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Six Bobst machines to power Manohar Packaging’s new Punjab factory

PrintWeek Team — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 13:00:00

Speaking to PrintWeek India, Aditya Patwardhan, director, The Manohar Packaging Group, said, “We chose Bobst as we have several decades of experience on its equipment, and find the machines to be rock-solid, sturdy, and reliable. While there are several other suppliers in the market, we stayed with Bobst, as the price-to-performance ratio in our opinion is unmatched. In addition, the after-sales service and spares inventory that Bobst maintains is impeccable.”

Describing this factory as a “mega-project”, Patwardhan said, the site is in full swing construction and targeted to be fully commissioned and in production by July 2019.

“It boasts of a linear workflow, and best-in-class equipment selection to manufacture labels, cartons, and other printed materials,” added Patwardhan.

The company has acquired 10 acres of additional land bank for future use, and is currently constructing approximately 140,000 square feet sans internal pillars. This, according to Patwardhan, will help create the most efficient workflow and material movement efficiency possible.

“The mega structure is pre-fabricated, and the entire plant is has been built keeping the environment footprint in mind. This will be truly a one-of-its-kind packaging plant in India,” said Patwardhan.

Venugopal Menon, business director, Bobst India, said, “Manohar Packaging is in the space of very high-end and niche packaging for the liquor, cosmetic and FMCG segments. Manhohar Packaging is one of our very old customers. They are the leaders in the foil stamping business. They have several foil stamping machines from Bobst. When Manhohar Packaging diversified into folding cartons business ten years back, they invested in Bobst die-cutting machines and folder-gluers. This time again, when it is setting up a greenfield project in Punjab, we are proud that it has partnered with Bobst for their post-press capabilities. All the machines will be up and running at the new plant by the end of this year.”

Nizamappas: Enterprises need to embrace new technologies

Sriraam Selvam — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 17:53:00

What prompted this investment?

Enterprises need to embrace new and upgraded technologies to tread on the path of continuous growth. Slow and Steady wins the race is a passé. The new mantra of growth is being fast, furious and innovative. The new ArtPro+ indeed satisfies this cry of industry with its speed, accuracy rate as well as innovative and intuitive user-friendly tools and certainly it’s going to be a big hit in the industry which will increase the demand of skilled ArtPro+ operators too. I see this investment is truly worth.

What do you think are the highlight of the software?

ArtPro+ is an innovation in artwork editing. It has combined features of Deskpack, Plato and Packedge which makes prepress easier than ever. Moreover it’s a Native PDF Editor. It has unmatchable speed, unmatchable accuracy, integrated Preflight functionality, Instant and automatic trapping in seconds as well as an instant access to the right tools which doesn’t require any special skills to operate. You can say this ArtPro+ is not only industry friendly but operator friendly too.

What plans do you have with it? Are you introducing new courses?

Certainly we are going to introduce ArtPro+ in our course. From next batch onwards we are going to include it in our curriculum.

How do you compare it with a pre-press software like packz which already had native pdf option?

As I have mentioned earlier, ArtPro+ has host of unique features. But what makes it stand apart is that it’s platform independent software. It can run on both mac as well as pc. It’s more user-friendly. It’s more decent in appearance without any clutter. It only displays the tools that are relevant to the on-going task. Its easy to learn and easy to handle.

Who do you think should buy Artpro+ and why?

Offset and Flexo printers. Because its indeed time saving and cost saving with minimal chance of human errors and maximum output at an instant.

Online coating is the best solution for long-run jobs

Noel D'Cunha — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 14:40:00

PrintWeek India (PWI): What’s your agenda to be at PrintPack India 2019?

AbhayDatta (AD): Schmid Rhyner is a Swiss manufacturer of speciality coatings related to the packaging industry. It manufactures coatings for security jobs and currency notes too. Schmid Rhyner is at PrintPack India to showcase its range of speciality coatings. Leading packaging printers like Parksons Packaging, TCPL, ITC and others are using these coatings. These coatings have special formulation and are not easy to find. UV Graphic Technologies and SAM Printech represent Schmid Rhyner in India.

Who are you competitors? Actega?

