Ranesh Bajaj: The year has been a game-changer in terms of our systems and processes

2020 in review
Being in the packaging space, we have been lucky that our business had very little impact in 2020, except for supply chain and travel issues, which caused some inconvenience. Our narrow-web flexo market has clocked good sales and installations. Our label finishing lines, inkjet systems and web embellishment solutions have grown in number of installs as well as in market share.

We just completed a large install of eight USAR systems, including die-cutting, monochrome inkjet systems and 100% defect-detection systems for a project in India. Our markets in the Middle East and Africa have grown as well.

Doing business during pandemic
The year has been a game-changer in terms of our systems and processes. This actually has ensured that teams are becoming more efficient and relaxed. We do hope that this will leave an irreversible change in the business ecosystem.

Plans for 2021
Our plans for the next 12 months is to ramp up our local component of manufacturing label finishing systems, install more  inline wider-web flexo presses and ramp up our security solutions. The new products to look for include our digital embellishment solutions from ABG and Vinsak, non-stop unwinders and rewinders for label presses, wide-web inline flex press L2 from Lombardi and Vinsak and the Pantec Hologram stamping solution for mid-web.

Most popular kit in 2020
The Lombardi Synchroline presses and the Vinsak USAR have been our most popular machines as more and more companies are getting into the label and flexible packaging business.

Investment stories
We have to mention the Lombardi Synchroline installation at Sreevan The Offset Printer in Hyderabad. This is a unique case of a gravure pre-press company investing in a narrow-web flexo press to cater to the short and medium run market.