PrintWeekIndia - Latest Articles

18% GST hike spells doom for the industry

PrintWeek Team — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 09:30:00

Print remains the most credible media when compared to other broadcast or telecast media. Today, books, newspapers, magazines, etc are seeing a revival, particularly in India, after users have identified the economical, logistical and technological demerits of other media, including online. There are many instances when readers use both print as well as eVersion of documents, books, newspapers, and magazines. A software engineer claims he has, ergonomically speaking, more comfort in reading, for instance, his manual or handbook in print than the digital one. Unfortunately, the production cost of a newspaper is already in the red though they struggle to compensate with revenue from advertisements and circulation. So is the case with other printed products, where they don't even have any advertising revenue.

A good example of the dominance and dependability on print media can be traced to 500 million printed copies of Harry Potter, which were sold in 2020 alone. Amazon alone can vouchsafe the magnitude of book printing from their sales record. Book shelves are back to full occupancy and they are no more fashionable showpieces. Research has proved that printed material is regaining its need with speed, considering the ease and convenience with which it can be read. Just imagine, in a population of over 135 crores in India, even 1% rise in literacy will result in a demand for 1.3 crore printed materials like textbooks, notebooks, etc.

Print media has sufficient gatekeepers compared to all other media. As a result, the content generated through print media not only has a lasting value, but also has the highest credibility. In light of this, the publishing world is getting back to optimum production of printed material.

Unfortunately, the Central government has increased the GST from 12 to 18% from October 2021 for all cartons, boxes, bags, packing containers of paper, miscellaneous goods of paper, such as cards, catalogue, printed material and other related items. This steep rise is a heavy blow to small, medium and large printing presses and the chain reaction affects the poorest of the poor who depend on printed books, newspapers and magazines.

The printers want 12% GST on all converted and/or printed products. They say that 18% GST is devastating and will spell a doom for the industry.

The reduction of GST will, in turn, benefit the governments which supply textbooks free of cost to millions of school children or packaged food as part of their mid-day meal scheme.

The unjustifiable rise in GST would spell total collapse of publishing industry which is already suffering from cutthroat competition, besides steep rise in production cost. The press owners are on the verge of closing down the presses and seek alternate business ventures as the former have proved counter-productive.

One should note that printing and packaging go hand in hand. Both of them are inseparable like Siamese twins. Every product we buy is linked to printing or packaging or both.

During the pandemic, we have seen doctors, nurses, para medical staff, police, etc as Covid warriors. Missing from the list are the unsung heroes of the printing and the packaging industry who sacrificed a lot by working 24x7 for the pharma and other ancillary industries in the areas of flexible and rigid packaging.

The retail supermarkets are the best example of proving how printing and packaging are inevitable and any rise in GST prices is passed on to the consumer, who is already crushed under the heavy weight of fuel prices. Retail markets are turning out to be wholesale markets and the poor buyer, to save cost on packaging, buys a five-kilo flour packet than a one kg packet, and ends up wasting the material, as this quantity is not needed for him in the first place.

The government should, in fact, go out of the way in encouraging this industry in particular because it encompasses all other industries who have no choice than to print, display, pack, preserve and dispatch their products. Adding to the problem of printers is, not settling the GST claims in time and affecting the cash flow of all these cash-starved presses.

The earlier the government saves this industry, the better it is for millions who get their livelihood from lakhs of printing presses scattered all over the country. This is all the more urgent as only now after a severe beating due to pandemic, life is returning to normalcy and so too for printing industry like other industries.

The government should immediately gather the inputs from all printing associations, including the All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) and take immediate action to save the industry from the brink of a disaster, putting thousands on the road and swelling the unemployment figures.

CorruCase wins bronze in Telangana State Industry Awards

Aultrin Vijay — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 22:24:00

Ayush Khetan, managing director at Khetan Corru Case, received the award from Telangana minister for IT, industry and commerce KT Rama Rao at the fourth edition of Telangana State Industry Awards 2021, which was held as part of the ManExe event of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The 'Industry Awards' is a state-wide competition that recognises and rewards exceptional achievements made by Telangana-based businesses, covering both large and small organisations. For the fourth time in a row, the award application process was hosted in Hyderabad by 'Telangana State-Global Linker', a networking platform with over 3.5 lakh SMEs across the world.

The Mumbai-headquartered corrugated box manufacturer was in the limelight for being one of India’s first corrugated facilities to run on 80% solar power. The company claimed that its facility in Hyderabad runs on 80% renewable energy harvested from its captive solar plant, which was inaugurated in October 2020.

According to Khetan, the captive solar rooftop plant, along with other sustainability measures, has helped the company in achieving over 40% carbon neutrality in just over three years.

“We have always been working towards a sustainable production process. Aligned to our customer’s global sustainable goals, we are working towards achieving 100% carbon neutrality in our process in the next 10 years,” Khetan said.

Mathrubhumi wishes Malayala Manorama a Happy Friendship Day

PrintWeek Team — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 11:22:00

MV Shreyams Kumar, managing director, Mathrubhumi Group, said, “Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel, as always Shakespeare, as in almost everything else, might have the last word on friendship too. What the bard meant was that old friends, whose fidelity has stood the test of time, make the best of allies. Being an adversary in the marketplace of ideas, does not make us enemies. Instead, it goads us on to strive to be better in the true spirit of competitive companionship. I can say this with confidence, since our two families of Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi have faced our share of institutional and personal tragedies, lending mutual support, in times of crises. It is this human legacy of our forebearers that propelled us to extend our arms in warm embrace to our worthy friend in the world of media.”

Francis Thomas, creative director, Maitri Advertising Works, said “One of Kerala’s oldest rivalries has been between Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi, the state’s two largest Malayalam dailies. Over the years, both have expanded in parallel, starting radio stations, magazines for all demographics and interest groups, online portals and much more. Malayalees are likely to encounter a Mathrubhumi Group medium in some way, every single day. So, it only made sense that on Friendship Day, we share a message a friendship to a brand that’s constantly pushing us to grow and innovate.”

