PackPlus 2018, the annual packaging, processing and supply chain event held from 25-28 July 2018 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, was a success with increased visitors numbering anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 over the four days although the organizers are claiming that the figure is closer to 20,000. Even our guesstimate is a remarkably good figure taking into account the inclement weather and waterlogging of the city on some of the days. The exhibition creditably featured 350+ companies segmented or branded as India Converting Show, Cartontech, SupplyPlus across six of the larger halls at Pragati Maidan.
New exhibitors
Several new companies joined the PackPlus exhibitor list this year, and the results surpassed their expectations. “We participated in PackPlus for the first time and it worked well for us. We networked with more than 150 quality visitors; many of these are soon to be converted into clients,” said Vaishali Sharma from DNV Industrial Systems. “The best part of the show is the large number of running machines, which becomes a huge attraction for business visitors. We received a very good response,” stated Rakesh Jain from Maa Shakti Corporation.
Business
PackPlus reported a series of business deals and sales, especially on the second and the third day of the exhibition. Vardhman Enterprises sold its fully-automatic high speed paper cup machine to Delhi-based Ginny International; Ample Graphics sold its multi-function automatic box making machine to Bahadurgarh-based Azure Press; Accuweb Enterprises received an order for its narrow web slitting machine as well as the inspection machine; and, Vijaya Grafiks sold a carton folder gluer for lock bottom cartons to a Jaipur-based company.
Visitor comments
“We are in food processing and we visited the event basically to find pickle filling lines. We met several companies and got a chance to see and compare several machines here. So, yes, it has been a fruitful experience for us,” said Sunil Kumar, Amrapali Biotech India visiting from Bihar.
“We deal in PP printed bags and rolls. It makes us happy that we decided to visit the exhibition as it was a wonderful show. We have already placed orders of bags with a company in the PackSol segment,” said Ashok Kumar Garg, Salasar Poly Bags of Bhilwara. The International Packaging Conclave 2018 on food safety in packaging was held concurrently on 27 July at the business lounge at the fair grounds. The event discussed the implications of the new regulations on food packaging. It also featured panel discussions and case studies by brand owner company experts. (See our coverage on page xxxx.)
Organisers speak
“We are elated with the response that PackPlus has received this year. It has been a win-win situation for everyone. We are glad that the industry is growing and opening doors to new technology and assigning PackPlus an important role of providing a presentation platform to these innovations. Moreover, several exhibitors have already booked their stands for the next edition and we target to break these records again next year,” said Neetu Arora, director, Next Events, the organisers of the show.
Next year’s PackPlus is slated to be held from 28 to 31 August 2019 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
