Printpack India 2011: a record-setting event

The much-awaited and much-talked about Printpack India 2011 opened its doors to the visitors on January 16, 2011. The show was formally inaugurated by Dr Subas Chandra Pani, chairman and managing director, ITPO. The show proved to be the leading exhibition on printing, packaging, converting, signage and allied machinery in all respects – with impressive statistics – 18,000+ sq m of exhibition area, 400+ exhibitors and 50,000+ visitors. Here’s a detailed report on the event. The 10th Printpack India 2011 opened its doors to the visitors for the graphic arts industry for six days, starting from January 16 to 21, 2011 at the recently renovated Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. The welcome address was given by Neeraj K Gupta, executive director, India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO). “It is a pride to say that participants at this show represent all major multinationals of the world in the printing and packaging sectors. There is representation from various countries like Japan, Germany, China, USA, Italy, Korea, etc, to name a few. Infact, the participation was so high that few of the exhibitors could not be accommodated due to dearth of space,” he said. He also took the opportunity to welcome delegations from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, USA, Japan, etc.

The show was formally inaugurated with the lighting of the lamp by Dr Subas Chandra Pani, chairman and managing director, ITPO together with NS Manku, president and Satish Bajwa, general secretary, IPAMA, VK Gauba, OSD-ITPO. Dr Pani remarked during the inaugural address, “It would be a pleasure for everyone as Printpack is the landmark event for the printing and packaging industry not only in India but will become one of the top events in this sector in the world.” He also said that with the redefining of this industry, the emphasis is on design, creativity and customized solutions. “The theme of Printpack India ‘India – Emerging Leader of Graphic Arts Industry’ is apt in these times,” he added. In line with international exhibitions, Dr Pani welcomed the present and prospective exhibitors to book their stall space for the next Printpack India (Feb 5-10, 2013) right during the show.

The vote of thanks was proposed by NS Manku, president, IPAMA. He said that last 20 years of Printpack India were very exciting and the show has been successful due to wonderful co-cooperation of IPAMA and ITPO. “It is their combined effort which has made Printpack India a calendar event for all over the world,” he remarked. “It is a wonderful event and there are immense opportunities for all participants to take advantage of the facilities provided and I wish this event to be a great success for everyone,” he concluded.

The show was well-received by the visitors and the exhibitors seemed satisfied. “Printpack India is one of the best platforms for all exhibitors, whether big or small. The show has been well organized and the expanse of the show itself is very encouraging for both the exhibitors as well as the visitors. Printpack India is the must-attend show for all people related to the graphic arts industry. In fact, the printers’ fraternity looks forward to this event, which helps them to shape their purchase decisions,” remarked Manoj B Mehta, president and Shashi R Sharma, past president, All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP). 
According to Sunil Jadli, corporate communications, Micro Inks, who had a beautiful furnished stall in Hall 11, “We are here to meet our customers and associate here with them. It is a very good forum, where distributors and other industry players give us a good idea of what is happening in the industry. This show is a one-stop destination for us to get a full view of the overall industry happenings. We can have a quick look around of all the new products and innovations.”

Speaking on the last day of the show, NS Manku, president, Indian Printing and Allied Machinery Manufacturers’ Association (IPAMA), said that the show has been far beyond expectations. “It has been a very encouraging show, our courage has gone to a totally new level than it was when we conceived the show or even began it. In fact, the lukewarm response that the printing shows got in late 2009 and 2010 were disappointing but Printpack India brought a refreshing change with good exhibitors and visitors turnout,” he added.

The expanse of the show is 25 percent higher than the previous Printpack, attracting more than 400 exhibitors to the show. “And there were almost 35 exhibitors whom we could not accommodate in the show. And this was, after we constructed hangars outside the halls to accommodate additional exhibitors. We really thank all exhibitors for their continued faith in IPAMA and in Printpack India,” told Manku.

Talking about the visitors, Manku said, “The visitor profile to the show was definitely good. Time and again, visitors have proved their faith in Printpack brand and this time, the response has surpassed all previous records. A record number of 32,000 visitors have visited the show in the first four days and crossed 50,000 marks at the end of the show, which is an excellent footfall for a B2B exhibition.”