Komori helping customers source brand’s pre-owned kits

Rahul Kumar — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 08:00:00

Explaining the initiative, Sangam Khanna, deputy managing director, Komori India, said, “We, at Komori, noticed that a large number of pre-owned Komori machines come in India and most of them have issues related to performance. We have been getting calls to help our customers source quality pre-owned equipment. The customers have no choice but to trust the used-equipment dealers who may not understand the performance or the history of the machine. By using the Komori global network Komori India can facilitate the procurement of these machines and supply to our customers.”

Was this a result of the Covid-19 impact or the plan was always there? Khanna said the project was on cards for the last three years, but Covid-19 expedited the process as the demand-supply gap is big. “We, at Komori, commit the customer a running machine in his factory. It’s not easy to pick up any equipment for us. We need to live up to the Komori global standards,” he said.

The segment is driven by Surajit Kundu, AGM, sales, Komori India, with the support from the entire organisation.

Khanna explained, “The used-equipment business is a totally different ballgame. So, it’s important to add value and the trust of Komori over other used-equipment dealers. The used-machine dealers are good sales persons, but often they end up putting the project in trouble due to the lack of transparency. With Komori, it’s a straight business, where we are transparent of the performance of the machine. As part of the “perceived value proposition,” before the machine is shipped, we make it very clear to the customer as to what the entire machine can and cannot perform, along with the history of the machine as per our Komori data.”

While there are many dealers who work at different levels of the industry within the pre-owned machinery segment, Khanna said, Komori is the only one in its field. Thus, the company is expecting to sell 10 to 14 machines a year.

“We understand that we can’t be selling to all the customers in India as many of the customers will buy the price of the machine over the performance in the used-machine category. At Komori, we are clear that we will do only value sales to the customers who acknowledge Komori trust, reliability, after-sales support and peace of mind,” he said.

Khanna argues that the initiative is not a diversification for Komori, but value-added sales to support its customers. “Yes, Komori India is a commercial organisation, but we do not expect to make too much money from this area. But supporting our customers and the Komori brand is important for us,” he added.

Listing of the pre-owned presses from Komori is available at its website.

S Kumar announces multiple Zonten installations

Noel D'Cunha — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 05:00:00

Kolkata-based Holoflex has installed its second Zonten press, this one Zonten LRY 470, an eight-colour fully loaded twin tower 470mm web width press equipped with helical gears and high-registration device. It has Two Cold foil, delam-relam, sheeter conveyor and inspection system.

Vasai’s Shree Pack Containers has installed the Zonten RY 330 flexo label Press with a configuration similar to Holoflex. This is also Shree Pack’s second Zonten press, however, the first press presently running at the plant is a six-colour press.

Ramdoot Packaging in Ahmedabad has installed the Zonten ZTJ 330, India’s fourth intermittent offset press with eight-colour print stations – first a flexo than cold foil, delam-relam, six LED UV offset and last a flexo varnish. The kit is fitted with an auto-registration system from BST, remote and auto inking system with CIP3.

Ramdoot packaging specialises in mono cartons manufacturing and purchased this machine for short- to medium-run labels.

According to Manish Hansoti, managing director at S Kumar, Zonten label presses provide the highest quality at the lowest cost in short and medium runs. “It’s a highly competitive and increasingly demand label market today. Zonten machines come with online finishing and a high degree of automation.”

Hansoti also sees the trend in the label industry is changing where there will be more requirement for such types of machines, which are easy to operate. “The machines should deliver quality, have quick setup times, consumables should be economical, efficient, and the investment such that the returns are quick.”

He concluded, “Zonten presses have all these qualities.”

Print China 2019 in the city of Advanced Manufacturing

PrintWeek India — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:07:00

Representatives of the print media, associations and delegates of Asia Print from 20 countries and regions plus guests from all over the world gathered in Dongguan to take a peek at the upcoming fourth edition of Print China also known as the International Printing Technology Exhibition of China (Guangdong).

The show also known as the fourth International Printing Technology Exhibition of China (Guangdong), will be hosted from 9 to 13 April, 2019 at Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Centre. The total exhibition area of Print China 2019 will be over 1,40,000 sqm, and there will be more than 1,200 exhibitors and estimated 200,000 professional visitors.

(l-r) Representing India: Dayaker Reddy, Kamal Chopra, Ravi Joshi

During the Media Day, representatives from the 10 exhibitors including HP, Tianjin Masterwork, Heidelberg, Konica Minolta, Bobst, Komori, Koenig & Bauer, Zhongde Group, Dinga and Founder shared their plans and new product launches.

According to the annual statistics collected by State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), in 2016, there were approximately 101,000 printing enterprises; the gross output value of the industry reached USD 170 billion, which met a 2.7% annual increase.

Interestingly enough, India ranks second in the number of visitors to Print China.

On 10 January, the media representatives visited Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Center to experience the modifications in the exhibition hall, one of the biggest exhibition centre in Asia. Representatives also visited Guangdong Lishunyuan Intelligent Automation, Dongguan Shengtu Printing Equipment and Fu Lam (HK) greyboard manufacturing facility.

Delegates at the Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Center

At the centre of the Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Economic Corridor Dongguan is an important hub in the Guangdong Province. It is renowned for manufacturing and being a market for print equipment procurement, as well as foreign trade.

Visit to Fu Lam (HK)
Fu Lam, the manufacturer of greyboard has six lines of production in Dongguan and has been in operation since 10 years. It has an annual capacity of 350,000 tonnes for single-ply greyboard with gsm varying from 250-1650gsm.

Fu Lam has six lines of greyboard manufacturing

The plant has a recycling system approved by the Chinese government and assures 100% water recycling.

Along with the board manufacturing lines, Fu Lam has automatic lamination machines for rolls and sheets, microwave drying line, slitters and die-cutters.

Major product portfolios include 800-300gsm laminated greyboard, 560-2500gsm black cardboard, 560-2650gsm singe/double side greyback duplex board, laminated foam boards, and laminated speciality papers with greyboard.

Fu Lam also has two sets of Kolbus and four sets of Horauf case-making machines with a monthly maximum output of 500,000 pieces.

On the afternoon of January 10, representatives from the printing associations of 46 provinces and cities nationwide held a symposium for the printing associations of various provinces and cities. The annual meeting of 2018 working committee confabulated about how the exhibition can be “bettered and improved.”

