Visitors defy distance, PackPlus garners mixed response
The organisers of the four-day packaging and converting industry’s show, PackPlus 2012, put forward a brave foot by transporting the show to India Exhibition Centre, Greater Noida.
11 Dec 2012 | 3424 Views | By Supreeth Sudhakaran
“I was a little concerned about the footfall, as the exhibition was being held at Greater Noida, which is not as centralised a location as is Pragati Maidan. However, taking the distance into consideration, I feel the show has achieved a satisfactory limit,” said one of the exhibitors.
While there were large number of live machines spotted at the venue, most of them became “live” from second day of the show.
“PackPlus has brought the industry to India Exposition Centre, Greater Noida. It is nice to see that visitors have defied the distance factor. The venue is nice with good infrastructure. In the coming years, the venue will be a perfect place for industry exhibitions,” said KD Sahni, head – stationary division, Weldon Celloplast.
Hemant Desai, general manager, QuadTech felt that PackPlus served as a litmus test for PrintPack. “Printpack is around two months away, and it will be held at the same venue. I feel, that PackPlus has provided the visitors and exhibitors a ‘litmus test’ before strategizing for PrintPack. The footfalls on the first day, like any business exhibitions, were little less. However, the weekends ushered in more visitors.”
Inspection systems, slitter rewinders and form fill and seal machine manufacturers were present in good numbers. Two printers, Any Graphics and Reynders too had booked stands at strategic location.
ACG Pam Pharma showcased FPC5, a high-speed wrapping machine for products in fine seal packing, in collaboration with Theegarten-Pactec. Bosh exhibited its vertical form filling and sealing machine with Doser. BST Sayona brought in Turborex Selematic, a new breaking technology in web tension control, and Moviroll, roll pusher that alowes operators to handle cylindrical loads on a flat surface. Both the products were from BST Sayona’s new partner, Renova. Italy-based Renova had inked a distribution deal with BST Sayona in Drupa this year.
Cyclop Packaging Sytems showcased JP Nano, an advanced printer for Track and Trace application, while Canpac (part of DS Group) displayed composite cans made of virgin kraft paper and food grade liner. Erhardt+Leimer India showed an array of products that covered tension controller, line guiding and web guiding systems.
Kody showcased a live demonstration of its recently-launched model of slitter rewinder D 917, while Nordson India had its NiCart semi-automatic carton sealing machine at its stand. Robatech received good response from the show for its hotmelt systems from the Concept Series.
Weldon Celloplast exhibited tamper-evident label stock from Fasco. Harveer Sahni, managing director of Weldon Celloplast said, “Several companies have been providing tamper-evident label stocks to the industry. However, Fasco has a remarkable product that has a better adhesion property and is one of the best in its class.”
The last edition of the show was named India Packaging Show and was held at NSIC exhibition ground, Okhla, New Delhi. This is the fourth edition of PackPlus. India Packaging Show was initiated in the year 2000. Last year, the organisers had a separate exhibition for the converting industry and therefore, they named the show as India Packaging. This year again, the converting industry was brought back into the gamut.
Better infrastructure gives a world-class touch to the show
“Looking at the infrastructure and the facility, I feel that it is the right decision to hold a business exhibition at a venue like this,” said Khushal Patel of BST Sayona, one of the exhibitors at the show.
The India Exposition Centre & Mart is managed by Expomedia Group. The spacious venue, which can accommodate up to 5000 people, was inaugurated in 2006 by Prime Minister of India. This venue is spread across an area of two million sqft with modern facilities such automatic motorised fire dampers confirming to US standards and 16 world class escalators, eight passenger elevators and 11 freight lifts for efficient handling of both humans and goods traffic; making it among the top event venues in Asia.
Contrary to Pragati Maidan, the centre has large number of affordable restaurants, is cleaner and a closer entry gate to the halls for transporting heavy machinery. However, distance still remains a pain-point. While the organisers had arranged for transportation from nearest metro stations, the travel duration is around 30 minutes.
With PackPlus garnering mixed response from the visitors and exhibitors, all eyes will now be on Printpack.