Karin Paldanius (KP): Actega is a big player in water-based coating. We would be the counterpart in UV coatings. So that would be a difference. We do some water-based coatings but only specialised. Our coatings make packaging products attractive; they have anti-counterfeit capability and follow all the regulations. In our country, we have to produce coatings according to Swiss ordinance — low migration coating for indirect food packaging.

PWI: When you talk about coating, most packaging printers are going for multicolour presses with coatings. In terms of its running on a printing presses, how easy is it? Can printers do it in one pass?

KP: It all depends on what you want to achieve. You want to use conventional ink on press and want to do spot UV high gloss on top of it then you have to put premier to seal the conventional inks. If you do not follow that then you would not be able to do that in single pass. It is good to have an offline coating machine. Or you can go for retrofit machine where you can put UV directly on machine.

PWI: What is the acceptance in terms of offline and online coating system? Which is easier to do?

AD: Around three to four decades ago, all equipment were offline. Nowadays, printers are opting for online coatings. After supplying more than 220 offline coating machines to the industry, our sale is decreasing. Later, regulations came and printers started asking for drip-off and other coatings. They are using retrofitted two-colour presses for special coatings. Thus, printers could achieve special coatings on a very economical price. If you talk about the cost of this machine, then it is one fifth of the cost offered in Europe.

In India, we are converting two-three such machines per month. The demand for multi-coating is growing. Recently, I converted a four-colour printing press into one offset printing unit and two coating unit.

PWI: Which is better, online or offline?

AD: If it’s a long and repetitive job and you are capable of doing online coating then online is the best solution. But in online, getting the right texture, right balance and makeready take time. Suppose, it takes an hour time to set up, then it is a downtime for the machine which nobody calculates.

Now comes the finishing part. I feel offline finishing is better. In offline, you have time to balance and stabilise. And you have plenty of flexibility. Some coatings come out well when you do it offline because you gave them time to flourish. Most printers have both online and offline facilities.

PWI: You talked about drip off, how much it is popular in Europe?

KP: Drip-off is not much popular in Europe. Now, no one can afford an ink station for a coating station.

PWI: Why is it popular in India?

AD: It all depends on the culture of the geography. In China, for example, you will find most of the things are in gold and red. In Europe, it’s not like that. In India, gloss was in demand. Now, it is matte and gloss and special effects. It’s all about creativity. Every brand owner wants visibility. New the trend is varnish with glitter. People are doing this for two reasons — to enhance the product and to save the product from counterfeiting. It is difficult for a common printer to do it.

Schmid Rhyner manufactures silver ink and it is the best and expensive. It is substitute of metallised board.

KP: When we launched soft feel, everyone was after it. Few years ago, I came to India and everyone was impressed with soft feel and later matte. But now, soft touch is a coating we are selling well in India. Few brands have already announced that they will not use metalised boards because of recycling issues. When they move out from metalised sheets then they have to create some shiny part on the pack and for that first they can use silver and later print with other inks. Recycling of that printed sheet will be not an issue.

PWI: You spoke about regulations but we, in India, have not as many. Does it make easy for sale?

KP: We don’t use anything which is harmful for human being and packaged material. From ingredients to the final products, we follow the same parameters. India is a big market for us and we are ready with our low-migration coatings. Low-migration never means low odour. It confuses people. Low-odour is a standard UV coating. Low-migration is can be directly used for indirect packaging. That is a good opportunity for us because we are working on that for many years.

PWI: In terms of solutions, do you have something for corrugation market?

AD: As it’s low bulk and porous, UV doesn’t suit corrugation. It can be used in laminated board and LWC but in Kraft and virgin Kraft, it has very limited scope. Two years ago, Samsung came with the idea UV for Kraft but the fizzled out.

PWI: Is it possible to use the UV and LED UV coatings online in one go?

AD: Yes. It can be done and we are showcasing it during the show. We have multi wavelength dryer. With a single lamp, you can cure both UV and LED UV. In the exhibition, we are displaying it on a narrow-web press.

The price of LED UV coatings is double than the price of UV coatings. People want to use LED because of energy cost saving, where the cost of power doesn’t justify the cost of raw material.