Inside Lishun Yuan Intelligent Automation manufacturing facility
China’s Dongguan-based Lishun Yuan is a 17-year old company with expertise in rigid box manufacturing machines.

The company boasts of installations across the globe with presence in Europe, the United States, South-east Asia, South America, Middle-east, Africa and in 40 countries.

Lishun Yuan has its installations across 40 countries

Lishun Yuan began its post-press manufacturing machines from semi-automatic machines such as paperboard slitter machines, paper box moulding and folding machines and today it manufactures fully automated intelligent rigid-box making machines. Committed towards quality assurance, the company follows 6S principles.

Lishun Yuan has dedicated manufacturing lines for wine and liquor box-making, book style box-making and manufactures modular machines as per customer requirements.
One of the flagship models of Lishun Yuan is the LY-412CCD, an automatic high-speed rigid box making machine. It is the combination of visual positioning host, automatic corner pasting machine and high-speed rigid box forming machine. Applications of this kit are mobile phones, jewellery boxes, and gift boxes. Working at a rate of 25-35 pcs/min, has a maximum fold-in depth of 100mm.

Lishun Yuan is represented in India by Ample Graphics who have installed 16 fully automatic rigid box manufacturing machines in India.

Dongguan Shengtu Printing Equipment
Established in 1998, Dongguan Shengtu Printing Equipment is a dedicated manufacturer for case-makers for hardcover bookbinding along with rigid box making machines.

It has a series of models such as ST036B/ST040PP (automatic hardcover production line); ST060H (automatic high-speed hardcover machine); ST036XL (automatic hardcover machine); and ST055PE (hot stamping machine). Shengtu believes in “trusting made in China, trusting made in ST”.

The post-press equipment manufacturing company is bullish about the Indian market. So much so, it has hired an Indian engineer to understand the needs of an Indian printer, better.

In India, Shengtu has installed seven machines at Pragati Pack, SFA Print, and PK Pack among others.

Theme of the show
The theme of the exhibition is: ‘Intelligence guide, fusion and innovation, service transformation, green development’. The industry has realised it has to see green and digital and intelligent in an integrated way. Therefore the five-day exhibition has been divided into 10 segments.

In addition, there are five thematic areas including internet + intelligent packaging, intelligent robot + printing, 3D printing, VOCs comprehensive management, and laser + printing are opened.

There will be overseas visitors from more than 140 countries and regions, accounting for 18%-20% of the total visitors. Hundred media groups will cover the exhibition. This includes 60 media houses from China and 40 overseas.

Over 60 events will be hosted during the exhibition period, which shall include forums and technological knowledge exchange, Forum-PT 2019, The 2nd Asia Pacific Day, Global Print Annual Meeting, Asia Print Conference 2019, China Print Summit and China Print Awards.

Dongguan - one of the most important printing industry bases in Guangdong province

Print China timeline

2007 – Area: 80,000 sqm, exhibitors: 1,047 from 15 countries, visitors: 104,204 from 72 countries

2011 – Area: 120,000 sqm, exhibitors: 1,261 from 22 countries, visitors: 171,256 from 112 countries

2015 – Area: 140,000 sqm exhibitors: 1,328 from 28 countries, visitors: 206,154 from 146 countries

JK Paper to add 1.4 lakh-tonne capacity

Sriraam Selvam — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 22:35:00

As per a senior JK Paper official, "The additional capacity of 1.38 lakh tonnes will be produced from the Telangana plant in Sirpur, where production will begin in April 2019." The plant will help the company venture into the colour paper segment for the first time.

At the moment, JK Paper is a speciality paper company that manufactures coated, printed as well as copier paper. According to market pundiits who spoke to PrintWeek India in Kolkata, "The thing to note in case of JK Paper is that it operates in the speciality segment where pricing power is very strong. (While) the uncoated segment generates the highest revenue."

In addition, JK Paper will add 1.5 lakh tonnes in the packaging board vertical in the next two years.

The company registered a net profit of Rs 109.57 crore for the quarter ended 30 September, 2018, a rise from Rs 56.63 crore in the previous year period.

Last year, Bharat Hari Singhania, in his chairman speech said, "Paper not only managed to achieve a turnover of around Rs 3,000 crore, but achieved better profitability with an EBIDTA of over Rs 539 crore. Our strong distribution reach made a big difference in this regard. With a team of 191 distributors operating out of 14 depots, we were able to maintain a leadership in the copier segment with a 24% market share and amongst the top two positions in the coated paper and packaging board segments. We are also actively involved in market expansion outside India, exporting our products to more than 40 countries."

Today the Indian paper industry is estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 6.6 per cent between FY16 and FY19 across various categories by touching 18.5 million tonnes of capacity in FY19 from 15.3 in FY16.

Four reasons why paper stock is on the rise

- Paper demand revived in India due to a cut in paper production in China as a result of environmental concerns

- Paper being deployed for ready-to-eat food products due to the ban (or prospective ban) on plastic bag usage

- Paper sought for quality packaging in FMCG products for organised retail

- Paper consumption boosted thanks to rise in literacy and growth in the education sector

Huhtamaki PPL’s Q1 net profit up by 97.10%; TCPL’s by 61.17%

Rushikesh Aravkar — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 11:20:00

Packaging majors Huhtamaki PPL and TCPL have announced their financial results for the quarter that ended 30 June 2018.

Financials	Q1 FY18-19	Q1 FY17-18	% change
Total income	Rs 597.95 crores	Rs 562.53 crores	↑ 6.3%
Net profit	Rs 14.25 crores	Rs 7.23 crores	↑ 97.1%

TCPL Packaging has posted net sales of Rs 182.94 crores and net profit of Rs 4.98 crores for Q1 FY 2018-19 as compared to net sales of Rs 158.34 crores and a net profit of Rs 3.09 crores for Q1 FY 2017-18.