The display profile at the show was vast with many innovative products. Here’s a brief display profile of some of the exhibitors at the show:

The stall of APL Machinery was alive with impressive demos of their machines. A fully-automated non-woven bag making machine was ordered by Singhal Advertisers & Screen Printers, Gwalior while the world’s first double station UV coating and curing line from APL was sold to Arihant, Kolkata. Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, APL, happily explained, “With this machine, one can get two different effects like gloss and texture in a single pass.”

While, Bobst India presented live domo of their bestseller, NovaCUT 106 -E Autoplaten die cutter and top-end folder gluer ExpertFOLD 110 A-2 showing innovating applications. As per Venugopal Menon, vice president, business unit-sheetfed, Indian subcontinent, Bobst India, the highlight of the show is that Bobst is showing the machine ‘ExpertFOLD’, made in its Pune Factory having world class facility matching the Swiss standards and is also one of the GMU ( Global Manufacturing Unit) for the Bobst Group out of Switzerland.

Capital Graphic Supplies, alongwith AS Print Aids Pvt Ltd showcased the ‘Ecologica’, a fully automatic rule bending machine from Serviform Srl. As per Mauro Tomelleri, sales and marketing director, Serviform, who was present to interact with visitors, “This machine is user friendly and suitable for those die makers who have space and power supply limitations. Providing outstanding quality at affordable price, it reduces production time, ensuring the best value for money. Featuring interchangeable bending head system, it can work with appropriate tooling, 1.5, 2 and 3 Pt rule.” Besides, the full range of diemaking products from CITO-System, steel rules from Martin Miller GmbH, Austria, Nick Grinder and Rotary Waste Stripper from Nor-Graphic Ltd, Norway were also on display. In addition to this, the company showcased digital finishing solutions from Hunkeler, W&D direct marketing solutions, Kirk-Rudy and print finishing solutions from James Burn International, France and Antimarking system from Print-Guard, A

Creed Engineers displayed the Rotatek Brava Intermittent offset press, the Omega Digicon Series 2 finishing equipment with the HPIndigo 6000 digital press, the Omega SR 330 slitter inspection rewinder with a Flytech 100 percent defect detection camera system, Kodak variable data printing machines, Ultron anilox roller cleaning systems, Petrel Security inks, Kodak and Jet Flexo and polymer plates, Schober cutting tools, Zacares numbering system and much more.

Hyderabad-based Crystal Digital Solutions presented CRON ‘Caililong’ laser image setter. “Participation in the Printpack India 2011 is a priceless opportunity to expose ourselves in the northern India market,” V Srinivasa Babu remarked.

While, DAYA became the first Indian company to launch its absolutely indigenously manufactured commercially successful fully automatic film laminating machine PYLO, specially for PET, BOPP lamination with online cutting system. Integrated feeder unit delivers seamless workflow with control for easy set-up of sheet length and underlap. Besides, DAYA, also introduced cost-effective water based laminator JAZZ in sheet format size of 780 mm (W) x 1040 mm (L), specially for medium to high volume converters. “There is a huge market for a high-quality laminator that is not expensive to purchase, quick to make ready and efficient at handling 6,000 sheets per hour,” said HV Sheth, managing director.

Heralding a new leap for the packaging segment, EskoArtwork staged its Kongsberg iXE10 cutting table at its stall. “Kongsberg iXE10 is competent to cut a broad range of substrates, corrugated surface, paper board, plastic materials, etc,” elucidated Manjunath Basavaraj, executive–inside sales, South Asia, EskoArtwork India who asserted that this trade fair is quite a strategic event boosting their business to a new height. “As positive responses from visitors have been tremendous, we hope that 10-15 serious enquiries could be converted into business,” he remarked.

At the show, Kawal Arora of Ferag India announced that Mathrubhumi is equipping its ten print sites in the south of India with state-of-the-art mailroom technology from Ferag. Juerg Moecli, CEO, Ferag AG, said that India is an important market and one of the fastest growing economies of the world. “Our project with Mathrubhumi would extend to 2-2.5 years,” he added. Besides, Ferag displayed the new ‘fold n’ stitch’ – quarterfolding with integrated stitching. With ‘fold n’ stitch’, Ferag is continuing resolutely down the road to added value in newspaper postpress processing. This new component extends the quarterfold process by adding saddle stitching.

