New label body ALPS reveals future course of action

The newly established industry body for label printers and suppliers has already 160 members. Now, the organisation hopes to take the number to 300 members in the next 100 days. The member registration fee is Rs 2,500.

According to Gururaj Ballarwad of Wintek Flexo Prints, also the president of ALPS, transparency and flexibility in work, and only one category for all the members are the major focus of the association. “We did not put any restriction on becoming a member. Anyone who is associated with the label printing industry can be our member. It can be a printer, supplier, professional and others,” Ballarwad said.

About its plans, Ballarwad said, after April 2017, ALPS is planning to organise small and focused seminars.

Prior to the Delhi get together, ALPS recently organised similar events in Bengaluru (attended by 30 people) and Chennai (attended by 38 people). The next destination is Hyderabad, in the third week of March.

In his message to the industry, Ballarwad said, “We are providing a platform to offer all possible help on technology, legal and other aspects of the business. We are also focusing on sustainability, especially reuse of waste material.”

Ajay Agarwal, vice-president of ALPS and the owner of Syndicate Labels, added, “We have to come together to discourage the process of reverse auction. We are planning to start a group of professionals to help printers on subjects like adaption of new technology, legal issues and others.”

Besides Ballarwad and Agarwal, Arunesh Bansal as secretary and Ashish Gupta as treasurer are part of the core team.

ALPS has proposed six committees to help the industry – membership and finance committee; technical support, knowledge exchange and certification committee; legal support and dispute resolution committee; government affair and liaison committee; sustainability project management committee and end-user engagement committee. Each committee will consists of four to five people (a group of printers and suppliers) to resolve the problems.

“We want to create this association as a platform to provide all the information related to technology, Ballarwad said, adding, “As members of the association have their own business to manage, we have plans to hire professionals to run the association.” 

The event also saw the launch of the organisation website www.alpsindia.org.