Financials	Q1 FY18-19	Q1 FY17-18	% Change
Total income	Rs 182.94 crores	Rs 158.34 crores	↑ 15.54%
Net profit	Rs 4.98 crores	Rs 3.09 crores	↑ 61.17%

Bosch to sell its packaging business

Abhishek Muralidharan — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 13:29:00

The company said in a press statement that packaging technology is not part of group’s core business and as the group focuses on the transformation ahead, it does not identify any sufficiently relevant synergy effects in terms of business or technology that might offer the packaging division prospects for the future within Bosch.

“This decision will allow Bosch to narrow its focus on issues of importance for its future, such as the transformation of the Bosch Group and its future digitalisation strategy, including the internet of things, and to pool its resources accordingly,” said Dr Stefan Hartung, the Bosch board of management member responsible for the energy and building technology and industrial technology business sectors.

“Both, the packaging machinery business and Bosch will benefit from this decision. A reorganised packaging technology business will be able to adapt more flexibly to the diverse requirements of this typically SME (small and medium enterprises) market, while Bosch will be free to focus its attention entirely on the group’s impending profound transformation,” said Hartung.

Dr Stefan Konig, chairman of the managing board of Robert Bosch Packaging Technology, said he is confident that this decision will lead to a better response to satisfy the demands of the packaging industry and will certainly enact as a beneficial move for their customers.

Bosch’s packaging technology unit is headquartered in Waiblingen near the group’s global headquarters outside Stuttgart. It has 6,100 employees in 15 countries. The business develops and produces machinery for the pharmaceuticals, food and confectionery industries.

The packaging technology division generated Euro 1.3 billion in sales last year.

Mark Andy acquires Kluge

Amogh Dikshit — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 19:21:00

Kevin Wilken, chief executive officer, Mark Andy, said, “Mark Andy is excited to add a company with such a recognisable brand that has been built over decades with thousands of installations and satisfied customers worldwide. We look forward to continuing Kluge’s tradition of high-quality products, services, and consumables with the broader support of Mark Andy’s global infrastructure.”

This acquisition is in line with Mark Andy’s strategy of expanding inorganically. In March it acquired Direct Imaging press and plates specialist Presstek from its private equity owners. In the past few years, it has made several acquisitions including Comco, Rotoflex International, and Arpeco.

Kluge has been catering to small to medium-size formats for commercial printers, finishers, direct mail manufacturers and packaging converters with the offline kit for print finishing applications.

“Kluge has evolved over the years to meet the ever-changing demands of our customers,” said Michael Aumann, chief executive officer, at Brandtjen and Kluge. “The Brandtjen family is very proud of the legacy they have established and nurtured since the company was founded in 1919. We view today’s transaction as an opportunity to continue growing our business while joining an even larger family that will allow us to build on our commitment of manufacturing durable equipment and to consistently support profitable operations for our customers.”

Aumann will continue to lead Kluge as president of the Brandtjen & Kluge division which will continue operations in St Croix Falls, WI.

V Ramesh: Customers compare quotes, so we need to be more competitive to retain business

Noel D'Cunha — Sat, 23 Jun 2018 18:02:00

70-80% of input material in the print process is produced using the imported raw material. How will this affect your business, plus the pricing negotiations with your customers?
Most of our input materials are procured locally, but there’s a 25% increase. This has been informed to our customers and we are following up with them for price revision. Customers may compare quotes from other printers and we may need to be more competitive to retain business.

How will your company absorb this price increase? What is your strategy?
The price increase cannot be fully absorbed by our company. We are suggesting to our customers to use the alternate material or change material configuration and specifications.

Will this raw material inflation temper your company’s outlook for the year? What is the percentage you are looking at?
We feel there will not be any change.

From an export point of view, a strong dollar will boost turnover. Your comments?
We do a very less direct export. We don’t think this will impact our turnover.

What is upsetting print's P&L? - The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

Noel D'Cunha — Sat, 23 Jun 2018 17:27:00

	Narendra Paruchuri: "We are printers and not central bank to absorb any cost" Click here to read
	Aaditya Kashyap: "Tag raw material pricing to global dollar prices" Click here to read
	Amit Shah: "Any abrupt rise brings in uncertainty" Click here to read
	B Prasad: "Price re-negotiation happens with the last mile contractor like us" Click here to read
	Dev Nair: "Customers know of the surge and squeeze, but pretend to be unaware" Click here to read
	Iqbal Kherodwala: "Offering alternatives wherever possible is a way to retain clients" Click here to read
	Vijay Adlakha: "Print business is capital intensive; hence inflation will increase the cost of borrow money" Click here to read
	Kamal Chopra: "It is becoming hard to run a printing unit now, especially the packaging" Click here to read
	Hemal Mehta: "This is just a phase, what is necessary will always get printed, hike in price or not" Click here to read
	MN Pandey: "To absorb the effect, we will figure out ways, distribute the cost at various places" Click here to read
	V Ramesh: "Customers compare quotes, so we need to be more competitive to retain business" Click here to read
	GN Visvakumar: "The hike will dent the already low profitability of the printers" Click here to read
	Manish Desai: "This situation will not last for long, so we have started reducing our inventory" Click here to read
	Ashish Pradhan: "Currency fluctuation has impacted us by 6%" Click here to read
	KS Murthy: "It’s beyond our capacity to absorb volatility any more" Click here to read
	Ranesh Bajaj: "Yes, companies will absorb this price increase. It’s not a new thing for our industry" Click here to read
	Harsh Gupta: "Every company has the responsibility to remain profitable in order to grow" Click here to read
	CP Paul: "I think necessity is the mother of all inventions" Click here to read
	Sangam Khanna: "The bigger issue is the impact on the end-user which will lead to lower spends" Click here to read
	Sonal Sheth: "Today, survival is the name of the game" Click here to read
	Kaushil Shah: "People working on very low margins will have to shut the shop" Click here to read
	Raju Suneja: "We do not see a major change in the near-term future" Click here to read
	Giridharan S: "No option but to go with a price increase again" Click here to read
	Sagar Java: "One may have to selectively support certain businesses for strategic reasons" Click here to read
	Prashant Atre: "A strong dollar will hurt us more as we import more than export" Click here to read

Giridharan S: No option but to go with a price increase again

Rushikesh Aravkar — Sat, 23 Jun 2018 12:58:00

As per a representation by a printer body, there’s a 25% hike in the cost of input materials. Since January 2018, the cost of US dollar has risen to Rs 68. In conversation with Giridharan S, director, Kapoor Imaging, we find out what print desires under the rising dollar]]>

Caps and closures segment to witness a healthy growth

Rahul Kumar — Tue, 29 May 2018 17:04:00

The rising demand for bottled packaging from the various end use industry, especially from the food and beverage industry is expected to drive the demand for caps and closures. The growth of the food and beverages industry is a major driver that is expected to drive the growth of the caps and closures market globally.

