Manufacturers, suppliers talk business

Arnab Maiti, general manager, South Asia, Esko

Continued business is a function of mutual respect and mutual understanding of businesses carried out by their people representatives

One Covid-19 lesson
Sometimes, you’ve got to get sick before you start feeling better. Figuratively, this has been a big ‘reset’ for the world and all of us share the task of ‘restarting’ it responsibly, afterwards.

The WOW factor
No one product or sample, but our valued customers who helped the supply chain of packaged essential goods running in these trying times. Some of them actively took part in manufacturing and supplies of face shields, and hand sanitisers.

Knowledge is power. Keep learning all the time
Having its second largest software development facility in Bengaluru, Esko uses many insights from its Indian customers in the designing/upgrading of its software products. In our Kongsberg digital finishing table portfolio, we introduced the Edge series in 2019 to respond to the need for combining performance with affordability from markets like India.

Clients need you, too
Superior technology can win you the first order. But, continued business is a function of mutual respect and mutual understanding of businesses carried out by their people representatives. Esko’s continuous investment in technology together with its relentless focus on attracting, developing and retaining talent have been the key in us becoming and remaining a trusted partner to the industry.

Post Covid-19, is it time for a rethink by our industry? 
Everything going around is speculative in nature as nobody knows what the future will exactly be like. But, it’s better to be optimistic rather than pessimistic when you are unsure. My personal feeling is that printing and packaging industry will see a quick turnaround due to increase in consumption demand post-lockdown.

Lucy Chen, business leader - Asia Pacific, DuPont Image Solutions

These are unprecedented times and they call for frugal solutions and innovations to keep afloat in the market

One Covid-19 lesson
These are unprecedented times and they call for frugal solutions and innovations to keep afloat in the market. Running a business with a healthy bottom line and customer focus can help cover for such exigencies and help maintain business continuity.

The WOW factor
It’s difficult to single out one job. However, in the current context, Itek Packz in India won the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) Awards for – Best in Show Gold and Silver – for jobs done in narrow-web categories, including a vibrant soap carton sample. The work is also commendable as they won in a segment, which is not traditionally flexo. The sample images suggest that it’s quite a new accomplishment in the mono carton space by flexo and comes across as a great print, good finish backed with some high quality pre-press.

Knowledge is power. Keep learning all the time
Customers are the key assets for any business to run profitably. One needs to protect and nurturethe assets to grow a business.

Process should be like Rajinikanth - Omnipresent + Omnipotent
In the last couple of years,our customers have invested into advanced technologies and high-end equipment — both in terms of productivity and print capability to improve overall efficiencies. Afew of our customers had the vision to invest in high-end ancillary equipment that strengthened their core business, helped them maintain quality standards and supported business growth as per their goals.

Clients need you, too
Flexography has been a technology and skill driven industry segment, backed by experience and knowledge, where customers and suppliers have grown together.

For more than 45 years, we have been among the leaders in the flexographic printing industry, enabling our customers to grow and outperform competition in the packaging and printing markets. We are a trusted technology and innovation partner to our customers for long-term and work closely with them, providing solutions, products and technical service to enable next-generation technologies.

Our goal is to be a market leading supplier in flexographic printing as well as a knowledge partner in packaging and printing areas for our customers, which resonates through our latest offerings for flexo printing and emerging digital printing segments.

We deliver a broad portfolio of products and technologies to fit different customer needs and applications that are not limited to finished printing plates. We also work with our customers to achieve high quality, consistent print performance for them to create exceptional results.

Prasanna Venkatesh, managing director, Zund India

The ability to translate the features of your product into monetary benefits for your client could set the ball rolling instantly

One Covid-19 lesson
Evolve and adapt. I guess this could be a lesson for life and not only for Covid-19.

The WOW factor
Not packaging though, but one from the Game of Thrones was really a wonderful piece made on our machine. This was done by Dot Digital, Mumbai.

Knowledge is power. Keep learning all the time
Customer’sfeedback. We value the knowledge of our customers and work on their feedback religiously to try and bring about better solutions for them.

Clients need you, too
It’s the knowledge. If you can bring in practical knowledge on a platter to your customer, it makes his job that much easier and they start to look up to you. It could be about anything that could add more value to his/her business.

Tip: The ability to translate the features of your product into monetary benefits for your client could set the ball rolling instantly.

Pankaj Bhardwaj, senior director and general manager, South Asia, Label & Graphic Materials, Avery Dennison

We need make employee value proposition more compelling

One Covid-19 lesson
We realised the importance of strong ‘business continuity planning’ and learnt to work from home without impacting productivity. We had activated our BCP end of January, which helped us enter into lockdown somewhat prepared. At the same time, we moved to WFH from mid-March and learnt new ways of working for hitherto impossible tasks in this format.

The WOW factor
There are quite a few but let me talk of at least two. It was heartening to see an NFC-based smart label sample created with the purpose of interactive consumer engagement, anti-counterfeiting and track and trace — clearly, a superbly value accretive propositions. And I was also impressed seeing a new hanger label concept for a conditioner brand. It is an application that was unexplored yet and holds good potential intuitively — great example of out of box thinking.

Knowledge is power. Keep learning all the time
Customers have been a constant source of inspiration for us. A new global quality system deployed by one of our customers helped us look at customer complaints differently and led us to deploy new systems and new measures. The changes are attributable to this customer’s quest of being zero repeat defect suppliers, which we want to fully support.

Process should be like Rajinikanth - Omnipresent + Omnipotent
One of the challenges in the industry is job changeover time and an improvement here can go a long way in improving productivity. I saw one of the customers being meticulous in the process of retrieving, aligning and placing the consumables and tools in such a way that one does not waste much time in changeovers. It does require some bit of investment in making jigs, trolleys and simple inventorisation through software. However, it’s worth every bit.

Clients need you, too
We have always focussed and invested on value beyond products. Our investment in the knowledge centre, concept lab and intelligent lab are essentially to prepare our customers to get ready for the future. We also offer a bouquet of twelve services known as ‘AD Advantage’ that are targeted for improving efficiency and productivity of our customers. At the end of day, it’s about getting into your customer’s shoes, identifying their pain points and hence offering fit-for-purpose products and services to them.

Shailesh Nema, vice president and managing director for India, Michelman

Curiosity is key for innovation and success

One Covid-19 lesson
We need very little to live a full life and health is everything.

The WOW factor
Temporary beds to fight Covid-19 made from cardboards using Michelman coatings. This has been used in temporary shelters and hospitals.

Knowledge is power. Keep learning all the time
Curiosity is key for innovation and success. Many successful Indian entrepreneurs are a curious lot and it is inspiring.

Process should be like Rajinikanth - Omnipresent + Omnipotent
A packaging laminate goes through various processes and an efficient process and flow is a bare necessity for its business sustainability. I have witnessed how an efficient change in the plan layout reduces the waste and improves the lead-time for each process and overall product.

Clients need you, too. How have you become or becoming more of an advisor to your client and not just a supplier. Point is, how do you concept sell your technology assets to your customers. The idea is to provide one tip for your customers to share with their customers.

Innovation is key. We always take a relook at everything we do.

Post Covid-19, is it time for a rethink by our industry?
While the print and packaging industry will also have significant challenges post Covid-19 scenario, the industry can look at significant market share-gain opportunity. During the Covid-19 crisis, the demand for packaged products has gone up significantly and it played a key role in ensuring the food relief reaches in deep rural areas as well. In my opinion, post-Covid-19, the industry should look for market penetration in specific product segments and look for new ones.