A round-up from the PackPlus show ground

Usually, at a print show, printers/converters are seen as visitors, with machine manufacturers going all out to woo them. At PackPlus Delhi, however, printers have always joined the show as participants. This was more than evident at the recent PackPlus Delhi, which was held from 31 July to 2 August 2015 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

04 Aug 2015 | By Amardeep Singh & Rahul Kumar

This time, print converters from across the country ruled the roost at the show. While at first, the overwhelming presence of printers as exhibitors was a slightly strange sight, we soon found an emerging trend: Over the years, PackPlus has consolidated its place not just a show for converters but also a show for print buyers.

Among others, we had big name companies like Noida-based Any Graphics, Hyderabad-based Pragati Pack India, Gurgaon-based A&A Labels, Delhi-based Anupam Art Printers and Palwal-based PR Packaging. It was the first time for Anupam and PR, while the rest of the three are regular exhibitors at the show.
 
Any Graphics, a rising name in label printing, surprised each and every visitor, who came to its stall, with its innovative product samples. Naveen Goel, second generation of the family owned business, said, “We always received good responses at PackPlus. We expect the same from this edition of PackPlus. We have new labels, boxes and other print samples for our customers to see.”
 
Established by Kuldip Goel, Any Graphics has invested in an array of equipment, including a Heidelberg XL 75 seven-colour press, Bobst die-cutter and folder-gluer and Emmeci rigid box-making machine.
 
Another award winning company, Pragati Pack, the sister concern of Hyderabad-based Pragati Offset, also showcased its print samples, including rigid boxes, different kind of labels and other packaging materials.
 
Maneesh Divetia of Pragati Pack said, “We are here with our latest innovations and products for our customers. PackPlus is one of the perfect places to showcase such kind of products. Yes, print buyers seek innovation and demands will increase in future.”
 
Pragati Pack has invested in an MPS EB 370, an eight-colour narrow-web label printing press recently. The machine will be shipped in September.
 
Established in 1995, A&A Labels is a regular exhibitor at PackPlus. Owned by the Jain family, the company recently installed India’s first Lombardi, a 17-inch eight-colour full servo UV press. The company’s label printing facility is equipped with Mark Andy and Multitec narrow-web presses, including a dome label-making machine, and fully equipped pre- and post-press facility.
 
Anubhav Jain, second generation of the family owned business is clear about his vision for the future. “We want to cater to print buyers directly and this is what we do. We always work for profit, not for volume,” he said. “We invested in the Lombardi for several reasons. One of the main reasons is the single-man operation facility of the machine.” Jain believes demand of labels in India will grow with more and more brands coming to the country.
 
Anupam Art Printers, established 1972, was the only commercial printer who showcased its services and products at PackPlus 2015. Vaibhav Jain, the young mind at the helm of Anupam Art Printers, said, “We want to cater to the market which wants quality work and innovation. Clients want something interesting. There is no sense in running your machines for simple four-colour jobs.”
 
The company has established ‘Fusion Design Studio’ at its facility and Jain said perhaps the company is one of the few initiators or only initiator who took this kind of initiative. “We felt that it was a necessity and now, we can monitor the product from conception to delivery, and it gives us the strength to play with each and every corner of the product,” he said.
 
The Fusion Design Studio is equipped with professional photographers and designers. Anupam Art Printers has three units in Delhi and recently installed two automatic cutting machines from Heidelberg, Polar 115.
 
A&A Labels and Anupam Art Printers are owned by the Jain family. The print production business was started by Vijayendra Kumar Jain in 1972.
 
Another first-time printer-exhibitor at PackPlus was PR Packaging. Established in 1991, the printing packaging company has diversified into lamitubes. Ravinder Gupta of PR Packaging said, “This is our first show as an exhibitor. We have entered into lamitubes now. Thus, we are into rigid and flexible packaging. We are also expanding our existing print production facility.”
 
Apparently, the packaging print production company has also invested in a new multicolour German made sheetfed printing press. PR Packaging also manufacturers A- to E-flute corrugation boxes.
 

WRH Global India at the show
First time at the PackPlus, WRH Global India, showcased Case Teq, Film Teq and Box Teq machines of the Christ Packing Systems, Germany.
 
“Christ Packing Systems is a renowned manufacturer of packaging machines for secondary and end-of-line packaging. They offer a broad range of standard as well as customised solutions for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, tobacco, food and non-food industry,” said Kawal Arora of WRH Global India.
 