According to the Plastics Industry Association, plastic bottles accounted for 41.2% of all beverage packaging units in 2016, which in turn is expected to drive the demand for caps and closures globally due to their excellent resistance against external factors.

According to Coherent Market Insights, a global market intelligence and consulting organisation, the food and beverages segment accounted for 41.9% of the total market value for caps and closures in 2017 and is expected to continue its dominance throughout the forecast period.

Market overview

Factors such as stringent regulations in the caps and closures industry with regards to the use of plastic caps and closures as well as growing demand for the substitute packaging options, such as blister packaging options are factors that are expected to affect the growth of the global caps and closures market.

For instance, due to increasing plastic waste the Chinese government introduced the excessive packaging regulations, in 2010, which included beverage packaging, cosmetic packaging, and certain food and confectionary packaging. Maharashtra banned the use of packaged water bottles in government offices in 2018 in an effort to reduce the use of plastics.

According to the Plastics Industry Association Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles in 2016. However, the US’s recycling rate for plastic was only 23%, which hampers the environment resulting in the need for the reduction of the use of plastic bottles and plastic caps .These factors in turn are expected to affect the caps and closures market globally.

Some of the major players in the caps and closures market are Guala Closures Group (Italy), Amcor (Australia), RPC Group PLC (UK), Crown Holdings (US), Rexam (UK), Silgan (US), AptarGroup (US), and Berry Plastics (US).

Market outlook

Asia Pacific is the largest and estimated to be the fastest growing market due to increasing demand in end-use industries such as alcoholic beverages, beer, food and soft beverages, and pharmaceuticals due to their low production cost and ability to keep the beverages safe.

North America and Europe are also expected to grow due to increasing rate of beer consumption in the region, during the forecast period.

Also, it is expected that the consumption of liquor will increase in forecast period. Pharmaceutical industry in these regions drives the demand for highly chemical resistance caps and closures for various uses within the industry.

High disposable incomes of the Middle East population drive consumerism. The consumption of electronics and consumer goods are increasing rapidly, driving the market growth of caps and closures. Decline in markets of Syria and Iran have been compensated by high growth rate in the GCC countries.

The Latin America market is witnessing robust growth in the caps and closures market, which is mainly driven by the increase in per capita income of middle class population. Significant reduction in cost, excellent performance, lightweight, and low operational costs are some of the benefits offered by caps and closures, which fuel the market demand.

Market trends

According to Coherent Market Insights, the global packaging market was valued at USD 801 billion in 2017 growing at a CAGR of 2.11% during the forecast period and is expected to reach due to the increasing demand for packaging solutions from the various end use industries especially the food and beverages market.

The global plastic bottles market was valued at 140.1 billion in 2016 and is expected to be valued at 176.9 billion by 2025. The growing demand for plastic packaging solutions especially for beverages is expected to drive the demand for plastic bottles. This in turn is expected to spur the need for caps and closures which help protect the product from external factors like dust, heat amongst others.

(Details on the report, ‘Caps and Closures Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2017-25’ is available at the Coherent Market Insights website.)

Print talk: How print can grow its brand - II

Ramu Ramanathan — Mon, 07 May 2018 11:23:00

Food fable
The World Food Show in November 2017 was huge. Food services emerge as a key segment of Indian economy. The Indian food services market in India (organised and unorganised) is estimated at Rs 3,37,500-crore in 2017 – and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10% over the next five years to reach Rs 5,52,000-crore by 2022.

The question to ask is: How is print and packaging readying for this challenge? Does the industry have a plan?

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, announced at the end of the three day World Food India fair in November that USD11.25 billion investments were committed in the country’s food processing sector. She added, with government funds put together, the total investments signed have reached USD18.84 billion.

Later, the minister explained during a press briefing that the investments are promised in areas of food processing, beverages, logistics, wholesale and retailing, e-commerce, organic farming among others. Badal said, “The government has inked 50 MoUs. These are not just pieces of papers that we have signed. A lot of homework has gone into it. A lot of work which is going to get done,” she said.

15%-25% of this is dependent on food packaging.

Already international players like Pepsico has 62 manufacturing facilities across India. The state of Tamil Nadu is one of the biggest markets for the company bringing over Rs 1,000 crore in annual retail sales.

Food investments look healthy
PepsiCo, along with its partners, will invest Rs 13,300 crore over five years to set up a food and beverage plant. Coca Cola will put in Rs 11,000 crore for juice bottling infrastructure, fruit processing plants and equipment. Conglomerate ITC and FMCG major Patanjali inked deals with the ministry to invest Rs 10,000 crore each. ITC is looking to set up 20 integrated food processing and logistics facilities.

ITC's CEO Sanjay Puri says the company is proposing to invest Rs 10000 crore in food processing facilities. While speaking to a business channel, he said, "India's consumption market is projected to triple to USD4 trillion by 2025 with the bulk of expenditure going into food products." Much of this investment is in West Bengal. This is a part of the company’s Rs 25,000-crore-investment package that it has planned to invest on 65 projects, including 20 integrated factories for consumer goods across the country.

But at the moment, India is currently only processing 10 per cent of its food, resulting in enormous food waste.

That's right, only 10%.

In its 2015 report, The CSR journal named the United Nations Development Programme as estimating up to 40% of the food produced in India as being wasted. ‘About 21 million tonnes of wheat are wasted in India’, the report states.

In a recent Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) study on ‘Save Food’ reported 1.3 billion tonnes of food is being wasted annually in India and China.

This is reflected in India slipping further in the ‘Global Hunger Index’ to 100 this year out of 119 countries and only Pakistan and Afghanistan are lower ranked Asian countries in the list.

