What’s new at this edition of Labelexpo?

At the show, HP demonstrated the HP Indigo 6900 digital press with new applications and effects while running inline with the groundbreaking one-pass digital embellishments unit. This end-to-end solution allows printing of any label in a simple, productive and profitable way.

Around 60% of our stall is filled with printed samples from different customers and each product has its individual stories, such as social impact, value addition, or security printing. It also tells the story about how a company got the product on the shelf from conception within 24 hours or a story about zero CO2 emission during the production. Brands today are not interested in the machine’s mechanism and its functions; they are concerned about how we can solve their problems. And that is what we are showing here. 

From the brand owners’ perspective, print is not where the product is being designed and conceptualised. It is a product first and then print comes to the picture. Or is it like egg and chicken story?

It was like who will buy the digital press first. Today, we have 15 digital label presses in India. Most of the printers are doing client servicing. They are not doing concept selling. The world is changing from client servicing to converting into sales. It is a transformation and we want to be the evangelist of that transformation. 

There are multiple digital printing presses in the show. Being a pioneer in the segment, your comment on the development?

We want digital packaging printing market to grow. We have 70% of the market share. Being the market leader, I will get my share automatically. We always welcome competition and we share knowledge with competition as well. 

Are we seeing a good shift from converter side towards digital? Until last year, there were only seven printing presses in packaging print production market.

Last year was one of the best years for us, especially for the commercial market. Last year, we sold 15 B2 printing presses in the country. I think size makes a lot of difference. Everything has pros and cons. The B2 size is expensive but opens a big space for a printer. 

Silverpoint is a fantastic example of the B2 format. The printing company saw six times growth since they have installed B2 format compared to their A3 format, which they earlier had. 
One of our customers told us that he is not going to buy anymore offset printing press. 

Short-run is increasing and we have the solution. We are launching HP Indigo 6900 with silver ink.