Fujifilm India presented new standards in chemistry consumption and maintenance with its multi-award winning FLH-Z ‘ZAC’ range of processors. Compared to typical processors and finishing units, the ‘ZAC’ processors now offer printers unrivalled savings by giving them the ability to develop around 8,000 sq m of plates with just one replenisher bath. They also showcased violet plate setters and CtP digital plates- both themal and violet.

At the stall of Graphica Flexotronica, visitors could see the live demo of Graphica high speed fully automatic screen printing machine range, include Graphica Camshell, two post pillar with auto take-off, NANO –PRINT, NANO SCREEN MAKER 5-in-1, NANO SHARPENER, NANO UV, NANO-PRINT plus one ergonomically designed high quality semi automatic screen printing machine, etc. Shripada Bhat, informed about a new innovation – NANO SCREEN MAKER 5-in-1, which was being displayed at the show. This is the most compact, space saving, and a revolutionary product, “Such product has been introduced first time in the world,” he further informed.

For the first time ever, Glunz & Jensen exhibited products on the Indianprint Pack show. On display was a palette of green chem-free products; PlateWriterTM 2400, shown live for the first time in India, attracting constant crowds throughout the show – with its green, affordable and no chemical – plate setting features.

An even mix of Raptors, Geckos, and Chem-free solutions has shown that Indian companies choose to go green and build effective pres-press departments for a profitable future. The company sold around 100 plate processors during the six day Printpack show, along with loads of investing opportunities in Glunz & Jensen automation solutions.

The stand of Joy D-zign Engineers Pvt Ltd was abuzz with business activities as the company presented live demo of the recently launched online edge squaring machines (for notebooks), casing-in machines, online smashing and nipping machines, pre-gluer and book folding press, besides their standard range of book finishing and notebook finishing equipments. “Printpack India is very important for us as it attracts almost all those who matter to us – our customers, vendors,” conveyed Sunny Singh, director business development, Joy D-zign Engineers Pvt Ltd. Establishing themselves as the manufacturers of manual and semi-automatic finishing equipments for book binding and notebook production, Joy D-zign Engineers is now riding high on their past successes and foraying in automatic finishing equipments in a big way. “Infact, our new products are extension of our existing range. Till now, we were targeting the small and medium enterprises, but now we are servicing major printers and publishers in the industry. We plan to have a complete automated line for book finishing by 2012. As far as notebook production is concerned, we will also come up with some automated products in this segment as well. We have been in the business for almost 17 years now and over the years we have sold around 2700 machines across India, Middle east, South Asia, Africa, North America and South America,” added Sunny.

Line O Matic presented live demo of fully automatic exercise book machine – Nova RB 104. Ensuring high speed and greater production, minimizing efforts and delivering the best results, this machine is used to produce exercise notebooks from the paper reel online in just one unit. AK Chowdhury, manager – operation, ITC Limited unveiled the high-end machine available in two models viz. NOVA RB104 and NOVA RB91.

While, manroland India presented a unique show concept to the Indian printing industry, moving away from traditional show formats seen over the years. Understanding current market requirements in the commercial and packaging sector, the company emphasized on two business ideas: VAP (Value Added Printing) and futureproof. VAP solutions are helping printers to add value to their existing print products, while futureproof enables printers to adapt changing market conditions easily by planning future investments for upgrades. In the newspaper web sector, manroland launched its Cromoman press in the 4:1 concept.

Micro Inks | Huber Group presented MAXXIMA – new recruit to the !nkredible sheetfed range family; range of UV inks (branded as NEW V) for sheetfed, screen applications; and publication as well as flexible packaging inks; etc.

Monotech Systems displayed an array of digital wide-format printers. The company added Truepress Jet UV printers in its product line. Now the company is set to cater Truepress Jet 2500UV and Jet 1600 printers. The company also introduced Pixeljet Konica 3300, which is equipped with Konica KM 512L printhead. Displayed alongside the newly introduced Pixeljet printer included other high-speed and high-quality printers like Pixeljet Polaris 3300 with Spectra printhead and Pixeljet Konica 3300 with Konica KM 51 printhead. T P Jain, managing director, Monotech Systems Limited said that the company is proud to present its latest product update to its customers through such mega expo.