For short-run jobs, LED UV coatings may make sense but if someone is using 20 kg LED UV coating per day, then it does not make any sense. We were the first company to offer the combination of UV and LED UV coatings.

PWI: All you products are imported for the moment. Any plan to establish a plant in India?

KP: We have only one manufacturing unit is Switzerland. Four months ago, we have established a mixing and blending centre in South East Asia.

PrintPack 2019 Stall of the Day: Kodak

Sujith Ail — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 14:34:00

At the stall, Kodak is showcasing customer samples produced using Kodak’s Sonora process-free plates and Flexcel NX plates. Launched in 2014, Sonora has been widely accepted in the market and is in the third generation of Sonora process-free plates.

Along with the plates, Kodak is also promoting its Prinergy pre-press workflow and NexPress ZX digital printer.

Sajith Pallippuram: Smart automation in bookbinding is inevitable

Rushikesh Aravkar — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 17:11:00

What is the star product of Impel-Welbound stand?

We are showcasing the WB@4000 12-clamp perfect binding machine. This is the first 12-clamp perfect binding machine manufactured at our Bengaluru facility. I would describe this machine as flexible and expandable. Flexible because, the user has the choice of using different gluing systems – cold glue, hotmelt EVA, new-generation ultra adhesive, and PUR. The different gluing systems require different set up. We have provided a system where one can switch from one gluing method to the other seamlessly.

And expandable because?

This machine can be coupled with our high-speed gatherer and also to an inline three-knife trimmer.

How does this help the customer?

The Welbound Technical Services team has been involved in installing and servicing several imported secondhand 12-clamp perfect binders. What we have observed is, when a user makes this switch from a six-clamp machine to an inline binder, there a steep learning curve. It involves understanding the signature, how they are processed in printing and binding stage — are the signatures kept under pressure, are they stacked. This is especially true when one is switching from manual gathering to inline automated gathering and inline binding.

As a result, though the machines are equipped, the user is not able to derive the expected throughput out of these high-speed machines. Moreover, it also results in higher energy consumption and the wastage of consumables like adhesives. So, even if the secondhand machines are affordable, the price per book is pretty high.

We have seen a series of our own customers who have invested in such machines in the past and have suffered in the process. So, the customers who are making this automation switch are looking to start with a high-speed binding machine that would allow books to be fed manually at the initial stage. And as they grow they are willing to add to the automation. That’s where the WB@4000 fits in. It produces 4,000 books per hour. It is a EPIC series of WB Impel-Welbound binding machines. EPIC stands for efficiency, productivity, intelligence and cost-effectiveness.

Explain EPIC.

How does one achieve efficiency, productivity, and cost-effectiveness? For these things to improve, one needs to have the information on what happens when you are running a book, or you are changing a book, or when a machine is not maintained, or when the machines are not cleaned properly. These kinds of things have impact on costs. We have put energy meters in the machines which gather information such as costs incurred when the machine starts consuming more energy because one is idling the machine or when one is not running the machine at a higher speed or because the knives are blunt or because the glue tank was not cleaned regularly.

We have realised that we need to work with the book printers in order to have a continuous improvement of cost efficiency. The areas that we can look at are: one is machine, which will give you the throughput productivity and minimise wastage.

How does this make the machine intelligent?

The machine makes the information available to the user to act upon. It's a one way communication from the machine to the user in a readable format or to the user’s ERP. The information can be delivered in the form of an email or an SMS or you it can be downloaded in MS Excel format. This information can be used to figure out if anything is going wrong in the machine or to find to the root cause of a problem in the machine. It definitely can be used to improve efficiency and productivity.

Does it also tell you if the quality of a book is good enough?

An inspection system cannot work only by systems. It required expert people to use the available data to make inferences and make right decisions.

With WTS programme, we are educating everyone who's involved in bookbinding to understand how to test a book, how to look at the things which can go wrong and also then trace it back to the root cause if something is incorrect. There’s no point in trying to make corrections at the end of the process. One needs to go trace the issue back to the planning stage and make amendments there because root cause can be in grain direction or folding or any intermediate process.

