PAMEX 2020 tour across Nepal receives huge response from printers

The first stop of Print Odyssey in Nepal was at Dhangadhi. A host of more than 15 printers greeted the team PAMEX at Afno Ghar Temple Resort. In the following morning, the team started towards Butwal with stops at Nepalgunj and Lamhiya. On the third day, they headed to Pokhara with a stop at Waling. The first part of the Odyssey ended at Kathmandu on November 7. Then the team had a halt at Damauli and Mugling for breakfast and lunch meetings.

On November 8, PAMEX 2020 Road Show, which comprised an Introductory Meet along with a Technical Conference and a Table Top Exhibition, was held at Alice Reception in Kathmandu where gathered more than 300 printers from all over Nepal. All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP), in association with Federation of Nepal Printers Association (FNPA), organised the show sponsored by HP, supported by Nepal Printers Association and Nepal Stationery & Educational Material Industries Association in collaboration with Print-packaging.com (P) Ltd.

In his keynote address at the Kathmandu Road Show, Prof Kamal Chopra, Chairman of PAMEX, said, “Main objective of our international outreaching programme in Kathmandu is not to simply invite Nepalese printers to PAMEX 2020, but to guide them towards what is trending in the industry and next generation technologies.”

“In the previous edition of PAMEX (in 2017) we received 25,000 trade visitors comprising small and big printers. This year we estimate a record-breaking presence of valued visitors at the show,” informed Prof Chopra, adding that PAMEX, a landmark international show of the printers, by the printers and for the printers, is witnessing largest participation of overseas exhibitors in India. AIFMP is hosting the board meeting of World Print & Communication Forum (WPCF) and the National Awards for Excellence in Printing (NAEP) during the show, with the introduction of Viren Chabbra Print Leadership Award (VCPLA) this year.

In his thanksgiving message, Anil Arora, President of Print-Packaging.com (P) Ltd, event partner for PAMEX 2020, appreciated the crowd of Nepalese printers gathered at the Kathmandu road show. “We are leader in terms of pulling quality trade visitors from all over India and abroad,” he mentioned. He added that the road show is part of PAMEX 2020’s international outreaching programme, aiming at sharing knowledge about new products and technologies with Nepalese printers.

Present at the Kathmandu road show from the Nepal printing industry included Loknath Paudel, Director General, Mudran Vibhag (Department of Printing), Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, as chief guest; Puskal Gautam, President of Federation of Nepal Printers Association (FNPA); Ghanashyam Shreshtha, Founder Member of FNPA; Sunil Kumar Shrestha, Central Committee Member of FNCCI (Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry), among others. “PAMEX 2020 Road Show is a great opportunity and knowledge bank ever provided by AIFMP for the printing fraternity of Nepal who will be visiting the expo in Mumbai,” said Sunil Kumar.

The Technical Conference had a Technical Session in which industry experts from India presented a series of innovations and technical advancements. In the opening session, V Vaidyalingam, Director, Suba Solutions Pvt Ltd, narrated about printing press as a manufacturing unit, which was followed by Kulraj Singh, Regional Business Manager, HP India Sales Pvt Ltd, explaining about how HP Indigo press could bring the new era of innovations. Babul Chatterjee, Manager–Marketing, Condot Systems Pvt Ltd, shared new possibilities in variable data printing.

The second phase of Print Odyssey kick started on November 9, 2019. The first stop after departing from Kathmandu was at a small town called Bhaktapur on the outskirts of the city. From there, the Odyssey moved on to Janakpur with a halt at Banega. In the evening, a group of 35 printers gathered to meet the team PAMEX at Janakpur.

On the last day of the tour, the team PAMEX headed towards Biratnagar. There were stops at Lahan, Itahri on the way. The team met more than 100 printers spread across the three stations. The objective of this exercise was to understand the issues being faced by printers across the Himalayan country as well as the promotion of PAMEX 2020.

The issues that came up for discussions were same at almost all the stops undertaken in the Odyssey. Most of the printers in Nepal faced issues with availability of trained technical professionals to operate their units. As the industry in Nepal is highly dependent on India, the printers also faced issues regarding acquiring of raw materials and spare parts for their machines. The ever present issue of falling print prices was also recurring theme at these gatherings.

Prof Chopra addressed all the issues put in front of him in great details. He emphasised on the need to produce cheaper rather than sell cheaper to gain more business. He also advised the printers to join hands and form clusters to enable them to become more competitive. He informed the printers about the MoU signed between All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) and Federation of Nepal Printers Association (FNPA) wherein Nepalese printers could send professionals to India to undergo training.

“The issues faced by the printers in Nepal are similar to the issues faced by us in India. The industry is changing. We need to change with the times. The need of the customers is also changing. We need to identify this need and cater to it. For that, we need to join hands and produce at a larger rate to bring down the costs. Hence coined the theme ‘Produce Cheaper’ as the main theme of Print Odyssey,” said Prof Chopra.

All is now geared up for PAMEX 2020, which is scheduled to be held from January 6-9, 2020 at Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai.

For more details, log on to: www.pamex.in