On its fifth years, IndiaCorr Expo 2017, the annual event and the largest professional gathering of corrugated packaging, was bigger than ever. The three-day event, along with the ICCMA Congress took place from 14-16 September at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida. More than 200 exhibitors from 11 countries attended the show, breaking all the records set in previous editions. Over 5,750 visitors (round about 34% increase from last year) on 10,000 sq/m of gross exhibition space confirmed that IndiaCorr is an event not to be missed. 

The event was officially inaugurated by top industry stakeholders accompanied by business professionals. Meanwhile, the conference held on the sidelines of the show saw 425 delegates in attendance.

Everything on corrugation

The show covered more than 100 products on the show floor, covering the gamut from corrugated box-making machinery, printing machinery, ancillary equipment, paper, testing equipment and box designing software. There were 74 new companies who debuted in the exhibition. The show witnessed 52 product launches from Emba, Senior Paper, AS Print, Robus India, Ajit Industries, Valco Melton, Mosca, Erhardt+Leimer, Jhalani Kamleh and many more. 

Many of the new technologies including paper corrugation; die-cutting; automatic corrugated board-making; sheet-cutting; sheet pasting and pressing; cutting and creasing; corrugation box stitching; die-punching; flexo printing; honey comb; lamination; slitting and rewinding and rigid box manufacturing machines were on display at the exhibition.

International appeal

The show not only gathered Indian visitors but overseas as well, from China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Japan, Middle East and African countries. Survey conducted during the show indicated that 51% visitors visited to keep themselves updated on product innovations and 82% visitors stated that they met their objectives at the exhibition. Most of the visitors were directly involved in investment decisions.

This year the exhibitors were also from several new countries, including UK, Singapore, UAE and Hong Kong, who displayed several next generation systems to meet changing production demands.

ICCMA Congress

Taking into account the hot topics across the sector this year, a series of talk sessions were conducted at ICCMA Congress. The three-day conference programme assembled 425 delegates. Renowned motivational speaker and eminent speakers from WestRock, PwC, NTTF and KPMG discussed the status of corrugated packaging industry and what portends for the industry in the future.

The next edition of IndiaCorr Expo will be held at Bombay Exhibition Centre from 4 to 6 October 2018.

Exhibitors Speak

Arnab Maiti, Esko

Esko, the global innovator of seamlessly integrated packaging design and pre-press solutions, came to IndiaCorr to create awareness about its products. The company has a fully integrated de-facto structural design solution, ArtiosCAD, which integrates with Kongsberg digital cutting table offering versatility for a wide range of cutting applications. At the show, Esko displayed its complete array of software solutions for packaging supply chain as well as Kongsberg X series digital finishing table for corrugated packaging industry.

According to Arnab Maiti of Esko, the corrugation industry has various challenges related to efficient and production-ready structural design, sample-making and short run production of corrugated packaging, protective packaging, speciality packaging, POP/FSDU/display, etc. “This gap needs to be covered with better production capacity, efficiency and knowhow to produce better, faster and cheaper. We at Esko help the industry overcome these challenges by providing CAD/CAM solutions and high-end service support,” Maiti said.

He said IndiaCorr has gained international prestige as one of the most important exhibitions for the corrugation and packaging segment. “The show was a great platform to network and meet various prospects,” he added. “It gave us an opportunity to showcase our products and technology to a broad audience. We were able to gain valuable insight into the current state of market and future trends of the industry.”

Chiran Sastry, Emba Machinery India

Emba offered its latest innovation of Twin Feed and Dual Box FFG, the only of its kind available in the market. Chiran Sastry of Emba Machinery India said the company has lined up some instalments in 2018, but refused to divulge the details. Sastry said IndiaCorr is, of course, important for Emba as potential investors in the corrugated industry attend the show. 

Sastry said there is a positive sentiment in the industry with government pro-industrial policies, GST, etc, and new players/ young generation is not worried about trying their luck in this traditionally conservative family businesses.

Meanwhile, Sastry had some suggestions for the organisers. “The timings of ICCMA seminars and exhibition are held same time, resulting in poor footfall during the exhibition. Also, I would like to request the organisers to have this show once every two years instead of every year,” he said.

Sangeet Kumar Gupta, Finsys Infortech

Finsys showcased an airport-like display screen for the corrugators. “Imagine the new technology of Big Screen Display,” Sangeet Kumar Gupta, Finsys Infortech, explained. “The large 55-inch LED TV in the PPC room displays the current jobs, their progress, their rejections, the square metre being produced (target vs actual), tonnage being produced (target vs actual), and also the number of pc being made every hours in five-ply and three-ply.”

Gupta said the screen changes every 10 seconds and refreshes itself. “The system displays live data to actual people so that they can take the action themselves,” he added.

Gupta said the company has received many serious enquiries from across India, and the Indian sub-continent. “One order with a new five-ply corrugator at Hyderabad has already been signed and advance received,” he said.

Gupta’s verdict about the exhibition was that it was a hit. “We are loving the way it has become a place where our goals are achieved,” he added.

The Finsys ERP community has over 70 packaging plants across the world and Gupta said the show offered the company an opportunity to meet its existing customers. “About 24 of our existing customers’ managing directors came to our stall and saw the new technologies being evolved. The best thing was when some of the existing clients gave live testimonials to the potential customers evaluating Finsys ERP software. That was the biggest benefit,” Gupta said.

