Seven label firms explore digital power with Indigo
PrintWeek India celebrates its seventh anniversary this month. Continuing the theme of seven, this article aims to look at seven label and packaging converters who have upped the ante with digital packaging and proving it to be a viable proposition
06 May 2015 | 8606 Views | By Rushikesh Aravkar
From left to right: The Annunciation family - Janus, Joe and Denver Annunciation
Janus International
Janus International
Six years ago, Thane-based label specialist in Maharashtra, Janus International, invested in HP Indigo WS4500, a web-based digital industrial press, with the aim to target the alcoholic beverage industry. Janus International does a lot of proofing using the HP Indigo press, where it gives several options to its customers. “It’s like a marketing tool. There are customers that need proofs, hence the initial volumes may be lower but then they immediately scale up,” says Denver Annunciation.
Janus Annunciation believes that there are certain sectors which will always have short runs and this is where, he says, the Indigo press comes handy. “Because of the digital technology, products have been created, which were not there in the print market earlier. Personalisation, variable data, security printing and photo-books are some of them. These products were not available previously and could not be produced using conventional processes.”
Diadeis Alia
Diadeis Alia (formerly Alia Creative Consultants), the Mumbai-based packaging pre-media firm installed an HP Indigo WS4500 digital offset press in 2013, at its Vikhroli unit in Mumbai.
Sethunath Padmanabhan, director at the firm, said, "The core purpose of the investment was to be able to innovate and produce prototypes and mock-ups with press-like quality for the customers. Also, we use it for proofing the flexo and gravure jobs."
While the HP workhorse is capable of producing 50,000 labels that are cost-effective and profitable, Alia has restricted the production to produce only mock-ups. Justifying the investment, Sethu said, "We are not printers and hence we don't want to print volumes. The number of jobs we produce on the Indigo are very few as compared to a printer, but we are not driven by those numbers."
Astron Packaging
Ahmedabad-based corrugation and label specialist, Astron Packaging, completed the installation of the second HP Indigo press, a WS6600 in 2014, at its Ahmedabad unit, that allowed it to up its production capacity. This is the second HP Indigo at Astron in addition to the HP Indigo WS4500, which it had installed in 2010.
Niraj Darji, senior vice president at Astron Packaging, said the company primarily caters to the printing and packaging needs of the pharmaceutical sector. “In the face of rapidly growing customer demand for high-value printing applications, we felt the need for a second digital press to boost printing capacity and better optimise existing resources.”
Essel Propack
Mumbai-based lamitube expert, Essel Propack has invested in a HP Indigo 6800 label press at its Vasind facility in 2015.
This Indigo installation is second at Essel. The company has a HP Indigo 6000, which it bought in 2011. It uses the digital offset press for short-run printing of substrates used for its four tubing locations across India.
Positive Packaging (SGRE Labels)
Bengaluru’s SGRE Labels, which was acquired by Positive Packaging in 2012, owns a HP Indigo WS4500 label press which produces print with the look and feel of offset – and a wide range of colours and label and packaging substrates.
Skanem Interlabels
Besides a fleet of narrow web flexo presses, Vasai-based Skanem Interlabels has a HP Indigo 4500. The company has put this machine into service to cater to the short run label printing market since 2011.
Pravesha Industries
Hyderabad-based Pravesha Industries has installed an Indigo WS4500. The machine was installed in 2010 and since then it has been deployed to print labels as well as cartons for pharmaceutical market.