Pamex 2017 gathered over 300 exhibitors in three halls of the BEC in Goregaon, Mumbai, covering 8,500 sq/m of space. Machine manufacturers, dealers and suppliers, and a large number of print solution seekers gathered in what the organiser described as the most “exciting” edition of Pamex. The four days of the show saw print visitors immerse themselves in the potential of automation, value addition, and productivity.

The PrintWeek India team was present on all the four days, and have reported on the interesting happenings. While it’s impossible to cover everything, here is our Top Fifteen of the show.

MORE DIGITAL

Digital is changing the printing market, so it seemed.

All the digital print equipment manufacturers were present in full force, looking to provide what the buyers want – innovation with convenience. As one print CEO, I met said, “Printers are now looking for reliability and beauty of the traditional, but are also keen on the flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and modernity that a solution should provide. With digital print, they have all of it.”

1. Pune’s Kadam Digital gets set to install Pune’s first HP Indigo 12000

Kadam Digital was the first pre-press bureau in Pune to install the Kodak NexPress SE 3000 in 2010. So it was no surprise when the news broke out that Sanjay Kadam, director at Kadam Digital was installing an HP Indigo 12000 press, the first in Pune. Kadam’s reason: “We are now moving from an A3 size to a B2 size, which ideally will bring the larger format in play. Add to that the option of extra colours, and we are in a position from where we can take the whole business forward.”

2. United Multicolour Printers in Pune to install the city’s first Scodix

Pune was also set to get its first Scodix, the third in Maharashtra. Scodix has over the last few years seen quite a number of installations, 32 it will be by the end of this year. But post-Drupa there was a lull. “That was because our customers took time, making provisions for the finance,” said TP Jain, managing director at Monotech Systems, the Indian representative for Scodix in India.

For Raveendra Joshi, director at United Multicolour, the Scodix is a continuation of what he has always been doing, being a first mover. “We were the first to install a Heidelberg press, a five-colour press, a CTP system in Pune.” So it was only fitting that the first Scodix be installed at United Multicolour Printers.

But being the first to get a Scodix was not the only thing on Joshi’s mind. “The customers are demanding more than mere print, they want more value-add to their print. It was that demand from our customers, my own passion for off-beat, and the fact that as an offset printer, my company needed that “wow” factor,” he said.

3. Mumbai’s Price Digi Graphics picks up EFI Vutek GS3250LX Pro at Pamex

Prince Digi Graphics has always been a creative firm. Besides, commercial graphics, the company also produces niche applications.

Speaking to PrintWeek India, Sam Patel, managing director, Arrow Digital, the Indian representative for EFI, said, presses like the Vutek GS3250LX Pro are ideal for printing on substrates like corrugated paper, which will make the displays disposable, renewable and furthermore cheaper and locally available material.

He said, “Brands are realising that it is better to print one good quality application than 20 inferior quality items. I see within two years all in-shops and retail applications will shift from flex to fabric. It looks cleaner, cheaper and is greener. It’s all about materials and applications,” said Patel.

4. Buoyant Epson sales of SureColor in Mumbai

RIGID BOX BOOM

Think outside the box. Luxury retail bespoke gift, sweet, brand packaging are now in demand than ever before. The need for protective boxes for e-commerce packaging too is driving the demand for rigid boxes. According to one report, the subscription box market will also promote strong opportunities for corrugated boxes, especially as subscription service firms tend to use custom boxes with high-quality graphics or customized inserts to make the “unboxing” experience more exciting for consumers. 

5. Ample Graphics announces multiple sale deals at Pamex

On the very first day, New Delhi-based Ample Graphics, which represents eight Chinese post-press equipment manufacturers, announced the sale of three machines out of which one was a semi-automatic rigid box-making machine from LXS, which was sold to a Himachal Pradesh-based firm.

6. Pragati and Funskool opt for rigid box line from NBG

New Delhi-based NBG Tech announced the sale of two machines from Hongming, its Chinese principal at the Pamex show. Hyderabad-based Pragati Pack has opted for HM ZD350A automatic rigid box line, whereas Funskool has invested in HM ZD600 model of rigid box line at the show.

