Successful international
exhibitions have long been linked to venues that have time and again brought in
visitors, added to the brand value and image of the show. Show organisers are
normally hesitant to shift the show unless the circumstances become compelling.
Hannover Industrial fair at Hannover, Drupa at Dusseldorf, Labelexpo Europe at
Brussels, Labelexpo Americas at Chicago, Interplast at Birmingham, Auto Mechanika
at Frankfurt, etc. are some of the shows that have stuck to their time tested
venues and continue to repeatedly attract visitors and exhibitors from around
the world. Successful business men who visit exhibitions for exhibiting, buying
or acquiring knowledge on new developments have an inherent desire to visit new
destinations so as to be able to mix business with pleasure in their free time
at the show. However the aspirations and needs of show organizers always remain
in repeating the success and improving upon the previous showing. For the last
6 years we have been hearing that a certain section of exhibitors at Labelexpo
Brussels have wanted a shift of this premier show to some other location in
Europe but the show continues to be held at Brussels for reasons of stability
and positive growth of the show reported over the years.
Labelexpo India 2016 was held at ExpoMart, Greater Noida, UP, India in November 2016. Tarsus,
the organizers of the
show took a bold decision of moving the show from its traditional venue,
Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. They must have had very compelling reasons for this
decision. There were doubts in the Indian label industry about the success at
this venue. The major reason for these doubts coming up was that the venue was
far from the earlier venue which was in the centre of New Delhi and connected
by all modes of public transport including the Delhi Metro. Greater Noida means
another one hour of driving by car, bus or taxi. There is no Metro as yet but
being under construction it maybe ready in another 2-3 years. In 1981 I was
involved in plastic moulding and had decided to visit Interplast at Birmingham.
The show venue at Birmingham NewStreet was between London and Birmingham City.
I had to take a train daily from London’s Paddington station and reach the show
in one hour forty five minutes. It was an extremely well attended show and had
exhibitors and visitors from around the globe. Looking back, I felt this change
of venue may really work for the Labelexpo India show to be a more focused event.
Only visitors having real interest in Labels would make the effort to travel
the distance. The infrastructure at Expo Mart is far better than the one at Pragati
Maidan which is a very old venue with huge land holding but surely needs
redevelopment. We hear that the renovation is likely to start soon. Meanwhile
Labelexpo India made a smart maiden showing at the new venue, dispelling doubts
of both visitors and exhibitors.
The show was inaugurated by Sandeep
Zaveri-President LMAI (Label Manufacturers Association of India), Sunil Jain-
President Delhi Printers Association, Rajesh Nema -Honorary Secretary LMAI and
Lisa Milburn-Managing Director Labelexpo Group in a short ceremony before the
exhibition was thrown open to public. With
over 200 exhibitors and 8045 visitors, as reported by Tarsus, this becomes the
biggest edition of this exhibition in its 14 year history. According to Jade
Grace show Director for Labelexpo Group, “50% of the space for the next
Labelexpo in 2018 at the same venue is already booked “. If the signs are
positive and the Metro Line is extended to Greater Noida by the time of the
next show in 2018, Labelexpo India may be here to stay at this venue for a long
time.
After a very slow first day the
event became quite busy and vibrant on the second day bringing smiles on the
faces of exhibitors. Jakob Landsberg of Nilpeter said the show was good but the
volume of visitors is not as they expected it to be, this maybe because of the
distance from Pragati Maidan which has historic value. This venue he felt was
good with great atmosphere but the Capital equipment buying prospects were few.
He emphasized that India was an important market for them and they will exhibit
wherever the Label Show is held.
Even though some important international exhibitors like
Gallus and Mark Andy were not present yet the mix of exhibitors was quite
balanced catering to all segments of the industry. Most other global supplier’s
presence confirmed the importance of India being a market that grows steadily
and is just not a temporary burst in demand. The increasing number Indian
exhibitors for both, capital equipment and accessories, shows the local
industry is coming of age. Despite the organiser’s claim that number of
visitors have increased, many exhibitors did mention a decreased footfall in an
otherwise successful and satisfying show. Press manufacturers Nilpeter, who
have manufacturing facility in South India and are now planning expansion, will
soon move to a bigger premises. They announced sale of two FB-3300S label
presses to Sai Com Codes and one to Homemade Bakers, both companies are head
quartered in Delhi NCR (National Capital Region).
Speaking about his take on the
show Pankaj Bhardwaj, Commercial Director, Avery Dennison said, “The feedback
is encouraging!” he further added, “The right audience came to witness the
right technologies showcased.” He was all praise for the venue and felt it was
fantastic infrastructure of high standard, however logistics was a challenge.
