the third year since then, we note that some big time investments are being made in digital printing in labels. Digital printing in labels has been registering continuous growth in Europe, followed by that in North America. 

I and Adrian Tippenhauer MD Rako Etiketten

In my reporting on the last DRUPA, I had quoted Adrian Tippenhauer Managing Director of Rako Etiketten Germany. According to him the last 36 label presses acquired by them out of the 100s that they have, are all digital presses. If the Labelexpo-Europe and Drupa are indicators, the visitors to these shows can very well imagine the way forward. Digital was the most predominantly exhibited technology at these events. HP became the biggest exhibitor at DRUPA with an almost 5000 square meter hall showcasing their digital offerings.  Other leading suppliers of digital label presses were all there. The writing was on the wall that it would not be long before the trend starts to flourish in India. Indian label printers have been very cautious towards investing in digital printing of labels. However as they say, you cannot stop an idea whose time has come. When I researched and estimated the size of digital label market in India, the findings became interesting. By latest count the population of leading brands of digital label presses in India has reached 22 in number. This is besides the small low value small printers that some companies may have acquired. Now this is a fairly impressive figure when just a year back we had the industry largely saying that digital has to wait. Estimating the size of the digital label market I made some assumptions. The average width of the press was taken as 330mm (as widths vary from 250 mm to 370 mm), printing speed is calculated at an average of 30 running meters per minute, because it varies from 20 to 50 meters per minute for different brands and working hours assumed at 12 hours per day. This amounts to a total consumption in the industry for digitally printed labels of over 52 million square meters in a year. Self adhesive labels form the largest part of total label market which include besides self adhesive labels, shrink sleeves, wrap around labels, wet glue labels, in mould labels, etc. In October 2016 I had estimated the total Indian label industry size (mostly conventional) at almost 900 million square meters per annum. This translates into to almost 5.8 % of the total self adhesive labels in India to be printed digitally; conservatively we can assume the figure to be 5%.  This surely indicates that for digital label printing in India, the journey has begun!

In the last edition of LMAI’s magazine Label Legacy, Gautham Pai Managing Director of Manipal

Gautham Pai MD Manipal Technologies

Technologies said, ““Digital printing offers a plethora of opportunities for both the suppliers and the clients. With the Indian market trending towards more customized products, a large number of brands, shorter TATs (Turnaround Times) and more ecologically sustainable solutions, Digital printing would prove to be one hallmark technology for the Label Industry.” Manipal Technologies has an HP Indigo installed at its subsidiary UPSL in Chennai. The deterrent so far for the label industry to invest in digital printing equipment has been the high cost of consumables and the end price to consumer including margins, as not being acceptable. However the evolving retail selling patterns and consumables becoming more affordable, the technology is now more relevant. As run lengths continue to shrink, short runs being more in demand and customization or personalization needs become imperative to modern day marketing; it is driving printers to think digital. Added requirement for variable data on the labels that helps companies to track and trace their products, brings about the compelling need to complement their analogue printing with digital printing. In words of Narendra Paruchuri of Pragati Pack Hyderabad who have installed an HP Indigo 6800, ““One of things that all of us must understand and appreciate is that both digital and analog will co-exist. Digital’s greatest advantage is variable data printing. Short runs are cheaper. So the areas are clearly ear marked.” Digital printing of packaging and labels is growing at an enormous pace in the western world. We have touched the tip of an iceberg; it will not be long before the trend picks up in India as well.

Sai Packaging team announcing Epson Surepress Purchase

The ease of use and consistency in print reached in this technology makes it interesting for established printers to indulge. Pravin Savla of J P Printers Mumbai is ecstatic that he invested in an Epson Surepress. He says, “I can print good quality on a variety of substrates using the computer to print capability. He caters to his customer base that demands short runs with so many design changes and is still profitable.” He further adds that reduced need of manpower helps him manage well with ample time on his hands. He says conventional flexo and letterpress technologies are time consuming and have hidden costs. Yet another Epson customer Arvind Shekhar of Sai Packaging Bangalore says, “We have had good experience for short run jobs defined as less than 20,000 labels for bigger size and 50,000 for smaller pharma labels and we have never had colour consistency issues with Epson.” Adding to the views of Narendra Paruchuri Arvind states, “I don’t' see it as a standalone ROI (Return on investment). When you see increased sales on Flexo plus plate costs saved; then the ROI makes sense.” Denver Annunciation from Janus International, perhaps the very first label printer to install an HP Indigo label press says, “Yes the technology has evolved a lot and we are seeing the crossover point shift higher”. While those in the process of acquiring capabilities in digital remain tightlipped yet others like Raveendran of Sel Jegat Sivakasi, Manjunath of Global Printing Bangalore and Rajesh Nema of Pragati Graphics Indore say they are studying the technology and will invest in the near future.

While calculating the number of digital label presses in India, I have not taken into account the

presses that are not operational. Out of the 22 presses, the bulk of the share goes to HP Indigos that employ Electro Photography as a process to print, which is similar to offset printing using liquid inks. Electro photography and inkjet are both improving in quality and speed, there evolution and further developments are challenging the dominance of other printing processes like offset, wide-web flexo and gravure. 13 presses amounting to 59% of the total digital label press installations in India are HP indigo. This is followed by 5 Epson SurePress L-4033AW that use water-based inks and is suitable for segments such as pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food, amongst others. The press uses a seventh white ink to print the transparent no-label look, as well as metallic labels. The opaque white printing on materials, such as clear film and metallic substrates, has the flexibility of printing white first or last. Epson accounts for almost 23 % of the installations, 2 Xeikons account for 9% and one each of durst and EFI accounting for 4.5% each.

59% of all the digital label presses installed are in the West Zone, 23% in South and 18% in North. Out of the 13 HP Indigo label presses working in India, 7 are installed in the west zone. One at Janus International Mumbai, 1 at Diadeis Alia (formerly Alia Creative Consultants) Mumbai, 2 at Astron Packaging Ahmedabad, 1 at Essel Propack Mumbai, 1 at Trigon Digital Mumbai and 1 at Skanem Interlabels Mumbai. 4 HP Indigos are installed in South, 1 at Pragati Pack Hyderabad, 1 at Pravesha Hyderabad, 1 with Huhtamaki (SGRE Labels) Bangalore and 1 at Manipal Technologies (UPSL) Chennai. 2 of the HP Indigos are in North. 1 at Hora Art Centre NOIDA and 1 at Moser Baer Noida (working). Out of the 5 Epson Surepress preses 1 is installed in South at Sai Packaging Bangalore others are in the West zone with 1 at Trigon Digital Mumbai, 1 at J P Printers Mumbai, 1 at Syndicate Printers Goa and 1 with a customer in Pune. Of the 2 Xeikons installed, one is with Huhtamaki PPL-Webtech Labels in Mumbai and one with Kwality Offset New Delhi. The only EFI Jetrion installed is with Reynders in Chopanki in the North and the only Durst is with Astron Packaging in Ahmedabad. I have accounted for most of the recognized brands of digital label presses in India.

Hemanth Paruchuri of Pragati Pack

On further evaluation of data compiled by me 9 out of 20 i.e. 45% of the companies who indulged in digital label printing are either multinationals or corporates and the rest 11 are family owned businesses. It is interesting to note that at least 7 out of the 11 companies have the young generation-next either in command or actively involved in day to day affairs of the company. So evidently it is the corporate mindset or the youth that is driving the march into digital printing of labels in India.

Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi India May 2017 email: harveersahni@gmail.com