Me & My: UV printing inks from Toyo Ink Arets

Please describe your company.
TCPL Packaging is one of India’s largest manufacturers of folding cartons, and India’s largest standalone converter of paperboard. TCPL manufactures folding cartons, printed blanks and outers, litho-lamination, plastic cartons, blister packs and shelf-ready packaging. We are investing in pioneering new technology to aid our customers’ requirements for environmentally sustainable packaging and the circular economy.

TCPL Packaging is promoted by the Kanoria family, which has varied business interests such as jute, tea, textiles, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. The company has factories at Haridwar, Greater Noida, Guwahati, Silvassa, Goa, and marketing offices are at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, and employ over 1,800 people. In 2021, TCPL achieved a turnover of more than Rs 900-crore.

When did you start using Toyo Ink Arets UV inks?
In 2007, we decided to invest in UV technology to offer innovative solutions. We started using the Toyo Ink Arets, (it was Arets then) in 2010, as it was the expert in UV ink and varnish technology.

What are the properties of the inks you like? 
The special products like texture UV combination, duct primer, PP UV worked superbly during our struggling periods, and have been working for us consistently.

Why did you decide to use the inks?  
Toyo Ink Arets has a good team who understands packaging. This helps create a better/innovative product(s) for our customers. Also, with its exposure to Arets Belgium, there has always been a technical advantage with new products development.

How much have these features helped you in your print production?
Packaging is a complex field. It needs deeper knowledge to be able to cater to a wide variety of industries. Toyo Ink Arets has been instrumental in providing many such solutions for the carton packaging industry. One of such product lines is the texture effect coatings. Today, about 60% of the cartons use this effect for print beautification and brand protection purposes. Toyo Ink Arets was the first to introduce this effect in 2009.

For what applications are the inks used?
We use the products in the UV offset process for carton packaging applications. This includes FMCG cartons on board as well as MetPET and PP.

Is there anything that you do not like or can be improved about this?
Pricing. It should be more competitive.

If there’s a critical print job that has come your way, would you rely on this to see it through?
TCPL has a strong technical team to undertake any challenging job that may come our way. The decision to choose the right inks and coatings for a given job are left to our judgement, and there are several occasions when we have chosen Toyo ink Arets over others.

How easy is it to use and handle?
Modern machines need modern material. Unless it is easy to handle on the machines, delivers the right quality parameters and qualifies to our stringent quality tests, we won’t use it. TCPL has always been in the forefront of environment-friendliness. What we appreciate the most of Toyo Ink Arets UV inks is its attention to health and safety.