On the subject of how SME family-owned corrugation industry can benefit from ERP, Gupta explained, “Let’s see it this way. For all corrugators/box-makers, the end-customers are same (the likes of Adani, Parle, Pepsi and so on). The Machinery is same, the raw material is same. So, the Corrugator cannot dictate his choice of price, or conversion margin. It gets tougher if you don’t have systems. So, Finsys ERP brings to you the time-tested technology. This is the technology that can help you decide what to print and when? How much to buy and when? Which job to load on which machine? This helps a corrugator reduce cost and time, plus mistakes are not repeated and work in progress can be easily monitored.”

Gupta gave the example of using simple smartphone for issue of reels by the fork list operator, for receiving back the part reel from the reel stand. The same Android-based smartphone works on Wi-Fi to do physical verification of all reels in the reel godown. “So you are always live,” Gupta said. “And the big thing is that you don’t need high-end qualified staff for this. Your 12th pass fork lift driver can do all this too.”

Bharti Aggarwal, NBG Printogrpahic Machinery

The ‘next generation’ of corrugated packaging manufacturers in India are shifting their preference from semi-automatic to automatic set-ups. In this context, Bharti Aggarwal of NBG Printogrpahic Machinery said inline automatic board and box-making plants were seen more than semi-automatic production processes. “There is higher demand for folder gluers, rotary die-cutters, and flute laminator. Meanwhile, advances in multicolour flexo printing machines are facilitating in-house flexo printing which is fast replacing screen printing and contract printing on offset presses,” she said, adding that use of corrugated boxes for display/ promotional packs, POPs and dispensers are also in demand. To combat these changes, Aggarwal said most Indian machinery manufacturers/ traders now prefer alliances with Chinese, Taiwanese and European manufacturers.

In this context, NBG is working in close cooperation with companies from China and Taiwan — Ding Shung machinery (flute laminator and folder gluer), Guangdong Hongming (automatic and semi automatic rigid box-making machines) and Century (die-cutting machines).

Aggarwal said the Indian Corrugated Box manufacturing industry is presently on a high trajectory growth path, which is purely demand driven. “The major shift of packaging of various products has led to the growing demand of the Indian middle class and the changing lifestyles which has enabled the corrugated box industry to grow consistently by around 12-14% annually during the last five years,” Aggarwal said.

To cater to this demand, NBG Tech is positioning itself as a prominent source for converting machinery, folding cartons, corrugated boxes, case-making and rigid boxes. Aggarwal said the exhibition offer the company a major platform.

Aggarwal said the future of automatic corrugation line is quite bright. By 2020, the major chunk of the corrugation business will be executed through automatic plants. “We feel that the machines from China will have an edge over the Indian and European machines due to low cost of investment and good performance to meet the customers’ expectations,” Aggarwal added.

Mukul Luthra, Artize Die Makers

For the show, Artize Die Makers came up with a new product, Steel Counter Plate, with the tagline Steel is the New Way to Crease. According to Mukul Luthra of Artize Die Makers, the product offers best quality creasing channel with perfect dimensional accuracy; customised milled cutting plate as per the job requirement; best choice for long run jobs and no bends and marks on the carton.

“IndiaCorr has always been a successful event for us,” Luthra said. “With the increase of auto cartonator machine, the structural accuracy of corrugated box has a lot of importance due to which our precise dies are required by the converters.”

He added that the corrugation industry in India has huge vacuum of improvement and there is always a scope for printed cartons in Indian market. “As the demand is increasing for packed products, the demand for corrugation will rise,” he said.

Richard Kuo, Maxdura International

At the show, Maxdura International showcased advanced material to make the cover even stronger and durable, especially to fit China-made machines. Maxdura attended the show with its Chennai agent, and according to Richard Kuo of Maxdura International, this has tightened the relationship among its end-customers, agents and the company.

“We participated in IndiaCorr because it brings customers who are using a modernised machine or intend to use automatic machine. They are our target customers,” Kuo said.

He added that while eCommerce will help increase the demand for corrugated cartons, the new GST will make the business easier for its agents and dealers.

Deepanshu Goel, Creative Graphics

There has been great push for automation, high productivity and quality. Thus, according to Deepanshu Goel of Creative Graphics, pre-print is the game-changing technology which is finding a place in Indian corrugation industry.

On the reason for attending the show, Goel said, “IndiaCorr Expo is the biggest show of the industry. It also attracts decision-makers because of the concurrent conference. It is very serious and genuine show. It is a platform to meet people who mean business.”

Goel said as India is a growing market, corrugation industry is also seeing exponential growth. “The next few years will be exciting,” he added.

Prashanth Kumar, Vijaya Grafiks

The sister concern of Vijaya Grafiks, PPEM India displayed hotmelt and PUR adhesive dispensing and coating systems during the show. Recently, PPEM was appointed the exclusive sales and service representative of IDEL Tech, Italy, for the India market.

According to Prashanth Kumar of Vijaya Grafiks, the show was great platform for the company to showcase its special model for corrugated cartons. “We have developed some special models of carton folder gluer which can do corrugated boxes, tri-ply and E-flutted (straight line and crash lock bottom) in bigger size too,” he said.

Kumar add that the Indian packaging trend is changing from duplex board to triply and E flutted cartons. “In the coming days we will see a wider market for corrugated cartons,” he said. “Our recent installation of high-end model of carton folder gluer, Vijaya Veenine shows that the India market is concentrating on quality machines, not the economical versions.”

The company has total 11 installations of Vijaya Veenine at SS Industries, Dehradun; Sai Ram Printers, Haridwar, Sai Early Learners, Greator Noida; Shree Salasar, Siliguri; Print Well Offset, Rajkot; Media Marketing, Kirti Nagar, New Delhi; KC Paper, Karnal; Royal Press, Okhla, New Delhi; Sri Sai Print Pack Industries, Baddi and Shree Shyam Enterprises, Bahadurgarh.