There are methods of visual inspection, there are methods of testing a book, and then there also in-process inspection. At this exhibition, we are promoting the entire concept of testing your books well. This includes a page-pull tester, glue-level measurement devices, digital and analogue thermometers.

We are also showcasing that with right adhesive in right quantity and right spine finishing can provide better quality and spending lower costs. This is an eye-opener for many customers who have visited our stand.

The page-pull tester is the only way of measuring the strength of a binding. We have created this tool and we are selling it with our machines at a subsidised cost. This helps the customer will be able to give a number to the quality that he produces.

The third important cost is adhesive.

Our partnership with Henkel has been over 25 years now. It has allowed us to introduce the best of adhesives technologies that are adapted to the Indian scenarios. So they form a crucial partner in the process. With efficient machines and processes and services, the idea is to ensure that we are delivering the right quality at the lowest possible cost. Our aspiration is to help the entire supply chain bring down the cost of books. This cannot happen overnight. It needs change in the way people work. We will play that significant part of working with all the stakeholders in continuously reducing the cost and providing better books.

How many installations of EPIC bookbinding machines?

We have supplied 60 six-clamp WB@2500 machines. This also includes exports to Bangladesh and African countries. We have been able to meet aspirations of the customers with this new model in terms of 35% more productivity. We have made the temperature control digital so that it’s easy to use. Plus the nipping is able to handle up to 500gsm cover with accurate and adjustable creasing. The at-the-rate (@) symbol signifies that these machines are internet-ready, they are talking to you through emails.

Is the bookbinding industry in India ready for smart automation?

The biggest cost in bookbinding is labour. Moreover, signature gathering is a highly-skilled job. It is getting difficult to get skilled labour. So automation is inevitable. Smart automation with a human face is what we need. There are certain things that are better done by human hands so as to achieve good quality, probably at a lower cost than what it would be.

PrintPack 2019 Visitors Speak: Akanito Assumi, Famous Letterpress India

Abhishek Muralidharan — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 16:04:00

At the show, woven papers from Print Plus and the kind of solutions they are offering are exceptional. I am looking for more cotton paper manufacturers for my press. We visit PrintPack to understand more about the advancements in paper technology. We use the Gruppo Cordenons Paper from Italy, a product marketed by Sona Papers.

I would like to spread the message to create a community for this niche segment of the printing industry, which is letterpress, and highlight the quality of products and the creativity one can achieve with it. We manufacture fridge magnets, wedding cards, visiting cards and many other such products with letterpress technology.

PrintPack 2019 Stall of the Day: Empowera Technorganics

Abhishek Muralidharan — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 16:02:00

The company specialises in water-based adhesives and has a wide range of such eco-friendly products, which was the idea behind the selection of the stall with an earthy look and colour. Orange, which is Empowera’s corporate identity, was visible in almost every image and information displayed at the stall.

The stall was designed with wooden flooring and walls. Apart from a stylish meeting room and well-furnished seating space, the stall comprised of a feature wall which highlighted Empowera’s 35 years of success, including its addition of a new plant at Narela in 2005, and its launch of a new range of water-based adhesives in 2013, among others.

The stall also comprised of a 3D-designed display of its website www.empowera.net, and a feature wall with a workflow of its entire product range, including all brand names.

PrintPack 2019 Visitors Speak: Hari Adhikari, Sayapatri Hotstamping Press

Abhishek Muralidharan — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 15:51:00

The industry has drastically evolved over the years. I started my career working with the letterpress technology and obviously, we have come a long way now, with the digital space.

At this year’s show, the die-cutting and packaging post-press segment caught my interest. Also, the safety and security developments in all the machines have improved up to a great extent. Konica Minolta’s MGI Jetvarnish iFoil S, which offers hot foil stamping, is an impressive machine with its quality output.

The Nano-Print 1015 machine provided by Grafica Flextronica, a renowned name in the screen printing industry, is ideal for the MSME segment.

I would like to conclude by saying that it is essential for every printer to move along with the technology and changing market trends. I have been looking for a machine which can provide me with a better reflection of the UV through foil stamping, which I could test and apply at my press in Kathmandu, Nepal.

K Selvakumar: Commercial printing segment will soon go digital

Abhishek Muralidharan — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 15:46:00

One technology at the show that excited you the most?