An opportunity for packaging converters
Tetra Pak sold more than 188 billion packs in 2016. Since 2010 it has introduced more than 22 packaging formats in many sizes and at different price points to suit the needs of diverse consumer segments in India. The managing director for South Asia Markets, Kandarp Singh, says, “We foresee the introduction of many new categories like ready-to-eat foods and value-added dairy products. We will bring in new technologies in India to cater to the needs of people and continue to evolve with the market. Since 2012 we have added more than 60 customers and we are confident of adding another 100 by 2020.”

India, one of the world's largest producers of food, is also the largest producer of milk and second largest producer of fruits and vegetables. This huge raw material base, paired with a growing 1.3 billion population, presents vast investment and opportunities for the packaging industry.

Arvind Singhal of Technopak Advisors says in his report: Indian Retail has Witnessed Transformation to Papad, Pickle and Pizza. (Published by BusinessWorld)

Singhal has stated in his report, that India will be a USD one trillion retail market by 2020. And food in addition with grocery will be USD 600 billion. Singhal also focussed on how the food service reaches 75 USD trade in this projected one trillion mark.

Presently the food consumption is USD 1320 billion. By 2034 it is expected to be USD 3354 billion. Traditional retail will remain key to food retail in India, said Singhal.

Mumbai and Delhi have a USD 14 billion urban market cluster. Singhal felt, retailers have missed out on an opportunity. With 150 retail outlets perhaps Future retail has accrued some benefits.

Opportunity for print industry
Rupinder Singh Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul), underlined that innovation for the packaging industry is a must for "food to prosper". He was addressing a gathering of packaging professionals at the International Summit for Packaging Industry organised by Indian Institute of Packaging in New Delhi.

Sodhi stressed that consumption is driven by the lower middle class and the bottom of the pyramid consumers. “For the packaging industry to see exponential growth, it is necessary to design packs that will boost consumption in this segment.”

“In the food sector, the industry will grow and the consumer will be satisfied when he gets to buy a product at a reasonable price and the farmer earns good value for their produce. The attempt should be made to reduce the gap between what farmer earns and what the consumer pays.

As Rupinder Singh Sodhi said, "The industry will grow when the producer and the consumer are happy. The innovations in packaging must aim to add value for the producer and for the end-consumer and not just for the manufacturers and suppliers."

(This is the part II of Ramu Ramanathan’s talk on a houseboat in Kochi at the session hosted by All India Federation of Master Printers and the GC members on 4 February 2018)

Unidos picks up Zund for retail and signage applications

Sujith Ail — Fri, 04 May 2018 10:44:00

Rajeev Gujral, director of Unidos said, “Previously, for cutting operations we used to subcontract for the dies and other production processes. This delayed the overall production-cycle time. Now by investing in a Zund, outsourcing has been eliminated, and everything is produced in-house. This has resulted in accepting higher volume jobs and economic operations.”

Prasanna Venkatesh, managing director of Zund India, said, “Whether you produce small runs, large runs or prototypes, Zund S3/G3/D3 Series of cutters lets you select the perfect configuration of the machine for all your production needs.

“Primary reason to invest in a Zund was its modularity in addition to its speed and precision, also the machine is so modular that I can play around with various configurations available to suit my requirements at the site,” added Gujral. The G3 3XL 1600 has a maximum working area of 2270mm x 1600mm and the maximum speed offered is 1414 mm/s.

Venkatesh said, “Zund machines can be configured to meet both the current as well as future requirements of customers. It is built on a very modular platform such that our customers do not have to invest heavily during the initial stages itself.”

The Zund digital cutting table is backed with the Zund Design Centre software. It is an Adobe Illustrator plug-in for creating single- and multi-part packaging and three-dimensional POP/POS displays from folding carton, corrugated cardboard, foam board, sandwich panel, PP, PVC, and MDF.

“The beauty of Zund is that it can cut and route into almost anything apart from glass, pure metal and stone. The cutting range varies from substrate to substrate like for Acrylic and MDF we can route up to 30mm, aluminium and ACP (aluminium composite panel) up to 5mm. For other materials like sandwich boards, corrugated sheets, rubber, foam we can cut up to 60mm,” added Gujral.

Zund engineer visited the site one day before installation with a plan and in next two days setup was complete, and the machine was in operation. Zund also provided with three-day onsite training.

Established in 2001, Unidos Insta Print is a print service provider which has a facility of 8,000 sq/ft. Rajeev Gujral, director of Unidos, said, “Print makes up only a small part of our overall services. Our services consist of providing clients across all sectors within the marketing landscape.”

“We had drawn up plans to acquire more equipment and people through 2018. We are in rapid expansion mode,” concluded Gujral.

Marks Emballage leaps into big league with a record double Gallus Labelmaster 440 deal, adds Pantec Rhino II and Prati kit

Noel D'Cunha — Wed, 02 May 2018 14:29:00

The two Gallus Labelmaster presses – an eight-colour and ten-colour combination of Plus and Advanced variant will be installed at Marks’ new, second plant in Baddi soon.

Aaditya Kashyap, the managing director at Marks, said, "I saw ECS 340 in the Pune AIDKC centre and was very impressed with the machine. However, when I saw the Labelmaster, it was love at first sight. Its features – servo dry technology, easy to use print operation with light print cylinders, consistent quality at high-speed, the new technology with the screen printing with over 100 metres per minute, I was convinced this is the press I want.”

Marks is promoted by a young entrepreneur from a prosperous pharma business family. The company started in 2013 with a modest label production facility to cater to pharma businesses in Baddi. It began with a Chinese flexo press, followed it up with a Bobstflexo press. "Both being mechanical presses; automation was something that was missing, where operator dependency to run these presses makes printing more human-dependent," said Kashyap.

Today, Marks caters to some of the key names in the pharma industry. With the initial success and after seeing a definite requirement, the company decided to make a more significant foray into the label segment.

Aaditya explained, “When I look at the packaging market in India, especially labels, it is getting bigger and bigger. The purchasing power of every citizen has increased in India. We have seen packaging enter the interiors of India, and everything that wasn't within reach earlier, are now easily available. Also within the Indian market, there are new Indian companies which are established with a strong belief that as an Indian company, they have to make things in India. All this is, and will, trigger growth in the label, carton, and flexible industry.”

