Four-day show in Madurai boosts print in Tamil Nadu

MADITSSIA had first organised an exhibition in 1996 when there were only 200 printing presses in Madurai. Now, there are more than 2,000 printing and packaging units in Madurai. The four-day show was attended by more than 30,000 visitors from the southern districts of Tamil Nadu and more than 125 stalls participated in the exhibition.

L Ramanathan, chairman of Print-N-Pack 2022 said, "Not everyone can have access to the trade fairs in Delhi and Mumbai. Our aim is to make the latest trends and technology accessible to a small printer in a village. We have been quite successful in achieving this during the previous editions but the ninth edition has exceeded our expectations. The business that transpired during the fair is record-breaking."

Ramanathan shared with PrintWeek that when he visited the stalls on day three, he found "many machines and equipment which were displayed at the fair were sold and there were lots of business enquiries." According to the organisers, the approximate value of the business done during the fair was Rs 10 crore.

Some of the busy stalls at Print-N-Pack were: BMC Packaging Industries (displayed a corrugation flute-making and pasting kit); Bigo Engineering (displayed a flexo press); Carmel Engineering (displayed an envelope-making machine); Avery Dennison who showcased a range of labels stock; Heidelberg (displayed range of print consumables, spare-parts and print samples); Impress Precision Tools (displayed a drilling machine); Printech (displayed post-printing kit like UV coating, sticker scoring, case-making,etc.); Smart Pack Engineering (displayed form fill seal machine); Electromac Machinery (displayed perfect binder and a case-making kit).

The approximate value of the business done during the fair was Rs 10 crore

In addition, there was a raft of digital manufacturers like Canon, Epson, Riso, and Monotech who displayed Ricoh digital printing equipment. The other stalls included Suba Solutions, Green Power, ITC Limited, Laser Die, Sivalakshmi (Kodak), Vindini (Huber ink), Print Generic Systems (UV fitting and post-press equipment), Jay Hari (Elgi compressors), AB Tech Machineries, DIC, Synergy Plast, JSR Instruments.

L Ramanathan added, “Besides the trade fair displays, we had organised a seminar which witnessed presentations by industry leaders. The presentations were about emerging pressure sensitive labels requirements (Avery Dennison); Basics of colour in printing by L Ramanathan; Important trends in printing and packaging boards by ITC India; Do not sell print sheets, instead sell print products by Suba Solutions; Maintain your machine to sustain in the print business by Heidelberg."

Ramanathan concluded, "Due to the last two years of pandemic the print business has been impacted with severe losses. Lack of demand from end users has pushed the print industry to a stage of layoffs, loss of income, close down and heavy suffering. More than 45% price hike in raw-materials had crippled our business. Now as the print and packaging is returning to business activity, the past four days have boosted the enthusiasm of our industry. We hope to sustain the momentum with round the year activities."