I was very impressed with Heidelberg's new foil stamper, where all the settings are done on the computer. The amount of time it saves along with the reduction in the wastage of the foil is tremendous.

What were the upcoming trends at this edition of PrintPack India?

One thing that I observed is the growth of digital, a lot of digital machines and the kind of value addition associated with digital printing is commendable and then, of course, the finishing types of equipment are growing.

Which segment is shifting to the digital space?

So many things are being converted into digital, which is quite visible here. The commercial segment if you ask me, will entirely become digital after some time. Already many commercial printers have switched to digital, and whoever hasn’t been will soon venture into digital.

Why do you feel digital is growing?

From what I have seen from the web-to-print stalls and the kind of machines they have installed, it's tremendous. The future is going to be eCommerce. It is an eCommerce kind of thing, it’s certainly going to pick-up. I met with this company, Indus Analytics, they're actually doing some work for us and they showed us a demo of their product, a small MIS. The kinds of solution these small scale companies are providing is fantastic, which not even the big players are able to provide.

What has been the impact of the Union Budget on the Indian printing industry?

I don't know why the government is not highlighting it, but one of the biggest successes is the facility of automatic GST refund. Previously, getting the GST refund from the government used to be a very big challenge. Today, it happens without your interference with the submission of the regular documents. You don’t have to submit anything special for filing the return, and the money automatically gets transferred in a short span of time.

PrintPack 2019: Kapoor Imaging brings Agfa's Synaps to India

Sriraam Selvam — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 12:34:00

Agfa’s Synaps is a range of coated polyester designed for premium applications that need a robust and attractive stock that neither paper nor other plastics can provide. The principle attributes of Synaps are that it is tear-resistant and waterproof.

“With the growing applications that are produced in digital presses, we believe Synaps would offer a unique proposition to the printers. Not to forget the paper being certified by some of the leading digital press manufacturers, including HP Indigo,” said Sharan Kapoor, director of Kapoor Imaging.

The media is available as Synaps XM for digital printers and copiers, Synaps OM for HP Indigo, offset presses, Synaps PS self-adhesive media, Synaps OM wide-format for UV inkjet and Synpas OM90F for folding applications.

“I think the universal acceptability of the media will allow the customers to reach out to the bigger brands and be part of their global projects,” added Kapoor.

The company's Topaz range of plates includes the PPVG bio-green plate for newspapers which work at lower pH and have run lengths of up to 150,000 copies.

“The pH of our green plates are up to 9.3 and our clients like Dinamalar in Chennai have been successful in printing 150,000 copies. The green chemistry is such that it can wash into the drainage without any additional processing needed,” said Giridharan S, CEO of Kapoor Imaging.

The two-layer thermal TPU plates are another success story from the company whose users include Pragathi Printers, Canpack, Sudharshan Graphics, among others.

“The two-layer technology in the thermal plates makes it suitable for commercial, packaging printers and newspapers,” explained Giridharan.

Their other products, such as UV combi wash, LG1600 spray fount, etc have also found success with several newspapers in south India, including Deccan Chronicle, Makkal Kural, and Dinamalar, among others.

“The Topaz platesetters and VLF online processors have also found a sizeable market and in fact, we have been able to sign a few deals for them at the show too,” he added.

Speaking about the company's performance in 2018 and looking ahead at 2019, Giridharan said, “In spite of a slowdown in the market, we have managed to retain out plate market share in 2018 and quietly consolidated our position. Our goal for 2019 is to position ourselves as the preferred solution partners for the newspaper segment and device a clear marketing plan for Synaps. We are also in the process of identifying solutions for the packaging segment for which we see a lot of potential in the coming years,” he concluded.

PrintPack 2019 Visitors Speak: Ashish Narang

Sriraam Selvam — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 18:45:00

Our primary idea of visiting the exhibition is to understand the various technological advancements that the industry has seen in the last couple of years. As a coating specialist, we want to identify what we need to invest in to be up-to-speed with the industry standards and at the same time be excited about innovations which will be the future of the industry.

