LMAI’s rousing farewell to Anil Sharma of Avery

Sandeep Zaveri, president of LMAI, set the tone for the evening by paying glowing tribute to Sharma, his six-year tenure at Avery as its head in India, and the unstinted support to LMAI. “It is difficult to say farewell to a friend of LMAI, as Anil has been because he has done so much to get Avery-LMAI aligned as partners in activities needed for the label industry.”

 

Other LMAI members who paid tribute to Anil were, Vivek Kapoor, RL Deshpande, Guraraj Ballarward, and Kuldeep Goel among others.

 

Speaking at the evening and remembering his days at Avery, Sharma who joined Avery after serving a stint at Hindustan Lever managing the soap business, said, “When I joined Avery Dennison I was scared because I came from an industry where soap making as a technology had been constant for a long time. How much different can a soap be? It was the same soap my grandmother made that Hindustan Lever manufactured, too. The innovation was at best in the packaging form, and differentiation was in reaching the product faster to the market, etc.”

 

Sharma added, “When I came into the print industry I realised that innovation is almost like the Internet – something is happening everyday, every moment, be it the suppliers or the label manufacturers themselves. Look at the improvements in the processes – from offset to letter press to flexo to now digital and combination presses; we started with different types of inks to now looking to manufacture REACH compliant inks; in the finishing technology we are talking about laser die-cutting, automatic rolling, turrets, etc.”
 

For Sharma, the way LMAI members have used these resources to gain a competitive advantage has been inspiring. “I have not seen innovations happening so quick, so different and alive and thriving every day. This is what kept me going at Avery.”

 

Bharat Mehta of Super Labels summed up Sharma’s contribution to the label industry and his talent. “When Anil’s predecessor Raj Srinivasan left for USA, he left behind a large and solid footprint to match. Anil has proved his skill by not only meeting it but also raising the bar for his successor to scale.”

 

Mehta concluded, “Nobody has a monopoly over dreams. If it is Indra Nooyi at Pepsi, or Sundar Pichai at Google, why can’t we all dream of Anil at Avery? Let all our dreams be the motivation for Anil.”

 

Pankaj Bhardwaj, director for South Asia, labels & packaging materials at Avery, is set to take Sharma’s place at Avery’s India operation in a month’s time. “Avery has been a partner in LMAI’s pursuit to providing skilled technical resources, which has helped the industry to fulfil the challenges of trained manpower. We will continue to work in tandem to fulfil the aspirations of the label industry.”

 

LMAI also used the occasion to launch its magazine – Label Legacy.