The pressure-sensitive label industry in India continues to grow as packed and labeled products in numerous types of containers, formats, and sizes multiply. Every food and snack product is available in various exotic and localized flavors. You can now buy packs of Hershey’s chocolates filled with California almonds with guava and Mexican chilli flavor, or Hershey’s Exotic Dark blueberry and acai flavored centers. Also, you can find Mazan chocolate cubes filled with paan flavour and many other products in the market with a variety of localized flavors including Kurkure packs with ‘UP Taste.’ In short, the number of SKU’s of pouches and labeled containers have substantially multiplied.
Label converters also seem to be multiplying with the entry of nine Indian manufacturers of label presses. Although the imported narrow web flexo presses are still coming in, the market is increasingly dominated by local OEMs for narrow and mid-web flexo, digital, and hybrid presses. Indian flexo and digital OEMs such as Monotech are getting more orders, and increasingly for exports. However, in several interactions at recent shows label converters and OEM suppliers have told Packaging South Asia, “Hybrid technologies will shape the future of Indian label printing industries.”
It is no longer about flexo versus digital versus flexo. At the Labelexpo India in 2022, the European plate and roller manufacturers said that ‘digital is the death of flexo.’ To bolster their views they pointed to challenges such as print density, banding, and handling newer substances – a virtual laundry list of difficulties with digital label production.
Digital printing has found its place in various label applications, especially when personalization, variable data, and shorter print runs are required. Flexo holds significant advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness in large-volume production runs and printing on certain materials and increasingly for short-run flexible packaging, especially with the widespread availability of locally manufactured presses.
Managing shorter print runs is challenging for flexo converters, considering the cost of creating printing plates, time-consuming press set-up, and set-up waste. Adding flexo units to a digital module in a hybrid configuration, or investing in a digital roll-to-roll press alongside established flexo lines has helped converters adopt a more sustainable ‘print-on-demand’ business model for shorter-run labels and packaging.
Hybrid printing can be a more sustainable and economical approach. “The flexo technologies being retrofitted with add-on features to a digital press are referred to as hybrid,” explained Ajit Bharadwaj of Vinsak. “Features such as variable data printing, foiling, stamping, die-cutting, and more automated features are increasingly in demand among converters. Reducing avoidable print waste saves both converters and brands money and reduces the need to handle excess printed stock,” he said.
Parwez Izhar, senior vice president of the printing cylinders business at UFlex shares that the Indian packaging industry is witnessing a surge in smart packaging that features technologies such as track-and-trace systems integrated into labels and packaging including RFID, NFC, QR codes, holograms, and more.
Izhar explains that approximately 20% of the gravure market share has shifted to flexo, primarily due to its cost-effectiveness and faster turnaround time. He says, “In the label industry, both flexo and digital are gaining ground, and with the increasing demand for short-run jobs, converters are also turning to digital.”
“However, converters are not focusing on just one approach, they are thinking about growth. Many opt for both technologies—if they have flexo, they add digital. Converters recognize the demand for a premium look and feel, so the future lies in hybrid technologies that can meet all the quality, volume, and variable data requirements,” Izhar adds.
The automated flexo presses that include hybrid LED UV systems, die-cut units, pre-register, auto-register, movable turn bar, lam and relam units, peal and seal kits, and foiling stations for labels, shrink sleeves, and flexible packaging are increasing in global demand. Faridabad-based Multitec’s mid-web flexo presses can print on various substrates including thin and extensible materials with capability ranging from 10 microns up to 450 microns at 200 meters a minute with impressive registration and low setup wastage.
Multitec generally leads the industry in new technology adoption and implementation with 40% of its manufacturing being exported. Amit Ahuja, managing director of Multitec explained, “The growing short-run demand is creating a market space for digital. This does not pose any threat to veteran flexo users – but the future is in the hybrid production of labels together with the increasing demand for more automation features and quicker and more precise make-ready solutions.”