As per our expectation, we were happy to see a lot of state-of-the-art technology being showcased, especially for the packaging segment. So many of the processes which used to be manual are now fully automated and we have whole lot of thinking to do to ensure our investments are in the right place. The points we are primarily considering is ways to reduce overheads and at the same time scale our operations with the help of technology.

I think the drip off technology that we saw in some of the UV coating machines would become the future of print enhancements. We were particularly impressed with Autoprint's 80 Drip Off, an offline two-tower UV and aqueous coating machine. This tops our list of future investment since we believe this would improve the quality of output in our shopfloor and bring more customers to our unit.

Having said that, in this edition, we saw numerous options for UV coating and would even go on call this PrintPack, a coating special.

I must confess that if I had the budget and means to buy one machine from the show it would be the die-cutter from Bobst which literally blew my mind away with its speed and accuracy. That for me would be a dream machine and I hope I would be able invest in one very soon.

PrintPack 2019 Stall of the Day: Transasia Fine Papers

Abhishek Muralidharan — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 18:23:00

According to the company, the idea behind the stall design can be divided into three facets. Firstly, to highlight the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle, that the company strives to achieve.

Secondly, the idea of a featured wall that highlights the fifty premium uncoated coloured papers manufactured by James Cropper and sold exclusively by London-based paper merchant G F Smith UK.

And, finally, the stall depicted a synchronisation between wood and the paper with an intention to highlight the fact that papers originate from wood.

The execution of the design of the pallets was facilitated by Transasia’s paper imports as it's basically, the paper that comes on to the pallets.

The featured colour wall was inspired by the game ‘Tetris’, which is quite visible when the stall is viewed from a side-angle, due to its protruding shape and 3D effect.

Transasia’s stall has always been at the limelight since PrintPack India 2013, due to its premium quality papers and its intricate stall design, parting away from the regular stall designs of nuts and bolts.

At the trade show, Transasia highlighted its range of premium quality papers and launched its k3 digital papers - premium coated and uncoated textured boards, with its partnering companies such as Konica Minolta, Canon and HP.

PrintPack 2019: Stall of the Day: PaperSmiths

Sujith Ail — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 16:02:00

PaperSmiths deals with speciality and technical grade paper, including Pristine high print paper, Renovo recycled substrates, Aurum metallic substrates, and Boxes for packaging applications. The company has completed 3,790 projects in eight locations and has around 850 clients. PR Packagings, Almats, Lustra, and Pragati are some of its prime clients.

PrintPack 2019 Visitors Speak: Saurin and Viral Shah

Abhishek Muralidharan — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 16:58:00

We have experienced a considerable amount of growth compared to the previous editions of PrintPack India. This indicates that the Indian market is constantly growing and it is quite visible as we can see a lot of new participants at the show.

We have visited various exhibitions across the world. So we have seen most of the technologies being showcased here. When you talk about the industry competing with the worldwide market, it requires a lot of improvement. But, a lot of new machines have been coming to India in the last five years which is a great sign of growth. Also, we are adapting to newer technologies which is again a positive sign for the industry.

The packaging segment has experienced major growth over the years, but, in the commercial printing side, there has been a standstill. So, a lot of innovations are required to boost up the commercial printing segment.

The Union Budget hasn’t had a direct impact on the print industry but indirectly, of course, it has made an impact on this industry, just like the other manufacturing segments, because the per capita income and buying power has grown.

So, definitely, the Union Budget is a huge push and we should appreciate it, because it is for the people, for the poor, and for the benefit of the MSME sector.

We feel that the service sector in India will grow much faster as compared to the manufacturing sector, as customers are focusing more on the factors such as on-time delivery and other such services.

Also, on the manufacturing side, competing with China is a bit difficult, so we will be more inclined towards the service segment. The services like travel and tourism, healthcare, and digitalisation will increase on a larger scale.

PrintPack 2019: Toyo Ink considering colour management support for customers

Noel D'Cunha — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 13:56:00

Congratulations. Welcome to India as the new CEO of Toyo Ink India. What was your role in Toyo Ink prior to coming to India?

In 1986, after completing my studies, I joined Toyo and worked for the newspaper ink sales side. In 1992, my career got a fillip. I was appointed to the marketing and management executive for overseas subsidiaries and it started with Hong Kong, then Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

In 2017, I returned to Tokyo to take up a new assignment that of providing support to all the overseas subsidiaries.