7. Bengaluru’s Ma Prints signs a Zhongke deal at Pamex

Bengaluru-based offset and digital print specialist Ma Prints has signed a deal for installation of Zhongke ZK-5540OWL at Pamex.

Ma Prints has a dedicated unit for rigid box making, where around 5,000 boxes using the Zhongke machine, which was ordered during PrintPack India in New Delhi. The present machine produces the simple two-piece boxes. But the firm also produces three-piece tray-based decorative boxes, which are fabricated manually.

The new investment in Zhongke ZK-5540OWL will now automate the process. “It was a time-consuming effort, and involved around 15 people to produce them,” said Guruprasad Talwar of Ma Prints. “We can now deploy them to in other works.” The firm will now be able to produce 20,000 boxes in a day.

POST-PRESS IN PACKAGING

According to market analysts, the packaging market is projected to exceed USD 580-billion by 2020. We expect India to be part of that projection. The decade or so has seen profound changes taking place in the printing and converting industry in India, even in the post-press specialities. Pamex had a few surprises.

Ample Graphics announced the sale of a fully automatic dry lamination by Huawei to Mumbai-based Laxmi Narayan Print Pack.

8. Printmann invests in AGS sample maker, Autoprint

Mumbai-based pharma packaging expert Printmann made two interesting investments, each suited to specific needs — a sample maker from Advanced Graphic Systems (AGS), and a stripping and blanking machine from Autoprint.

“We were looking for a sample maker for quite some time. When AGS approached us with the solution, we found it to be the right solution at the right price,” said Ankit Tanna, director, Printmann Group. He added, “ “The stripping section of the plant was the only process we have which is manual and quite messy. We were looking to automate this process. Autoprint had a viable solution and we went ahead with it.”

9. Vasai’s Meera Offset boosts quality quotient with Autoprint Checkmate

When Meera Offset wanted a solution for the supply of defect-free cartons to its pharma clients, it found a solution in Autoprint’s Checkmate carton inspection system.

Prateek Chamaria, director, Meera Offset, said, “It is a three-camera system with two top and one bottom camera that will ensure our carton output is up to the stringent quality mark that we set for ourselves. The software that drives Checkmate has an intuitive interface and is extremely user-friendly. Secondly, the engineering efficiency of the product is impressive.”

10. Jash Packaging opts for cold foil technology by Vinfoil

Vadodara-based Jash Packaging has opted for cold-foil finishing retrofit technology by Vinfoil which will be fitted on the Manroland Evolution 700 press. The Manroland Evolution 700, eight-colour straight printing press with inline coating unit is India's first machine to be installed. Besides, Jash Packaging, where the Vinfoil's cold foil technology will be installed, it has already been installed at TCPL and Parksons Packaging.

11. Robus India’s Pamex sales exceeds Rs 3.5-crore

As day-three of Pamex closed, the New Delhi-based Robus India has sealed deals worth over Rs3.5-crore, said Abhinav Gupta, director of the company.

Robus, the exclusive channel partners for Chinese equipment manufacturers, Hongjing Machinery and Danyuan Machinery, has sold Hongjing Advance folder-gluer to Baddi-based Universal Print O Pack and Haryana’s NG Packaging, an automatic sheet lamination machine to Unity Offset in Bengaluru, one automatic die-cutting machine to a Chennai-based customer and three collection tables, one each to New Delhi’s RSG Packaging, Faridabad’s Adzone Packaging, Haryana’s NG Packaging.

12. Pratham secures six paper folding kit orders

The company closed the show on a high note. Bengaluru-based ID Prints has confirmed an order for a sophisticated folding line that consists of six parallel fold, six cross fold, a vision system, stacker, and a batch making unit.

Similarly, Ziska Pharma from Bangladesh has booked a six parallel fold machine equipped with a stacker and a batch making unit. Besides this, Pratham has sold an XP412 folding kit to Nepal-based Maruti Pharma, among others.

13. Excel Machinery reaches Maxima installation milestone