After Sandeep Zaveri took over as the new president of LMAI (Label Manufacturers Association of India) he organized the second technical workshop and networking meet during his tenure at Chelmsford Club in New Delhi.The first such event was held at Mumbai in December 2015. It was interesting to note that almost all of LMAI printer members from Delhi-NCR preregistered for the show and more than 100 delegates attended the workshop as against an expected 80 members.
Welcoming the guests Kuldip Goel, vice president of LMAI and managing director of Any Graphics, speaking in Hindi likened the association LMAI to a devotional place like a temple. He said a temple is built on four pillars, each of which has a special significance. “In our association the four pillars are members, suppliers, sponsors and the media.” Initiating the technical part of the workshop, Shailesh Kumar Sharma, senior manager — technical, Flint Group India, spoke about the quality aspects of inks as well the role of UV light in curing. He also spoke about the present UV curing scenario undergoing transformation leading to the implementation of LED UV technology as a more stable and futuristic one.
Explaining the capability of LED UV to cure ink on thinner substrates and provide better adhesion, Carston Barlebo of AMS (Air Motion Solutions) cited a case study conducted by them with their AMS Flexo Series LED UV system for the narrow web label industry at a food packaging converter in Italy whereby this system is fitted on a 7-color 530 mm Omet Vary Flex F1 530. He informed that this is the largest UV LED system ever installed which provides savings in energy, replacement costs and in-creased productivity. The system is compatible with LED-optimized inks and varnishes from leading manufacturers.
Flexographic printed labels
Manish Kapoor of Nilpeter spoke about the growth and increasing market size ofthe flexographic printed labels segment and its extension into the packaging industry. He also elucidated the need for printers targeting the huge packaging industry to invest in combination printing so as to derive benefits from each technology to create innovative and highly decorated packages.
According to him even though the label industry was growing at 15% per annum yet it was a miniscule portion of the packaging industry pegged at Rs 1.5 lakh crores or about US$ 24 billion.He emphasized that it was an opportune time for the industry to invest in the see merging technologies. Flexographic printing is highly dependent on the quality of prepress. Deepanshu Goel of Creative Graphics, a prepress company, spoke on the importance of prepress in plate making. He also explained the importance and proper use of double tapes and anilox rollers.
Wealth management
Finance and wealth management are a sensitive part of growth in any business.Chirag Gokani an expert on the subject spoke about the importance of financial planning leading to wealth management. Sandeep Tiberwala from Yes Bank commenting on Kuldip Goel’s remarks on the constituents of the association being the pillars of the association remarked, “Banks are an inherent part of this structure that provides strength to the pillars.” He also spoke on the procedures and requirements for getting adequate finance by label printers for their businesses.
Prepress
Moreover, there was an interactive session by Harveer Sahni, managing director of Weldon Celloplast where all the speakers were a part of the panel. Most of the questions were about the LED UV and were answered by CP Paul of APL and Barlebo of AMS. Sahni commented, “Prepress is the heart of flexo printing that has evolved in terms of quality over the years.” In response to this, Deepanshu Goel further elaborated on the imperative need of good prepress in flexo printing. Shailesh Sharma of Flint while replying to questions informed the gathering that Flint will be hosting many open house sessions for LED UV inks in the near future.Finally the host for the evening Naveen Goel invited Aditya Chadha of Update Prints to deliver a vote of thanks. Aditya in his concluding remarks stressed the need for the label printing fraternity to be more interactive, so as to share the importance of better prices for raw materials, selling prices, employee retention and more profitability. In the evening one saw a big number of next generation young managers that included Aditya Chadha of Update Prints, Anuj Bhargav of Kumar Labels, Naveen Goel of Any Graphics, Rishab Jain of Jain Transfer, Parshav Jain of Jain Transfer, Pawandeep Sahni of Weldon and Gurdev Jandu of Jandu Engineering. Happy at the success of the event, Sandeep Zaveri, president of LMAI and Rajesh Nema, secretary of LMAI announced that the next similar workshop will beheld in South India, probably at Bangalore, followed by one in Ahmedabad
