Emboldened by Labelexpo:10 breathtaking highlights - The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

1.

The biggest installation announcement at the show was Omet announcing the sale of the Xflex 4 to Zircon. The 10-colour flexo press with cold foil, turn bar and a waste management system from Lundberg will be installed at one of the three Zircon’s plant in Dehradun. Besides Dehradun, the multi-locational company has a plant in Chennai and plans to start one each in West and East.

The Xflex 4 will be used for producing speciality and decoration products for personal and FMCG products. With this installation and more planed for the future the Rs 75-crore company hopes to touch the Rs 100-crore mark.
 
During the show, I also met Mahendra Shah, director, Renault Paper Products, Mumbai. He informed me that his company too had only last week completed the installation of an Omet VaryFlex with offset, screen, and gravure units.

He stated, “At this juncture, I feel the industry is in a flux. Though there is enough growth, the pricing is hampering further expansion. Personally, I have no takeaways from the show, because I think we’ve already invested in what we were looking for.”

These are the two Omets for the year, which takes the Omet tally to 12 in India.

Harveer Sahni and Pawandeep Sahni were bullish about "more sale". Sahni who hosted a small party for friends and partners at his home; was pleased about the response to "the Weldon technology bar."

 

2.

At the show, Epson displayed its Surepress L4033-A. The first L4033 was installed at Sai Packaging, Bengaluru, towards the end of 2013. In the last month, including the second day at the show, saw Epson notch two more.

The Surepress at Trigon has been installed prior to the show, and the press on display at the show is headed to Mumbai’s JP Printers.

A little bird told us, that Epson could install a fourth Surepress very soon. The Epson duo of L K Vasudevan and Harishankar are very upbeat about the next 12 months with the number of "very serious enquiries".

 

3. 

The pre-press specialists duo, Esko and Dupont, set-up a pre-press bureau at their stand. So, all you had to do was give them an artwork and they would provide a flexo plate ready to go to press, in a matter of minutes.

At the show, we also announced the news of the masters of gravure and PrintWeek India Pre-Press Company of the Year 2014, Ahmedabad-based Shilp Gravures complete installation of Esko’s Full HD Flexo solution, which is a combination of inline UV2 technology on its CDI 4260 digital flexo imager and special screening.

Esko has a total of 34 CDI Spark imagers installed in India.

My esteemed colleague, Rahul Kumar visited the Creative Graphics' (the Joint PrintWeek India Pre-Press Company of the Year 2014 Award winner) unit in Noida where the newest HD Flexo was at the doorstep; ready for an install after the show.

 

4.

Kodak was present with its range of its digital, packaging and publishing solutions with the theme ‘Do more with less’. On the second day of the show, Kodak announced sale of the Flexcel NX to Hyderabad-based pre-press bureau, Digiflex. The machine will be installed at the company’s Chellapalli plant by mid-December.

On the fourth day, we heard Kodak had booked another order for the Flexcel NX, which would take the total for this year to seven. A very good performance for 2014 one must say. Because till 2013, that is in the last five years since it launched the Flexcel NX, Kodak had sold only eight kit in India.

Meanwhile MacDermid has an installation at Colour Dots in Chennai.

 

5.

The slitter-rewinder and inspection systems have had a merry time. On the last day, Royal Coat, Prati’s Indian representative has announced the forthcoming installations of two Prati inspection systems.

Avery Dennison’s Knowledge Centre (Bengaluru) has acquired Sun Classic TE330 full servo slitter-rewinder. The second inspection system, Prati’s Saturn BiDi will be installed at Sel Jegat, which is based out of Sivakasi. This will be the first Saturn BiDi in India.

Likewise, Reifenhauser India, too announced that it had sold four AVT inspection systems. The company also sold the Alliance slitter-rewinder on display, to an Indian security press.

Flexo Image Graphics (FIG) announced that it had sold five Rotoflex VSI 330 slitter-rewinder machines with 100% fault detection systems. Among them, the machine showcased at the expo will be installed at the shop floor of Noida-based Jain Tranfer Products.

 

6.      

The made in India concept was evident in this segment with Faridabad-based Multitec and Ahmedabad-based RK Labels making inroads into the flexo press equipment  segment dominated by international companies.

