Packaging South Asia

On 26 June 2017, global labeling and packaging materials manufacturer Avery Dennison Corporation and leading supplier of labeling solutions in southern Africa, Rotolabel, announced that they would provide responsibly-sourced label materials to one of their customers – Woolworths, based in South Africa.

While 7, 8 and even 10-color gravure and flexo presses have been used in India for flexible packaging and labels, more than 6-color plus coater presses have only just started being used for carton printing. Until a couple of years ago, a 6-color plus coater was the standard monocarton press. The higher configuration presses including interdeck and end-of-press UV were imported for printing on metalized polyester laminated to paperboard and also sometimes for printing on transparent or translucent plastic substrates.

Under an agreement signed recently between All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) and Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication (BIGC) to provide training in 3D printing and print electronics, a batch of seven trainees left for China on 20 May 2017.  The highly subsidized training schedule has been specially fabricated for the members and other print entrepreneurs of the country.

Avery Dennison Corporation recently announced the appointment of Gregory S Lovins to senior vice president and chief financial officer. Lovins will be responsible for leading financial operations across Avery Dennison, and will also oversee the company's information technology group.

The Uflex cylinder engraving division has, after three years of intense R&D, been able to optimize cell structures of laser-engraved rotogravure cylinders to an extent that can actually reduce ink consumption by about 20-25% than what can be achieved using electro-mechanically engraved cylinders for similar image quality. In fact, the print quality achieved with the higher definition laser-engraved cylinders is enhanced in comparison to print using electro-mechanically engraved cylinders.

The fourth biennial conference organized by the Label Manufacturers Association of India (LMAI) will be held at Jaypee Palace Hotel and Convention Centre, Agra, from 20 to 23 July this year. LMAI, which represents label manufacturers from across the country with the common goal of promoting self-adhesive label applications, expects at least 450 printers and suppliers from the label industry to participate in the event, which has been witnessing a steady growth over the years. First held in 2011 with 240 members, the number of participants to the conference increased to 360 in 2013 and 450 in 2015.

At Labelexpo Europe 2017, TRESU Group (Stand 7D53) will highlight its comprehensive range of ancillary products for controlling ink flow in flexographic label and package printing

PackPlus, which will be held from 3-6 August 2017 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, will see 375 companies spread across six halls over an area of 16,000 square meters. The event is expected to receive more than 20,000 visitors.

Like many other small but fast growing packaging film manufacturers from India, Surat-based Alpha Plastomers too has been aggressively working towards expanding its market share in developed regions of the world, such as USA and Europe. A leading manufacturer of flexible packaging solutions like POF shrink films and speciality products such as collation shrink films and mulch films, Alpha has participated in interpack for the second time. The company has two manufacturing plants located at Daman and Roorkee, and has a combined production capacity for shrink films of about 300 tons per month, which is expected to increase to 600 tons per month by next year. Alpha also manufactures PET bottles but currently has no plans to bring those to the international market.

Konica Minolta’s bizhub Press C71cf is an optimum printing solution for SMEs in the label printing and packaging segments. An entry-level press, the C71cf...