This conference was organised in association with the Western India Corrugated Box Manufacturers Association (WICMA).

Parag Hase, head of the department, Printing Technology & Graphic Arts and the convener of the conference, introduced and welcomed the dignitaries. “The purpose behind this gathering is to explore and provide a platform to all stakeholders, students, researchers, professionals, and technical crews in the field to discuss, dialogue regarding changes, trends and developments in printing processes, technologies in the context of continuously changing packaging demands regarding designs, structures and assemblies, value additional operations,” he said.

The conference was inaugurated by Kamal Chopra, president, All India Federation of Master Printers. Sunil Gupta, president, WICMA was the guest of honour. Gurpreetsing Bagga, president and Dushyant Patil, vice-president, the Chamber of Marathwada Industries & Agriculture (CMIA) also guided the gathering during the inaugural session. Dr PV Jabde, the registrar of the university chaired the session.

Chopra urged the youngsters to join printing technology as career as there is a lot to perform in this field more than ink on paper. He referred to the global happenings and experiments in the field. He also explained the journey of printing advancements from ancient times and focused on the future of printing technologies.

The second session of the day was full of technical knowledge sharing, exchanges and panel discussions. Dr Rajendrakumar Anayath, director, Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences, Bhiwani, made a presentation on the infrared-based applications with live demonstrations.

Dr Anjankumar Baral, associate professor, Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, shared his research work regarding packaging design. He suggested packaging professionals to update themselves with the changing time and the needs of the consumers.

Dr Laxmi Priya, head of the department, Avinashlingam University for Women, Coimbatore, made an interesting presentation on printing, packaging and online shopping. She said as electronics and computerisation have modernised every bit of our life, printing cannot be an exception. Printers must adapt to electronics and information technology tools.

Sunil Kokane, product manager, flexo division, TechNova, offered some useful information regarding flexo printing, especially for the corrugation industry.

Satish Patil, director of Board of Colleges and University Development, was the last speaker.

There were total 150 participants at the conference. Besides the students from the printing department, students from Dhule, Jalgaon and Beed districts in Maharashtra participated at the event.