Creative Graphics showcased technologies from DuPont, Kodak, and Esko at PlastIndia, held from 1 – 5 February at New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. The company plays in all segments of flexo, including flexible packaging, labels, corrugated boxes, and paper cup printing, with its plate types being used for all applications. It displayed printed samples of gravure-to-flexo conversion jobs to convince potential customers to make a shift to flexo.
“A lot of customers already work with us, it is more a matter of networking and meeting up. But we have also seen a lot of potential inquiries. One good thing about the exhibition was that entry was not free. Whoever came was interested in plastics, packaging, and printing. To that extent, the new inquiries were from those who were serious about either getting into the industry or were expanding their current portfolio,” said Mahesh Kode, vice-president, Operations and Sales, Creative Graphics.
Plastic, over the last few years, has become a much-abused word, and wrongly so because plastic has its own advantages, Kode said. “A lot of industries revolve around it. I think as long as we find better ways to recycle plastic, we should not be really considering it as simply anti-environment. I remember, long ago, plastic got an entry because people were not okay with paper being used to such a large extent with the forests being depleted. And now it has come a full circle and people are saying plastic is polluting the environment. I think we need a balanced view on that,” he added.
In terms of sustainability, in plate making, you have a solvent that is used for processing the plates, he said. “We make sure we do not empty the dirty solvent, we put it through a recycling machine wherein the pure solvent is again distilled out and we continue to use that for the processor. We have a proper system for managing our solvents,” he said, regarding sustainability initiatives of Creative Graphics.
According to Kode, one very obvious and clear trend where every gravure printer’s work is involved is investing in CI Flexo. “Earlier, you had gravure printers on one side doing flexible packaging by reverse printing and you only had flexo with surface printing on poly on the other side. Now, as you can see, even from some of the samples exhibited, a lot of gravure work has shifted to flexo. We are going to brand owners and encouraging this trend so that flexo grows in terms of its potential,” he concluded.