He added, “On a very conservative side, the label market is estimated to be around Rs 3,000-crore. A 15% growth means Rs 450-crore of label jobs are there for the taking. All the brand owners need are quality label printers with capacities to produce, and grab the jobs. We are now starting with investing five-million Euros for our expansion, and there is a lot more to come.”

Chandrakant Gadhia, vice president for operations at Marks added that his company’s aim was to invest in a machine, which will have an excellent price-performance ratio and help achieve the highest operational efficiency for the company. “The Labelmaster offers us high automation thus reducing the human complexity and flexibility to work with different substrates like labels, monofoils, shrink sleeves, and lamitubes among others. It was one of the big win-points for the Labelmaster. Also since it is the latest generation designs, and it will remain in force for at least ten years. Lastly, having a competent local Gallus team in India sealed the deal in their favour.”

Samir Patkar, regional sales head – Asia for Gallus, who along with Ferdinand Rüesch, vice president of the Gallus board of directors, were present during the signing of the dual deal. Patkar said, Gallus’ newest flexo press, the Labelmaster series, addresses today’s challenges of the label printers focusing on increasing the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

“There are two critical issues the label printers face. One, the print run-lengths are getting shorter. At the same time, Printers are complaining about higher job changeover times. This leads to a serious need of the hour to get into higher operational efficiency. It's a worldwide issue, but this pain-point is felt more among the Indian label printers because of higher inefficiency levels. Most of these inefficiencies come from the in-house processes followed in the print shops, particularly the lack of standardisation processes. The Labelmaster is designed to address these very challenges of the label printer and focuses on improving productivity and keeping the print rate to the minimum.”

He added, “The second is: whatever is printed should be saleable. There’s an in-house print waste which cannot be sold, which means it’s the label company which is paying for it, not the brand owner. It’s eating away the profit margins. For the first time, Gallus has a press that can deliver consistent print quality at a speed up to 200 metres per min. The web path of the Labelmaster is designed to be short at 1.4 metres between two print units. The press is equipped with the latest automation of the servo drives making it simpler for the operator to run the press.”

Gadhia said the ten-colour Labelmaster would be integrated with Pantec Rhino II print decoration kit – a vital investment for pharma jobs with security features. “The pharma space is seeing two changes – one is going the OTC route, which is cosmetic, allowing as much decoration on the packaging as possible. And second is security. Today security for pharma means providing vanilla holography, which is replicable by any vendor. Unless you can bring in some specialised multi-foil, add in a micro-emboss somewhere, you are not presenting any viable solution to the brand owners. You use the power of technology to produce that special value-add where security is concerned. With the Gallus and Pantec combo, we have a unique strength for cosmetic, personal care, FMCG, as well as wine and spirit labels too, thus giving us a platform to venture into jobs beyond pharma.”

Kashyap, who is passionate to build one of the best label and packaging companies concluded, “We have made an investment which makes us future-ready. It allows us to build our capacity as well as move into newer segments. We will be moving forward step by step, where we keep on adding portfolio as we progress, starting with self-adhesive labels.”

Minimum impact of aluminium price hike in printing plates

Rahul Kumar — Wed, 02 May 2018 12:06:00

The sudden surge in aluminium prices has resulted from the recent sanctions imposed by the US government on Russia’s largest and world’s second-largest aluminium producer Rusal. In April 2018, aluminium prices surged by 30%. Rusal’s biggest export markets are the US and the EU, which are also the biggest aluminium deficit markets with a reported deficit of 4.7 and 3.8 million tonnes, respectively. The sanctions imposed on Rusal will take away over 6% of global supply, and 14% outside China, as per media reports.

According to the reports, average aluminium prices are expected to firm up by USD 150 per tonne globally. Beside the sanction, according to reports, input cost in aluminium is also includes. Plus, recently, around (around) two million tonnes of aluminium smelter capacity went offline in China because of pollution concerns.

Recently, TK Chand, chairman and managing director at National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and Aluminium Association of India's (AAI) president, said to news media, “In FY18, till the end of November, international aluminium prices had averaged at $2,000 per tonne. We expect, in the next financial year, prices would move up by $150 per tonne supported by capacity curtailments in China and demand pick up in EU and North America markets. Aluminium prices (on LME) have recorded the sharpest increase in this financial year of over $300 per tonne.”

Under these circumstances, to clarify the situation on printing plates, PrintWeek India had a brief chat with Evandro Matteucci, WW director of product management and business development, offset print and vice-president, print systems division, Eastman Kodak Company.

What would be the impact of the current developments on the printing industry?

Indeed plate manufacturers have been experiencing increased cost in raw materials in the past years while the recent increases directly impact plate costs. Having said that, we see a minimum impact to printers as plates account for only 2% to 5% of their total cost.

How will this impact your organisation and how are you prepared to combat this?

Kodak has been working hard to diminish costs to offset raw materials increased along the years but they have not been sufficient. Therefore, we have recently (early 2018) announced price increase all over the world to offset some of those costs.

If price rise happens, what would be the percentage vis-à-vis the current price?

We have communicated a price increase up to 9% around the world.

Your suggestions to printers and the pre-press houses to tide over the situation…

As stated, plates account to a very small part of the printed page costs. We recommend printers to go process free and completely eliminate the processing costs which can be substantial – everything from buying and maintaining a processing equipment to consumables and disposal of chemistry. We have recently launched Sonora X which will help printers save those costs while becoming more sustainable.

Konica Minolta promotes its Jetvarnish customers at Screen Print India

Sujith Ail — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 17:45:00

Vijay Kamat, product manager of Konica Minolta, said, “At the show, we are promoting special jobs created using MGI technology to the print buyers who are visiting this exhibition. All the effects UV, 2D, 3D, digital foiling, variable data printing and variable digital foiling produced by the MGI customers across India have been displayed at our booth.”

KM representatives at the booth will be collecting the information of the interested visitor and inform the MGI customers belonging to the region of visitors.

