Exhibitor speak: Creed Engineers
Creed Engineers is showcasing its Vinsak LVPI, which Ranesh Bajaj, managing director of the company, claims, is the perfect solution when it comes to printing personalised security labels with fully variable information, or frequently changing print. Launched in 2013, the LVPI has six units installed at government site in South India, where Creed claims, 20-crore tax stamps are personalised every month. The monochrome machine can print at 600x600dpi on tax stamp labels, commercial
29 Oct 2014 | By Noel D'Cunha
Exhibitor speak: Creed Engineers
Other products on display along with Vinsak LVPI, are Vinsak LSR, a 450mm wide label slitter rewinder with many new value - added features including 100% defect detection, matrix stripping, razor and scissor slitting, etc.
With the world label demand set to rise 4.9% yearly to 58 -billion square meters in 2018, valued at $114 billion, and the Asia/Pacific region expected to be the fastest growing market, due to the continued rapid expansion of Chinese and Indian label demand, PrintWeek India caught up with Bajaj during the Labelexpo India show, to find out the label trends in India.
PrintWeek India: At present, the Indian per capita consumption is estimated to be 0.25 sq/mtr equivalent to 30-cr sq/mtr, market size of Rs 3,000-crore. What kind of a growth will we see?
Ranesh Bajaj: All market trends indicate this growth to be 20%+. However, growth in private label for the retail chains that was anticipated has not happened and this may impact to a certain extent.
PWI: Where do we growth opportunities, and which are the ones which will continue?
RB: We see growth opportunities in Self Adhesive as well as in IML. Shrink Sleeves and Wrap around have more or less plateaued out and wet glue continues to decline as in the past.
PWI: World trends in food & beverages, pharmaceuticals? Will we see them in India?RB: In food and pharma, functionality is fast overtaking shelf appeal. You will continue to see a greater increase in finishing or special conversion systems for labels coming into the market, which make it easier for people to dispense, handle or store the product. Booklets, hangar labels, piggy back labels, all will see a faster growth .The market is heading towards maturity and engineering excellence. Also getting inks which are FDA approved especially with UV curing will see a phenomenal growth.
PWI: What kind of a product mix will we see? Will the glue-applied paper labels make way for self-adhesive/pressure sensitive labels?RB: Yes for sure. This continues to happen as the quality and adhesion of wet glue labels as well as dispensing them on high-speed lines continues to be an issue.
PWI: Printing technologies / finishing technologies – in flexo and digital?RB: UV ink jet is fast catching up with flexo in terms of speed as well as quality. With costs of inks coming down, it will not be long before high-speed inkjet presses in colour, as well as monochrome, will take away jobs from traditional flexo. Finishing continues to innovate and you will see more developments in die-cutting as well as inspection and finishing.
PWI: What development in labels you feel is essential for further growth of this sector?RB: I think the most that is needed is developments in raw material especially for the new technologies like IML etc. While self-adhesive has seen a lot of development by companies like Avery and UPM, the filmic materials need more development and better pricing as well as runnability on presses.
PWI: Do we see smart labels becoming mainstream in India (temperature sensitive/colour changing)? These would require special inputs in terms of inks and substrates. The question is: are your presses capable of meeting these requirements? RB: Smart labels continue to be expensive and a number of companies including top pharma companies do not see a value in spending the extra bit for them. We have the complete equipment as well as the consumables for the same, but we need end users to start demanding them for the market to grow. On its own, the label printers will not invest in developing them.
PWI: Has your company made any breakthrough in the last 12 months? What is it?RB: On the label finishing front we have made a number of breakthroughs with our LVPI and LSR equipment. The LSR installs in India including Regal Creative in Delhi and A & A Labels in Gurgaon, have been performing well now. Our LVPI installs continue to serialize and encode out Billions of Tax stamps in India and overseas.
RB: I think it is not prudent to disclose much at this stage. Overall, the growth numbers are healthy.
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