The most common way of case packing is loading a collation of products from the side into the corrugated shipper case, which is called side-loading. Another possibility is the so-called top-loading concept, where the product is picked up by a pick and place unit and load into the corrugated shipper case from top. Other possibilities of case packing are tray packing, wrap-around packing or display box packing.
 

Packcraft Container promotes honeycomb-based board
At PackPlus 2015, Packcraft Container showcased corrugated carton boxes coupled with edge protectors that has several advantages in activities of transportation and storage. It is supported by latest paper honeycomb-based board and pallets.
 
“This is our third time at PackPlus and the response has been quiet good,” Vikram Vashishta, director, marketing, Packraft Container, said. “What matters is the presence at the show. Whenever you are in the market, you need to have presence.”
 
Vashishta said Packcraft has introduced an entire range of light weight, presentable, environment-friendly products with paper honeycomb technology. “We forayed into the paper honeycomb and paper angle-board industry after studying the needs of packaging in the near future. Our entire range is now packrcaft safe pack range of products and is equipped to meet the needs of packaging at diverse levels.” 
 
He added that the company’s comprehensive solutions in paper honeycomb technology, right from honeycomb core in stripes and continuous form to honeycomb boards, honeycomb core expanding machines and honeycomb pallets, will make it one of the pioneers and leaders in this new age environment-friendly packing and transit technology that uses 100% recycled paper.

“At present, we are converting around 450 tonne in corrugation and 300-325 tonne in honeycomb. And the fluets in corrugation in honeycomb are of 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm and 14mm. The 12mm and 14mm are generally for absorption, basically for cushioning, fillers, and 6mm and 8mm are for load bearing capacity,” he said, adding, “We have every sort of clients and we have not restricted ourselves only to automobile industry. We are into electronics goods, FMCG, surgical products and so on.”
 
Vashishta said the company is growing at the rate of 15-20% annually. For future, it is planning to get into composite cans and paper drums.
 
Welbound showcases HotCase 500
At PackPlus Delhi 2015, Welbound introduced and promoted HotCase 500, a top and bottom case sealer for end of the line packaging. This is company’s first foray into end-of-the line packaging solution for sealing transport cartons.
 
Sudhir of Welbound said, “The idea behind promoting the machine was to create awareness about advantages that hotmelt adhesive has over tapes when it comes to packing transport cartons. Usage of tapes is overwhelmingly dominant in shipping carton packing industry. The Hotcase 500 provides better brand value, superior case stability, clean surface and improved packaging security.”
 
Welbound HotCase 500 come with top and bottom case sealing with holtmelts, Nordson hotmelt dispensing unit, speeds upto 20 cases per minute, interlocking safety shields and optical feed-in conveyor.
 
In HotCase 500, the sealing tapes are replaced with holtmelt adhesive. With adhesive, both inner and outer flappers come in contact and provide more structural rigidity. With the use of hotmelt adhesive, it encourages clean, tape-free surface to promote brand, improve case stability and palletising, possible cost savings versus tape spend, improved packaging security (temper evidence), long term bonds for long term storage and shipping and reduction in product damages as it ensures there is no knife used for opening of cases.

Domino displays its A220 inkjet printer for coding
Domino showcased its A220 inkjet printer at PackPlus 2015. The machine is ideal for many coding applications, such as multiple line coding, clear and easy to read codes, traceability codes, and high speed codes. The easy to use field-based editor allows complex messages while reducing the need for operator training. It eliminates coding errors with its inbuilt security manager. If anyone requires a high speed single line code of 325m/min or five lines of text, the A220 delivers the same.
 
“From the moment you press the start button, the A220 delivers great value. The clever design has reduced consumables usage while maintaining all of the strengths and value that the market has come to expect from the world’s best selling continuous inkjet printer. The A220 is capable of meeting the need for a wide range of multiple line or high speed applications onto most commonly used materials,” Anand of Domino said.
 
The leading A-Series SureStart printhead contains an ink drop-generator with a vibrating drive rod. This creates ultrasonic pressure waves in the inkjet ink, breaking it up into individual droplets. When these droplets fall between a set of electrodes, individual droplets are intermittently charged. The size of the charge given to each droplet determines how far it will be deflected out of the stream when passing through the deflector plates. This determines its placement on the product. 
 
By placing a collection of these droplets close together, a variety of characters are printed as the product passes the printhead. Ink droplets not deflected out of the stream are re-circulated to repeat the process. This is a highly efficient use of ink jetink, allowing many millions of characters to be printed from a litre of ink.