Besides, Monotech Systems Ltd has recently started a new software solution division for commercial, on-demand, variable data printing, newspaper, book printing, digital printing and label printing. “We started this division to provide value-added service to customers. The response to these softwares has been good and we have closed 3-4 orders at the show and got many serious sales leads,” told Amritpal Singh Bawa, national head – application & software division, Monotech Systems Ltd.

Through their distributor NBG Printographic Machinery, Rado Packaging Machines Pvt Ltd received order from MNS Printers (Bangalore) for their Registar TY800 AOAR system, which was on display at their stand along with TY 200 resister punch system. The company also sold four machines (plate punch / bending) to Archana Press Pvt Ltd, Okhla; Batra Art Press, NIA, Delhi; Delhi Press, New Delhi and Prerna Sahyog, Faridabad.

‘Choose from the range of models as per your requirement and budget’ was the message that Riso India Private Limited conveyed to its customers during the show. The company presented three common man’s digital presses, namely Riso CZ 180, MZ 770/870/1070 and RZ 970/1070. “MZ is a single pass two colours press and RZ is designed to print paper up to 210 gsm and CZ prints up to B4 size,” explained Deepak Ahuja, head-sales & marketing, Riso India Private Limited.

Speed-O-Graphics India, Bengaluru displayed the Printoram-92 and Printoram-115 cutting machines under the brand name of ‘Parks’.

A unique fascination at the stall of Techno Graphics Services India Private Limited was its presentation of Wen Chyuan high-speed automatic laminating machine. “So far, we have delivered this machine to heavyweight clients like Pragati Offset, Thomson Press (India) Ltd, Parksons Packaging Ltd, TCPL Packaging Limited, etc,” told Muralidhar Nalli, managing director, Techno Graphics Services India.

Toyo Ink India Pvt Ltd showcased its offerings for the printing industry in various segments, including sheetfed, liquid, cans, UV line-ups, etc. The latest in their segment included Toyo King Nex sheetfed ink, the colour hue of which is based on ISO12647-2 and Japan color 2007. “It is developed for NEXT printing machine, with a highest speed of 18,000sph,” told Tetsuo Ohnishi, technical manager –offset, Toyo Ink India Pvt Ltd. “We hope to get to know more and more customers and their demands and accordingly research and develop on products,” added Varghese Anooj Abraham, Southwest Asia secretary, Asia & Oceania Business Development, Toyo Ink Mfg Co Ltd, Japan.

The stand of UFLEX Ltd attracted visitors from both printing and packaging segments. On display were four different machine concepts – printing machine with electronic line shaft technology, high-speed slitting machine and two packaging machines – one for pre-made pouches and another for online making of pouches and filling. On display was another servo-driven collar type form-fill-seal machine. “Printing and packaging industry is growing and there is a revolution in India, invariably leading to the need for high quality printing and innovative packaging solutions. Our displayed machines are in line with this theme,” told Ajay Tandon, CEO (engineering division), UFLEX Ltd.

UV Printers India Pvt Ltd showcased Dili UV-1606 VS 6-colour with varnish machine. This versatile machine is suited for industrial and signage applications, offering the possibility of printing on any substrate like glass, ceramic, sunboard, etc. Even the lenticular sheet can be printed very well on this machine.

Digitally modulated HighWater software DMS is a new class of screening called digital modulation (DM) screening. The software was introduced at Watthour Systems stand in the presence of Peter Flynn, director of sales, HighWater Products Limited, UK. “DM is so named because it digitally modulates each and every pixel it produces in high-quality prints equivalent to 350/450 dpi, rather than repeating a fixed pattern of dots, ” told Peter. Other HighWater product that pulled huge crowd includes Cobra 8 CtP machine.

Welbound had a mammoth pavilion showcasing almost all that come under the world of book binding. The company’s overall presentation at the expo was a new facet of advanced (book) binding technologies. Diploma (folding) and Pickwel (paper gathering) and others made the long spiral of book binding machines on display. “I hope that the wide range of our advanced machineries presented to our customers would be able to make the industry leap into another level of progression,” asserted P Sajith, director – marketing & sales.