On 13 December 2018, I took over as the head of Toyo Ink in India.

How different is your role from all those you have performed before taking up this assignment?

In Malaysia and in Indonesia, I was the managing director of the subsidiaries. Here I am chairman and managing director of the Indian subsidiary of Toyo. However, the difference is in the size of the market. India is a huge market.

When we spoke to Kotaro Yoshida san, your predecessor, he was expecting to grow at 10% in 2018. Did he achieve that? And how are you going to build on that success?

As I understand, there was a certain impact of the implementation of GST on businesses in 2017, and the ink business was no exception. But in 2018, we started to see business pick up. So, last year we saw a 33% growth, touching an annual turnover of Rs 382-crore.

Yoshida San had a dream of making Toyo Ink a Rs 500-crore company. I would like to build on that keep the momentum of growth, growing at least 33% per annum. We are moving in the right direction by introducing new products for the growing packaging market, as well as becoming a customer solution provider.

Yoshida San brought in backward integration so as to become more efficient, streamlined administration and service activities. I will try to build on that, as well as provide new customer-centric solutions.

What kind of customer-solutions are you talking about?

Reducing cost and increasing quality are two eternal solutions. And top of this we would like to provide value-added services like our in-house developed computer colour matching (CCM) system wherein the packaging customer can utilise the leftover inks more efficiently thus bringing down their inventory and ultimately cost. Of course, this requires a lot of coordination and cooperation.

I am talking of services like colour management support. We do not want to be seen only as an ink supplier, but a partner who will work to take our customer’s business to the next level.

Inks are run on presses, and it can sometimes be the cause for the machine’s downtime. Press manufacturers are talking about preventive maintenance. What are you doing on that front?

Honestly speaking, we have more than 300 case-studies in Japan, the US, China, Thailand and also in Indonesia of our colour management system that does exactly what you have mentioned – helping reduce malfunction in the press thereby preventing unnecessary machine downtime.

Are they tools, and who have developed them?

Yes, these are software tools and are completely developed by Toyo. These are developed to suit the kind of inks we make.

When will we see it in India?

We are prepared to roll it out in India. As whenever we have printers who are willing to implement it, we will go all out to support them.

Will it be a cost centre? And why should printers pay for it as they are already paying for the ink?

Cost is an impediment, not only in India, but across the world. But when the printers see the benefit of implementing the colour management system, the cost will become secondary. The immense quality improvement will help differentiate our customers from their competitors; waste reduction will directly impact profitability. These are just two of the benefits but the customer will understand that there are many more.

Toyo does not talk a lot about NTNK, low migration inks. Why?

Yes, you are right. That’s because we were not so much in the packaging side of the printing ink business. But with NEXpress we are moving into the packaging segment, and we have made PrintPack show our vehicle to enter that segment.

We are projecting Toyo Ink not just an ink solution provider to the commercial segment but also the packaging segment.

What’s NEXpress ink about?

The NEXpress range will include the regulatory safe line-up of tailor-made products viz. Offset, Flexible, UV and Coatings for the packaging of food, toys, pharmaceuticals and other consumer products.

You have experts to come and talk to the brands on this?

Yes, we have Jose Novo from the global business division of Toyo Ink in Japan, come and meet the brand owners. So we are not just producing inks, but also connecting with the brand owners who are our customer’s customer.

We started this journey about six months ago.

Coming back to NTNK, low migration inks...

See low migration is a big topic which requires long discussions and there are perceptions that vary from customer to customer. I can say that we have NTNK inks and we are in process of offering Low Migration solution as well. Prior to this, we need to educate our customers as to what low-migration inks are. Because ink is not the only factor in making the product food-safe. There are paperboard, chemicals that run on presses, chemicals used with plates enlisting every minute thing that goes in printing.

By the way, we give a certificate in compliance with our product, but have you seen a certificate on the product that is sold to the end-user?

And NEXpress range of ink?

