Highlights of Labelexpo India 2012

The show drew 8,037 visitors and featured more than 200 exhibitors. Roger Pellow, managing director for labels group at Tarsus Group, said that 53% of the current exhibitors have already confirmed their participation for the next edition to be held in 2014. “In addition, these companies will also have larger stalls.”

The centre of attraction at the show was Technology Bar, the Weldon’s concept of showcasing products and technologies for label printers. At the Technology Bar, Weldon released a hard case bound Technology Brochure, a document that highlights more than 400 products including consumables, presses, post press equipment and consumables to be offered to packaging printers by Weldon. 

Harveer Sahni, managing director, Weldon Celloplast, hopes that the brochure will become a prised collection of the growth oriented printers and converters. He said,”With leading international principals as our associates we feel it is imperative for us to put together the information on these technologies in a brochure. It will be an interesting reference tool for printers.”

The Indian label printers are looking to add value to their products and stand unique in the crowd with highly productive and efficient equipment. This is evident from the fact that the printers no longer limit themselves to a five- or six-colour press, rather they opt for an eight- or ten-colour press. The sales of equipment at the show tell the story.

On the very first day of the show ITW Signode, the industrial packaging solution provider, which acquired the Bengaluru-based Wintek Flexo Print, announced that the Gallus ECS 340 10-colour press on display would be installed at its Bengaluru plant. Sai Packaging commissioned India’s first Epson SurePress L-4033AW for its Bengaluruprinting facility.

The Mumbai-based Ajanta Packaging bought a 10-colour Nilpeter FB3300. In addition, WeldonCelloplast has booked three orders for the equipment displayed at its ‘Technology Bar’ of which  Unipack has booked an order for Rotocontrol RSP slitter and rewinder and Sai Packaging has bought two Matho Cuttobag series of waste handling systems. 

The Indian manufacturers such as R K Label Printing Machinery and Webtech Engineering also reported a good performance at the show. They have captured the niche market comprising of mid-level label printing firms. Manoj Patel, chief executive officer, R K Label Printing Machinery, said, “We do not compete with the high end machines rather our machines are favourable for the mid-sized label printers and the start-up ventures for which we have a complete range of all the equipment necessary for a label printing firm.”

The pre-press technology also saw some promising developments at the show. The direct laser engraving technology for flexo platemaking was highlighted by Kodak and Creed Engineers. It would drastically reduce the amount of time spent in the intricate process of photopolymer platemaking. Ranesh Bajaj, managing director at Creed Engineers said, “You can burn the image on the rubber plate, which is not photosensitive, so handling is not an issue.” According to Bajaj, these rubber plates are quicker to make and does not use chemicals.

As Gavin Rittmeyer of Martin Automatic said, Indian printer used to prefer a new press rather than investing in ancillary equipment that adds to the productivity and efficiency of the press. However now he has realised the benefits of increasing productivity through more efficient use of materials and decreased wastage through automation rather than adding the excess production capacity having low productivity.

According to Rittmeyer, the market growth in India will outpace the growth rate around the world. “The per capita consumption of labels in India today is the same as that was in Europe in 1970. Hence, there is a huge potential and opportunities in Indian market,” concluded Rittmeyer.

Roger Pellow, managing director for labels group at Tarsus Group, said “This show with so many label-making and allied machineries participating and the keen interest of visitors to seek information and interaction with them, show that Labelexpo is a much preferred show for the industry, and a platform that will help build a stronger label industry for India.”