Venugopal Menon of Bobst India anticipates a robust capital expenditure (capex) momentum in the Indian packaging industry for the coming months, with a positive outlook extending into 2024. Speaking at Pamex 2024 in Mumbai this month, Menon shared insights into the growing capex trend.
“Over the last couple of months, we have witnessed a noticeable uptick in capex, particularly in the cartons and corrugated segments. The momentum is encouraging, and if sustained, we can expect the capex cycle to make a strong comeback in 2024. Bobst India has closed several deals recently, reflecting the positive industry sentiment,” remarked Menon.
Menon emphasized the continuous growth of the Indian packaging industry, attributing it to an increasing number of players seeking automation solutions. The trend towards automation aims to reduce manpower dependency, enhance throughput, and improve overall efficiency.
“Automation is not only about machines, it could be before machines and post machines, end of the line. Bobst will very soon come up with some innovations in automation in the coming months, which we will share with the market at the right time,” he said.
Discussing Bobst India’s performance in 2023, Menon noted that except for the corrugated segment, the company witnessed positive outcomes across the folding carton, flexible, and label segments.
“Except for corrugated, the rest of the segments did quite well I would say in India, especially on the primary packaging and the secondary packaging. The corrugated business was a bit slow. We hope that the investment cycle in the corrugated board cycle will come back in 2024,” Menon said.
Open house in October
Looking ahead, Bobst India has announced plans for an open house in Pune on 3-4 October 2024, after a significant gap. Menon said the Bobst open house has always been an eagerly awaited event, showcasing innovations in die-cutting and folder-gluer technologies.
“The Bobst open house has always been the event the industry used to look forward for innovation. This year too, we will come up with some innovations in die cutter and folder gluer. At the open house, we will showcase something interesting, a contactless registration system. It is a fantastic technology, which will bring in contactless registration and drastically reduce the number of stoppages on the machine. It would be very easy for the operator to set up the machine,” he said.
Exciting Pamex 2024 for Bobst
Although Bobst India did not showcase live machines at Pamex 2024, the event was a valuable platform for engaging with existing and potential customers. Menon emphasized the positive experience at Pamex, where fruitful discussions and leads for future collaborations took place.
“Pamex is a platform where you not only meet your existing customers but also some new customers who want to diversify and get into packaging. So, we could get interesting leads during the show and concrete discussions with customers. We have been discussing our upcoming open house in Bobst in Pune,” Menon said.