NEXpress is a packaging product basket that covers various product under Offset, flexible, UV and coating segment. It’s a line-up of regulatory-compliant inks and coatings that undergo strict quality management by the company to ensure these products conform to EN-71, RoHS, SVHC, and other safety initiatives.

Does it feature NTNK?

NEXpress inks feature a new series of Benzophenone-free and ITX-free UV inks that are specifically formulated for indirect food contact folding carton applications. The NEXpress flexible packaging series features a non-toluene, non-MEK series of gravure lamination inks that are specially formulated for food labels, packaging and other consumer products.

Why do you think NEXpress is a perfect fit for the market?

More than a perfect fit, I think that there’s a gap between the highly priced ink in the market and the second best. NEXpress fills that gap, both in pricing as well as quality.

We have been successful with our inks for the commercial segment, and I am sure the NEXpress range of inks will be equally successful for us.

Toyo has taken great strides in the last decade. There’s been a new plant and new product offerings, even to different industries. What’s your vision for the Indian plants?

Everybody knows that offset and gravure is our stronghold, our bread and butter. But we do not want to just stay happy with that. We have polymer and plastic colourants added to our portfolio. Then we have adhesives – one for flexible packaging and other for pressure-sensitive products.

That said, our expansion plans in India will continue, and we will continue to focus on what the Indian market needs.

PrintPack 2019 Visitor Speak: Harjinder Singh

Abhishek Muralidharan — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 18:24:00

The industry has come a long way since its transformation from manual to offset in the 1090s. Similarly, now the trend is the change from conventional to digital printing. This is especially due to the customisation, innovations and fast turnaround times provided by the digital space.

At PrintPack 2019, I’m impressed with the increased number of stalls and exhibitors, especially the increase of global exhibitors in our country, which is a crucial parameter for growth.

Post-press, another growing segment and a vital aspect for digital printing have now come into the limelight, as it is quite visible at the trade show. This segment is becoming a huge attraction for visitors. Out of the stalls I have visited so far, the two machines highlighted by Hi-Tech in this post-press segment caught my attention.

I feel that the industry should work more towards achieving the goals of zero-wastage, as it will also lead to an increase in the cost of the product.

PrintPack 2019 Stall of the Day: Sangeeta Poly Pack

Sujith Ail — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 18:23:00

The stall at Hall 9 Stall E11 features designed arches in the back and above and in colours ranging from light yellow to dark red, immediately catching a visitor’s attention. The arches are made of PP corrugated sheets, which compliments Sangeeta’s range of PP sheets and flute board offerings.

The flagship product of Sangeeta Poly Pack at PrintPack India 2019 is the Sunpac – corrugated plastic hollow sheets made from Polypropylene. Sunpac is available in range of colours from clear transparent, opaque milky, to various Pantone shades.

Download PrintWeek India PrintPack Daily

PrintWeek India — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 11:46:00

PrintWeek India PrintPack Daily - Day One

PrintWeek India PrintPack Daily - Day Two

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PrintWeek India PrintPack Daily - Day Four

PrintWeek India PrintPack Daily - Day Five

Picture Gallery: Behind the scenes at PrintPack India 2017

Krishna Naidu — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 18:03:00

PrintPack India 2017: 424 exhibitors set to dazzle the industry

Krishna Naidu — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 17:49:00

IPAMA, the organiser of the show is excited as well.

Sanat Shah of Manugraph said, “The Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ is the message at PrintPack 2017. Indian manufacturers like TechNova, Line O Matic, Manugraph, TPH, Autoprint, Welbound, among others are targeting the Indian domestic market that is ready to spend.”

HV Sheth, president, IPAMA said, “The prime focus for all participants is value addition in printing, packaging and converting segments. We are certain that innovations on display at PrintPack 2017 will create sustainable employment opportunities, which in return, will be responsible for economic growth.”

PrintWeek India is the media partner for PrintPack 2017.

The ten-member team, headed by Noel D’Cunha, is producing this 24-page PrintPack Daily on all five days of the show. More than 3,000 copies of the PrintPack Daily will be distributed at the show.

In addition, there will be eBulletins for a week with picture galleries and live updates which will reach out to more than 30,000 email inboxes in the industry.

The PrintWeek India is at stall H5/C6.