On 17 September 2025, the Spectalpack team was at the HP stand at Labelexpo to announce its purchase of two HP Indigo 200K digital presses for flexible packaging. This order adds to the HP25K press already operating at its Bangalore digital flexible packaging plant since August 2024. Priyesh Dalmia, director of Spectalpack, noted that the HP25K is running at full capacity and that the digital packaging vertical is scalable, with potential for expansion to multiple locations.
Dalmia states that the first HP200K digital press will be installed in early October as the plant expands by 15,000 square feet, followed by the second press in November. He is confident that, with the right culture and commitment, the digital printing model for flexible packaging is scalable, as shown by the close timing of the two installations.
During our visit to the Spectalpack plant last year, Dalmia said that digital printing of flexible packaging enables the company to deliver packaging solutions with minimal turnaround times and extremely low minimum order quantities (MOQs), ideal for startups and businesses hesitant to invest initially in large packaging volumes.
“Digital printing is all about time. We are not just selling flexible packaging, we are selling time and quality,” emphasized Dalmia. “If a client needs materials in four days, we can deliver that, and we’ll charge a premium for the time saved,” he said. As the business has caught on and gained traction with high demand, he speaks in terms of 7-days for delivery, although the shorter times may resume as the new HP200K presses are commissioned.
Dalmia believes producing small batches of 500 to 1,000 pouches with customization opens new opportunities, especially with variable data printing for track and trace, security applications, and QR codes. He adds that longer runs are becoming practical since several SKUs, even in varying quantities, can be produced simultaneously on the same web.
“Variable data printing and mock-up production are also game-changers for flexible packaging,” says Dalmia. Mock-ups are increasingly in demand from export houses, marketing teams, and higher management for product approvals and market testing. “Every day, we handle five to six mock-ups in our factory. These allow clients to evaluate the product’s potential before committing to large-scale production. Such capabilities are only possible through digital printing.”
As was evident by its presence at Labelexpo in Barcelona, Spectalpack has built an entirely new and youthful team to manage and run the vertical. “Digital printing of flexible packaging is a completely different domain, so we started from scratch,” Dalmia says, keen to emphasize that the digital venture for flexible packaging requires a completely new mindset and new culture.
This was also evident at the company’s participation at the Ahaar food exhibition in March in Delhi earlier this year, by which time the company had already added additional flexible packaging converting capacity for lamination and flat-bottom pouching. In our conversation after Labelexpo, Dalmia says the company has added a Kohli lamination machine and four pouching machines from Galaxy Packtech.
HP’s India country manager for flexible packaging, A Appodorai, says that the number of wide HP digital presses for flexible packaging, including the HP20K, the HP25 K, and the HP200K, is now approaching double digits in the country. His persistent claims of the efficiency and real benefits of HP Indigo digital printing for flexibles at various industry conferences are apparently having an impact. Rather than merely prototyping, a new generation of digital flexible packaging printers is embracing the multiplicity of new startup brands and multiple SKUs as a significant capability and market opportunity. “Digital flexible packaging is mainstream,” he says, as would Priyesh Dalmia.