MGI Jetvarnish 3DS which was introduced in the Indian market in the year 2016 has completed over 13 installations. The machine is capable of performing digital spot UV coating on page sizes varying from A4 to 36.4x104cm and has a maximum print speed of 2298 A3 pages/ hour.

KM has recently installed MGI Jetvarnish 3DS at Printology in New Delhi, Satyam Printers in Ahmadabad, Vipul Printers and Gandhi Cards in Nagpur. Kamat said, “Few more installations are in the pipeline which will be installed in the coming months.”

“In the coming years, Konica Minolta’s is focused on targeting the industrial printing applications. We will be trying to compliment the traditional printing technology such as offset and flexo converters by bringing in the digital technology, adding value to the end product,” added Kamat.

In May 2018, Konica Minolta will be inaugurating its first-ever KM 1 installation in India. “We will be targeting the commercial and packaging segment for this machine.”

Jetvarnish 3DS samples

In pictures: SinoCorrugated South 2018

Priya Raju — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 12:40:02

The exhibition was spread across six halls in a total of 80,000 sqm area. The show saw 700 plus brands showcasing machinery and consumables catering to the corrugation folding carton and labels business. This year, SinoCorrugated South 2018 saw five concurrently hel]]>

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Narendra Paruchuri: "We are printers and not central bank to absorb any cost" Click here to read

Aaditya Kashyap: "Tag raw material pricing to global dollar prices" Click here to read

Amit Shah: "Any abrupt rise brings in uncertainty" Click here to read

B Prasad: "Price re-negotiation happens with the last mile contractor like us" Click here to read

Dev Nair: "Customers know of the surge and squeeze, but pretend to be unaware" Click here to read

Iqbal Kherodwala: "Offering alternatives wherever possible is a way to retain clients" Click here to read

Vijay Adlakha: "Print business is capital intensive; hence inflation will increase the cost of borrow money" Click here to read

Kamal Chopra: "It is becoming hard to run a printing unit now, especially the packaging" Click here to read

Hemal Mehta: "This is just a phase, what is necessary will always get printed, hike in price or not" Click here to read

MN Pandey: "To absorb the effect, we will figure out ways, distribute the cost at various places" Click here to read

V Ramesh: "Customers compare quotes, so we need to be more competitive to retain business" Click here to read

GN Visvakumar: "The hike will dent the already low profitability of the printers" Click here to read

Manish Desai: "This situation will not last for long, so we have started reducing our inventory" Click here to read

Ashish Pradhan: "Currency fluctuation has impacted us by 6%" Click here to read

KS Murthy: "It’s beyond our capacity to absorb volatility any more" Click here to read

Ranesh Bajaj: "Yes, companies will absorb this price increase. It’s not a new thing for our industry" Click here to read

Harsh Gupta: "Every company has the responsibility to remain profitable in order to grow" Click here to read

CP Paul: "I think necessity is the mother of all inventions" Click here to read

Sangam Khanna: "The bigger issue is the impact on the end-user which will lead to lower spends" Click here to read

Sonal Sheth: "Today, survival is the name of the game" Click here to read

Kaushil Shah: "People working on very low margins will have to shut the shop" Click here to read

Raju Suneja: "We do not see a major change in the near-term future" Click here to read

Giridharan S: "No option but to go with a price increase again" Click here to read

Sagar Java: "One may have to selectively support certain businesses for strategic reasons" Click here to read

Prashant Atre: "A strong dollar will hurt us more as we import more than export" Click here to read

Giridharan S: No option but to go with a price increase again

Caps and closures segment to witness a healthy growth

Print talk: How print can grow its brand - II

Unidos picks up Zund for retail and signage applications

Marks Emballage leaps into big league with a record double Gallus Labelmaster 440 deal, adds Pantec Rhino II and Prati kit

Minimum impact of aluminium price hike in printing plates

Konica Minolta promotes its Jetvarnish customers at Screen Print India

Jetvarnish 3DS samples

In pictures: SinoCorrugated South 2018

Narendra Paruchuri: "We are printers and not central bank to absorb any cost"
Click here to read

Aaditya Kashyap: "Tag raw material pricing to global dollar prices"
Click here to read

Amit Shah: "Any abrupt rise brings in uncertainty"
Click here to read

B Prasad: "Price re-negotiation happens with the last mile contractor like us"
Click here to read

Dev Nair: "Customers know of the surge and squeeze, but pretend to be unaware"
Click here to read

Iqbal Kherodwala: "Offering alternatives wherever possible is a way to retain clients"
Click here to read

Vijay Adlakha: "Print business is capital intensive; hence inflation will increase the cost of borrow money"
Click here to read

Kamal Chopra: "It is becoming hard to run a printing unit now, especially the packaging"
Click here to read

Hemal Mehta: "This is just a phase, what is necessary will always get printed, hike in price or not"
Click here to read

MN Pandey: "To absorb the effect, we will figure out ways, distribute the cost at various places"
Click here to read

V Ramesh: "Customers compare quotes, so we need to be more competitive to retain business"
Click here to read

GN Visvakumar: "The hike will dent the already low profitability of the printers"
Click here to read

Manish Desai: "This situation will not last for long, so we have started reducing our inventory"
Click here to read

Ashish Pradhan: "Currency fluctuation has impacted us by 6%"
Click here to read

KS Murthy: "It’s beyond our capacity to absorb volatility any more"
Click here to read

Ranesh Bajaj: "Yes, companies will absorb this price increase. It’s not a new thing for our industry"
Click here to read

Harsh Gupta: "Every company has the responsibility to remain profitable in order to grow"
Click here to read

CP Paul: "I think necessity is the mother of all inventions"
Click here to read

Sangam Khanna: "The bigger issue is the impact on the end-user which will lead to lower spends"
Click here to read

Sonal Sheth: "Today, survival is the name of the game"
Click here to read

Kaushil Shah: "People working on very low margins will have to shut the shop"
Click here to read

Raju Suneja: "We do not see a major change in the near-term future"
Click here to read

Giridharan S: "No option but to go with a price increase again"
Click here to read

Sagar Java: "One may have to selectively support certain businesses for strategic reasons"
Click here to read

Prashant Atre: "A strong dollar will hurt us more as we import more than export"
Click here to read