The ink lab will be inaugurated by Ashish Pradhan, CEO, Siegwerk India, Vinay Nalawade, director - flexible packaging business, Parakh Agro and Harshal Parakh, director, Parakh Agro.

Dr Akshay V Joshi, research co-ordinator, Printing Engineering Department at PVG said, "In theory, it is extremely important for there to be standards by which quality can be measured in any industry. Since these standards act as an appropriate litmus test by which to measure quality is arguable."

With the ink lab at PVG, students will understand how to measure in the right way, since these standards can help a converter reduce costs, improve turnover, improve profitability, and improve the company profile with stakeholders including the brands.

Joshi said, "We advise our students to carefully consider ink standards route. Putting procedures in place to comply with the standards automatically improves effectiveness and productivity. The second benefit is that printers can attract new work and more contracts from existing customer through the tendering stage as a number of customers require standards as part of the contract.

Printers could "knock off a lot of time" from their makereadies, could slash their wastage and maximise ink coverage to reduce amounts used, Joshi said.