18th Image to Print flexible packaging roadshow transpires in Rajkot, first in India

The highlight of the first day was a keynote speech delivered by Chandubhai Virani, founder and director of Balaji Wafers, which is valued at over Rs 4000-crore. Virani narrated the rags to riches story of Balaji Wafers and inspired the audience with his entrepreneurial spark.

He on stressed the importance of being practical rather than professional. The success of Balaji lies in the strong rapport that it has built with its distributors, suppliers, dealers, retailers and consumers. Virani’s mantra is relentless efforts, building trust, deliver quality, service and value for money.

This was followed by technical sessions.

Janoschka’s Rudi Weis-Schiff, director business development and Uthiyakumar Murugaiah, managing director, Janoschka APE Malaysia spoke about the evolution of cylinder engraving technologies and how latest laser techniques that boast speeds of 70,000 cells per second and enhanced surface finishing is an important requirement of the high-speed gravure printing machines.

Fabio Vincenzi, area sales manager, Nordmeccanica spoke about evolving technologies in the coating and lamination space. He also explained how to add value to the vacuum coated products and achieve high-barrier through metallisation technologies like AlOx.
 

Ashvin Hebbar, sales director, Rossini India, spoke about important parameters to consider while selecting good quality rollers and sleeves for trouble-free operations and highlighted Rossini’s range of products.

W&H’s Ulrich Harte, Anuj Sahni, and Clemens Brinkmann introduced its range of products, which is poised to enable Packaging 4.0 and its benefits for the flexible packaging printers.

Siegwerk’s Himesh Joshi, Andrew Ng, and Angshuman Mukherjee spoke about ink systems and highlighted the need to go toluene-free.

On the second day, the discussions consisted of circular economy and the role of packaging converters. Siegwerk’s Andrew Ng explained the concepts and introduced the workings of Ceflex, which is a collaborative initiative of a European consortium of companies representing the entire value chain of flexible packaging.

The highlight of the second day was a plant visit to Balaji Multiflex’s new plant which houses India’s first nine-colour W&H Heliostar rotogravure printing press, W&H Varex blown film line and Nordmeccanica laminators.