At Pamex Mumbai in February, Alpna Visual Packaging Aids — a Delhi-based provider of UV curing systems for sheetfed offset, flexible packaging, and narrow-to-medium web printing presses, received several inquiries that led to the sale of five Rhino Dexa RD-102. Alpna is now preparing for its debut at Drupa 2024, taking place in Dusseldorf after a gap of eight years.
The company has been promoting its recent innovation, Rhino Dexa RD-102 — a twin-deck coater retrofitted on the Heidelberg SM-102 platform, featuring a CDB-type anilox coating module with critical components and technology sourced from Tresu, Denmark. It is touted to be a one-stop solution for all offline coating requirements that include offline drip-off coating, hybrid coating, texture coating, full coatings – UV and aqueous (matt/gloss), primer coatings, velvet coating, and soft-touch varnishes.
During Packaging South Asia’s visit to its Okhla office, Debashish Dutta, general manager, said the two-decade-old company is focused on creating a road map for exports, initially by appointing agents in different parts of the world.
“What we desire is a proper network and infrastructure for sales and support. If someone visits our website and inquires about buying a machine, it would technically be considered an export. However, I call it windfall. The problem with windfalls is that they don’t happen every day. And if we want consistent business overseas, building an ecosystem takes priority.”
Dutta joined Alpna in early 2023 at a time when the company was going through a management change. “I tried to figure out the company’s strengths and weaknesses, which part of the country we reach first, and where we can extend our services and after-sales support. Our equipment division was shifting to Noida around that time. Alpna is very strong in the mean end of the market, providing a good ratio of price and quality. However, there is a gap in the top end and we are focusing on that,” he said.
The company’s first overseas show, Pack Print International Bangkok in September 2023, organized by Messe Dusseldorf’s Asia wing, gave the company good insights and leads, and helped establish an agent, who was able to seal a deal in February 2024.
“We have strong bases in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and added Bangkok. We have a presence in the Gulf market. Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam are next on our to-do list,” Dutta said, pointing to a world map in his office, “Making Alpna a global solution provider is the aim.”
At Drupa, Alpna expects to see newer and more innovative technologies. “It has been 10 years since drip-off technology came into the market and since then not much innovation has happened in the UV or LED markets. We have been promoting LED cassettes but since the ink and chemical markets are quite slow, there hasn’t been concrete growth in that segment. For this technology, we are importing only the chip from Italy. The rest of it is developed in Noida. We have installed several of these cassettes and they are getting decent feedback. The numbers, however, could be better if the ink and chemical market picks up,” he said.
