LMAI technical seminar in Delhi discusses fine prints of labels

Kuldip Goel, vice-president, LMAI, and the owner of Any Graphics, during his welcome address in Hindi, said that 100% label converters (the LMAI members) registered themselves for the seminar. “Converters, suppliers, sponsors and media partners are the four pillars of the event and we are thankful to them all,” he said.

It being the technical seminar, Shailesh Kumar Sharma, senior manager-technical, Flint Group India, touched upon the technical aspects of flexo printing inks. He shared with the audience the structure of inks and emphasised on the importance of UV technology.

“Curing is a process where liquid turns into solid. High-intensity UV light is better and single lamp with higher capacity is better than more lamps with more power. LED UV is better on the basis of the lifetime, environment-friendliness and maintenance. Correct PH value helps you produce perfect dot reproduction,” he said.

Carston Barlebo of Air Motion Solutions (AMS) said, “LED UV provides you the facility to cure on thinner substrates, up to 10 microns. It offers better substrate adhesion and greater assurance of cure.”

Carston Barlebo shared a case study about the all-new AMS Flexo Series LED UV system for the narrow web industry at a food packaging converter, ACM in Italy. Barlebo said, "The system is retrofitted on a seven-colour Omet VaryFlex F1 530mm (20.5-in). This is the largest UV LED system ever installed, and takes full advantage of the benefits of UV light-emitting diodes in lieu of traditional mercury lamps to reduce heat, save energy and increase productivity for label and packaging converters."

The AMS LED UV system offers a shift in affordable UV LED curing technology for the flexographic narrow web market. Compatible with a new generation of LED-optimised inks and varnishes from leading manufacturers, the AMS system is available from single modules all the way up to 16 units at any print format width, and integrates into OEM or existing UV press housings. Barbelo said, "With the industry's highest intensity UV LED levels and full web speed tracking control, the liquid-cooled AMS LED lamps consume just half the energy of traditional mercury-based UV systems."

After the technical know-how, Chirag Gokani shared his views on wealth management and said that financial planning is a GPS for life’s financial journey. “Insurance is a cost. Do not buy it for investment,” he said.

A fund is a necessity for business, and Sandeep Tiberwala from Yes Bank briefed on the monetary part of the business, including the ways to arrange funds.

Printing press is the heart of label production and the officials from Nilpeter were at hand to explain about narrow web flexo. Manish Kapoor of Nilpeter said the growth rate of the industry is around 15% annually. Under the circumstances, he emphasised on the opportunities in the domestic market as opposed to export.

Kapoor said the Indian flexible packaging market in India was around Rs 1.5 lakh crore in 2015 and the narrow web was not even 1%, which was equal to Rs 1,500 crore. And 1% is equal to Rs 30 crore annual businesses for 50 converters. Meanwhile, board packaging in India in 2015 was more than USD eight billion. This, Kapoor said is an opportunity for the narrow web flexographic converter.

Before press comes pre-press. As Naveen Goel of Any Graphics (and the host for the evening) remarked, “Pre-press is the heart of flexo printing process and it is a game-changer.”

Deepanshu Goel of Creative Graphics shared best practices and the basics of the pre-press flexography process, like the use of double tapes and anilox rollers. “Printing press and other equipment in your facility must be according to your need,” he said.

The seminar concluded with an interactive session moderated by Harveer Sahni. Most of the questions were raised for CP Paul of APL Machinery for LED UV compatibility in flexo, and printing inks for Shailesh Kumar Sharma of Flint Group. Paul said, APL will be hosting several open house events to showcase the new system to its customers and partners in the coming weeks.