New Delhi-based Creed Engineers, Mumbai-based Hyden Packaging also made an impression with its slitter-rewinders and inspection systems.

Multitec launched two new presses, one its first full-servo EcoFlex VSi and the EcoSmart, the servo infeed and outfeed press. The first EcoFlex VSi will go to Navi Mumbai-based Sandeep Zhaveri owned Total Print Solutions.

RK Labels sold eight equipments, of which two of its six colour flexo press was sold to Gurgaon-based Tarun Printers and Shree Ganesh Prints in UP, an intermittent rotary die-cutting machine to Ahmedabad-based Holovision and they also sealed two deals to companies in Karur and New Delhi.
 
Creed announced the sale of its Vinsak 13- and 17-inch LSR slitter-rewinder to A&A Labels and Regal Creative Products, both New Delhi-based label converters.

Hyden Packaging, diversifying into the label finishing segment with the launch of its U350 slitter-rewinder cum camera-based inspection system. Hyden, which specialises in dry offset printing presses, had an install base of over 125 units. At the show, Hyden said it had completed installation of its first U350 at Mumbai-based Coats & Pack.

 

7.      

According to K Selvakumar, director at Lovely Offset, Sivakasi, digital equipment manufacturers seemed to be more active. I would say, it the Indian digital label press manufacturers, were more active. All of them had one thing or the other to show off at the show.

TechNova made its SmartJet kit commercially available to the Indian market. It also announced the sale of its first machine to Plus Creations based in Rai, Haryana.

We understand that there were a whopping 116 serious enquiries for the kit. These seem to be the numbers from other players as well. All in all, a good sign for the industry.

Monotech sold two JetSci VSRI to a security printing press in India, with these installations Monotech have now touched the 20 mark for JetSci series.

Macart claims that it is the first company in Asia to manufacture an edible inkjet printer, a solvent large-format printer and also the first corrugated sheet printer in the BoxJet, which was unveiled at Pamex, last year. At the show, the Pune-based digital equipment manufacturer has unveiled a new UV inkjet label press, JetArt. Based on the Piezo drop-on-demand technology, the four- and six-colour JetArt uses UV, water and oil inks, prints at a speed of 50-meter/min. The press is available with either a Konica Minolta or a Kyocera printheads in sizes of 6-, 8.5- and 13.5-inch.
 

8.        

There’s good news for all those Rotometrics customers who relied on the company for their die needs, but had to pay in foreign currency. With the incorporation of an Indian subsidiary, Rotometrics India, the company will now trade in Indian Rupees. The new entity will operate from Mumbai, with ex-Interlabel Lakshminarayana Parthasarathy heading the India operation as the director with a service team to assist him.

It's proved to be a cost-effective alternative to the likes of Kocher+Beck’s rotary cutting dies who provide some of the best tools, guarantee maximum production efficiency, and optimum product quality.

 

9.        

Arets Graphics, in collaboration with Toyo Ink India, its new Indian subsidiary, introduced a new series of UV flexo inks. The launch was presided over by Kotaro Yoshida, the new CEO of Toyo Ink India and Luc Dehandschutter, global manager, Arets Graphics, at the Toyo Arets stall.

UV LED created a big buzz at the show. UV Graphic Technologies launched its new ‘made in India’ UV LED curing systems at the show. Also, APL Machinery which has tied up with Air Motion Systems, has also introduced an UV LED system. APL claims to have installed India’s first UV LED system in South India.

 

10.      

One of the most happening stall was Global Graphics Machinery, which along with Label Planet, was bustling with activities. The Chinese-make Donghai’s 2BS-3204 flexo printing machine caught the eyes of a few keen visitors from Mumbai’s commercial printing segment, who were looking to diversify into packaging. The one at the show was picked up by Star Offset.

N Pradip at the Provin stall informed us about two important installations with the Indian Railways to produce tickets for the largest train service in the world.

 

PS: Kudos to the Noida-based Any Graphics for sweeping the LMAI Awards and bagging ten trophies. None of my team members who were present at Labelexpo attended the LMAI awards night, but we visited the 1,00,000 sq/ft unit helmed by the father and son duo of Kuldip and Naveen Goel. The PrintWeek India Label Printer of 2014 is on the cusp of rolling out to its ambitious phase two of expansion. Watch this space for more