“I was a tad concerned about the footfall, considering that the show was being held at Greater Noida and not  Pragati Maidan. However, considering the distance, I feel the show has achieved a satisfactory limit,” said one of the exhibitors.
 

The first day of the show saw a wobble with the organisers claiming a footfall of around 900 visitors. The day two and three reported an average footfall of 1,500 visitors, while the last day of the show saw a dip in the visitor numbers. The exhibition witnessed 5,300 visitors for all four days. While there were large number of live machines at the venue, most of them went “live” from day two of the show.
 

“PackPlus has brought the industry to India Exposition Centre, Greater Noida. It is nice to see visitors defy the distance factor. The venue is nice with good infrastructure. In the coming years, the venue will be a perfect place for industry exhibitions,” said KD Sahni, head – stationery division, Weldon Celloplast.
 

Hemant Desai, general manager, QuadTech felt that PackPlus served as a litmus test for PrintPack in 2013. “PrintPack is scheduled for February, and will be held at the same venue. I feel, this show has provided the visitors and exhibitors a ‘litmus test’ and firm up plans for PrintPack India. The footfalls on the first day, like any business exhibition, was low. However, the week-end ushered in visitors.”
 

Inspection systems, slitter rewinders and form fill and seal machine manufacturers were present in good numbers. Two print firms, Any Graphics and Reynders had booked stands at strategic location.
 

ACG Pam Pharma showcased FPC5, a high-speed wrapping machine for products in fine seal packing, in collaboration with Theegarten-Pactec. Bosch exhibited its vertical form filling and sealing machine with Doser. BST Sayona brought in Turborex Selematic, a new technology in web tension control, and Moviroll, roll pusher that allows operators to handle cylindrical loads on a flat surface. Both the products were from BST Sayona’s new partner, Renova. The Italy-based Renova had inked a distribution deal with BST Sayona at Drupa this year.
 

Cyclop Packaging Sytems showcased JP Nano, an advanced printer for Track and Trace application, while Canpac (part of DS Group) displayed composite cans made of virgin kraft paper and food grade liner. Erhardt+Leimer India showed a raft of products that covered tension controller, line guiding and web guiding systems.
 

Kody showcased a live demonstration of its recently-launched model of slitter rewinder D 917, while Nordson India had its NiCart semi-automatic carton sealing machine at its stand. Robatech received a good response from the show for its hotmelt system from the Concept Series.
 

Weldon Celloplast exhibited tamper-evident label stock from Fasco. Harveer Sahni of Weldon Celloplast said, “Several companies have been providing tamper-evident label stocks to the industry. However, Fasco has a remarkable product that has a better adhesion property and is one of the best in its class.”
 

Noida-based Any Graphics displayed a fleet of products at PackPlus 2012. These included mono cartons with special effects (met pet and cardboard) and G-fluted cartons, self-adhesive labels, dome stickers, hang tags, labels, barcodes, price tickets, inserts, leaflets, graphic and decals, panel overlays, publicity material, operation manual and other fancy gift boxes for corporate offices as well for exports.
 

While another label printer, Reynders Label Printing India, a 100% subsidiary of Reynders, based in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, focused on innovation and displayed multi-layer labels, duo and trio labels, booklet and leaflet labels, hanger labels, vial labels, flag tables, wobble labels, coupon labels, game labels, tube labels, product labels and temper evidence labels.
 

Karl Vandenbussche, director, Reynders Label Printing India, said, “PS shrink duo label is our new innovation and it is useful for cosmetic and pharma industry. It is a decent show if you are targeting on local customers but I found very few international print buyers here. I hope there will be more international customers in the next edition of PackPlus.”
 

At the show, one of the most attractive booth designs was from Ecobliss India. Staying true to its line of business, the stand had a huge pillar that was filled with plastic. The company during the four-day exhibition showcased its expertise in blister packaging. “Blister and high visibility packaging have proven to be the ideal, self selling packaging for producers and retailers and are still gaining over box packaging. The blister bubble shows the actual product and protects it from damaging and tampering. Combined with product information printed on the blister card, blister packaging is the perfect, combination,” said Chakravarthi AVPS, CEO and managing director, Ecobliss India.
 

The last edition of the show was named India Packaging Show and was held at NSIC exhibition ground, Okhla, New Delhi. Last year, the organisers had a separate exhibition for the converting industry and therefore, they named the show as India Packaging. This year again, the converting industry was bounced back with a bang.

 

Better infra gives a world-class touch

“Looking at the infrastructure and the facility, I feel that it is the right decision to hold a business exhibition at a venue like this,” said Khushal Patel of BST Sayona, one of the exhibitors at the show.
 

With PackPlus evoking mixed response from visitors and exhibitors, all eyes will now be on the big one – Printpack India 23 to 28 February 2013 and the venue. 
 

The India Exposition Centre & Mart is managed by Expomedia Group. The venue, which can accommodate up to 5,000 people, was inaugurated in 2006 by the Prime Minister of India. This venue is spread across an area of two-million sq/ft with modern facilities such as automatic motorised fire dampers confirming to US standards and 16 world class escalators, eight passenger elevators and 11 freight lifts for efficient handling of goods; making it among the top event venues in Asia. 
 

However, distance remains a pain-point. While the organisers had arranged for transportation from nearest metro stations, the travel duration is 30 minutes. PrintPack which is ticketed at Rs 500 (for three days) includes to and fro transport. Meet you at PrintPack 2013.