OPA organises North Zone printers meet in Ludhiana

The president and delegates from different printers associations were felicitated during the meeting. Mementoes were presented to the presidents of Master Printers Association, Ambala; Amritsar Offset Printers Association; Offset Printers’ Association, Amritsar; Himachal Printers Association, Baddi; Printing Press Association, Bagha Purana; The Association of Printers, Batala; Bathinda Printers Association; Dhuri Printers Association; Hoshiarpur Printers’ Welfare Association; Jagraon Printers’ Association; Jalandhar Printers Association; Jammu Printers Association; Mandi Gobindgarh Printers Association; The Offset Printers Association, Mansa; Moga Printers Association; Pathankot Printers Association; Patiala Printers Association; Printers and Packers Association, Phagwara; Offset Printers Association, Samana and Kashmir Printers’ Association, Srinagar.

Welcoming the printer delegates from about 24 cities of North India, Parveen Aggarwal, president, OPA, said, “It is my privilege to welcome the printers from different parts of this region. We are here to discuss our problems especially in the light of latest innovations and stiff and increasing global competition.”

Dr Anjan Kumar Baral, former chairman, department of printing at GJ University of Science & Technology, Hisar, delivered a technical seminar on ‘Maximizing profit within available resources. Dr Baral elaborated on how to make more money from the same installed capacity, only by using some tricks and value additions. In the competitive age either you have to produce at most economical rates or do some unique or different which other are not doing, it is the only mantra not only of success but of survival in future, he added.

In his presentation Saikat Basu, GM Sales, JK Papers elaborated how they have developed some paper for replacing the plastic straw. Paper is the back bone of quality production and JK is producing different varieties of paper to suite the desire of your customer, he said.

A new decade is coming, both literally and figuratively. Over the past few years, the print industry has changed, and new challenges are on the way. To get a sense for what is coming, a panel discussion was organised during the meet. The eminent panel included Dr Rajendrakumar Anayath, vice-chancellor, DBC University of Science & Technology; Prof Kamal Chopra; and Dr Anjan Kumar Baral, former chairman, GJ University of Science & Technology. Chopra started by elaborating on the inputs he got from the printers while visiting the country.

Prof Anayath said, “It is now the question of survival. If we will not change the style of working, producing at most economical rates or produce differently it may be hard to survive. The panel discussion was the climax and the gathering of more than 280 printers taking full interest with pin drop silence.”

He added that perceiving printing just as a traditional technology to ‘add ink on paper’ days are over. Today, a mere ‘four colour’ job has become an old ‘black and white’ job. Printers want to add more value in their products. Modern press designs and workflow systems transformed the traditional skill-based print industry into a knowledge-based, application knowhow-driven industry.

Dr Anayath added that today, no printer ‘prints’ but ‘manufactures’, thus he doesn’t look for a printer who is with decades of experience but look for one who has a thorough knowledge base, processes and willingness to adapt change.

The event ended with the vote of thanks presented by Ashwani Gupta. He appreciated the gesture of OPA for inviting the printers to participate in the meet. He especially appreciated the participation of team from Srinagar.

OPA calendar released

The OPA released the 14th edition of its annual calendar recently. Speaking on the occasion, Manoj Kalra, project coordinator, said, “Started in 2007, OPA calendar is now an annual feature. The OPA Calendar is so popular that people wait for it. It is not merely a date calendar but has information about exhibitions and events relating to printing & packaging industry, besides the routine holidays to be observed by the printing sector.”

The calendar is so informative that it is now popularly known as the ‘Printers’ Jantri’. Copies of the Calendar are distributed throughout India.

The 14th edition of the OPA calendar was released in the presence of national print leaders from All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) jointly by Romi Malhotra, senior vice-president, OPA; Manoj Kalra, joint secretary OPA (who was also coordinator of this project); Ashwani Gupta, treasurer, AIFMP; Parveen Gupta, president, OPA; Prof Kamal Chopra, general secretary OPA; Adarsh Pal Gupta, vice-president (North), AIFMP; Kushal Kumar Jain, senior vice-president, OPA and Hans Raj Chopra, finance secretary, OPA.

OPA celebrates Republic Day

The 71st Republic Day was celebrated by Offset Printers’ Association (OPA) at its office at South City, Ludhiana. National flag was unfurled by Parveen Aggarwal, president, OPA and after reciting national anthem sweets were distributed.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Kamal Chopra, general secretary, OPA, said, “It is the time to remember our heroes who were instrumental for the independence of our nation. It is the time to pay homage to all known and unknown stalwarts who sacrificed their life so that we can live peacefully in an independent country.

On the occasion, as a mark of respect and for the dedications of Parveen Aggarwal towards development of printing and packaging industry a special symbol of prosperity was presented to him by the members of the association.

OPA’s Print Chetna project bearing fruit

OPA launched the project Print Chetna in 2012, not only for creating social awareness but as a concept to spread the knowledge about printing amongst the youth. Under this project, regular visits are arranged to rural schools, meeting students and making them aware of the printing world and job opportunities it offers, thereby, giving them an exposure and motivate them to pursue printing, as a career. Such steps are necessary when the industry is facing acute shortage of skilled and semi-skilled labour, on the one hand, and igniting in the younger generation a spark to explore printing, as a profession, on the other hand.

Persistent efforts and lobbying enabled OPA to get chapters on printing included in the secondary school text books of the state education board. Later ‘Print Chetna’ was successful in getting chapters on printing included in the secondary school books (CBSE Class X, Social Sciences, in ‘Print Culture and Media World’), pleading the authorities for introducing printing technology and allied subjects in school curricula. This subject is now taught across the country in schools, thereby, giving yet another opening and opportunity to pursue a career.

Now the latest one, recently, MBA students from Punjab College of Technical Education, Ludhiana, approached OPA for providing information on how to start a printing unit. The college has given them the project ‘The legal and technical formalities required for opening a printing press/packaging company’ to these four students as part of their regular studies.  Thus, the message of ‘Print Chetna’ has started reaching to the professional colleges and MBA students.