Speaking to PrintWeek India, Pankaj Shah, chairman at WICMA, said, “The main objectives of WICMA is to promote trade, commerce and industry connected with corrugated boards and boxes and to promote and advance commercial and technical education of corrugated packaging.”

WICMA’s laboratory, headed by YM Rao, offers all the tests necessary for the corrugation industry. According to Rao of WICMA, more than 500 tests a month are performed at the laboratory.

The PrintWeek India team visited the WICMA laboratory on 28 March, the test equipment at the premises include Cobb tester, compression strength tester, burst strength tester, and puncture resistance tester among others.

WICMA has been promoting corrugation in India through continuous researches and technical seminars. “We have successfully completed researches on five different projects which was authorised by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR),” said Shah.

CoDex, an index for costing was developed by WICMA in January 2010 to ease the costing. “This is a price indexing structure similar to SENSEX which is similar to the tracking of stocks in the BSE. As for the price front, CoDex serves to guide, point-out or otherwise facilitate reference,” said Shah. The CoDex indexing happens every quarter of a year.

WICMA has had its presence in India since September 1967. Being one of a kind association in the corrugation segment, the association hosts a range of activities for the benefit of the the industry. The activities include technical seminars, symposiums, financial seminars and certification courses.

WICMA’s Mumbai division hosts corrugated players from Maharashtra and Goa. Currently it has 500 members from both these states. WICMA is affiliated to the Federation of Corrugated Box Manufacturers of India (FCBMI) with an all India membership of about 2000.