They received a high quality of visitors. The theme of the Avery Dennison
pavilion was “Power Up,” focusing on helping converters to drive business
growth through innovative and creative label and packaging offerings, featuring
seven zones aimed at addressing specific solution requirements. Dow’s Padmadas
Nair heading their technical team communicated that overall it was a good event
for them as they met new customers. They were happy that the tourist visitors
were absent.
Marco Calcagni, Sales Director of
Italian Press manufacturers OMET and their Area Sales Manager
Paolo Grasso were
beaming as they were able to announce the sale of their new first time
displayed in India Omet iFlex 10 colour label press to the prestigious
Huhtamaki PPL-Webtech Labels on the very first day of the show through their
exclusive agent Weldon Celloplast Ltd. On day two they announced yet another
sale of iFlex to Kolkata based Insight Graphics. The company informs that the
iFLEX label press is simple to use and quick at set-up. The machine
has all the impression rollers on Direct Drive with obvious benefits
on the print quality and in waste savings. Commenting on the venue Paolo
Grasso said “We found the venue of international standard and the visitor
profile was what we should have at such events. It adds value and satisfaction
to participation”. Amit Singh Arora of Amritsar Printing Press and a visitor at
the show confirmed he was happy at the location and that he was seeing a lot of
committed printers. Dinesh Dedia, another visitor from Mumbai expressed that
the venue was too far and travel arrangements need improvement and adequate
advertisement.
Leading Indian press manufacturer
Multitec has been in news for all good reasons. They had displayed two label
presses at the show. The Ecosmart servo was sold to Hyderabad based Team Labels
and the VSI Servo2 to a Zambian customer. Amit Ahuja from Multitec said he was
surprised at the focused turnout. He would still prefer the Delhi venue any day
due to logistic reasons. Amit Sheth of Intergraphics representing Weigang
informed sale of their inspection system to Gurgaon based A & A Labels. He
further stated that Weigang had launched their modular flexo press which was
well received. Xeikon 3030 plus digital label press displayed at the Xeikon
booth was sold to Kwality Offset label printers based in New Delhi, the press
has a web width of 330mm. It prints 1,200 DPI at a top speed of 15m/min.
Compared to the Xeikon 3030, the ‘Plus’ version offers a higher top speed and
handles larger production volumes. Xeikon also informed that they had signed up
with Sanjeev Sondhi lead Zircon technologies to supply two Xeikon digital
presses. Lombardi Synchroline 430 displayed at the Vinsak stand was sold to
Bengaluru based Mangalam Creations.
HP India showcased the HP Indigo
WS6800 digital press including the recent labels and packaging
advancements;
including advanced automated color management tools, new HP Indigo ElectroInks,
upgrade packages, software enhancements for mass customization amongst others. These
new innovations allow more customers to capitalize on the growing digital
opportunity in a market which is achieving double digit percent page growth
year over year. HP also announced the installation of HP Indigo WS6800 digital
press at Skanem Interlabels India, at their Mumbai facility. A. Appadurai,
Country Manager, Indigo and Inkjet Web Press, Graphics Solutions Business, HP
Inc., stated that even though the visitors who came were very focused and knowledgeable
yet due to the distance there were very few brand managers who are very
important for growth of Digital label printing technologies.
With market evolving towards the
LED UV, Flint group was displaying and promoting their LED inks. According to
Srinivas Goud of Flint, “We met whoever we were looking for!” Brotech from
China had strategically located themselves across the HP stand for whom they
are approved partners for digital finishing equipment. They displayed their CDF
Digital finishing machine and also a slitter rewinder. Aurangabad India based
PGI Tech is ecstatic in announcing that they sold five of their 2-4 colour
flexo presses as displayed at the show and 3 high speed die-cutting machines
with turret rewinder. They also displayed their slitter, rewinder and
inspection machine. Alphasonics UK has confirmed the sale of a Melanie Duo
ultrasonic cleaning system to Anygraphics through their agent Weldon
Celloplast. The system features dual frequency ultrasonics, along with the
patented Betasound technology. The system also includes a second patented
technology known as Active Cavitation, which has been designed to greatly speed
up the cleaning process. Martin Automatic another exhibitor signed a
two-machine order at Labelexpo India 2016 with Kap Cones, based in New Delhi,
with an MBS automatic butt splicer and LRD automatic transfer rewinder to ship
in 2017. R K Label of Ahmedabad had a range of machines displayed at their
stand and it is credible that they announced that all the machines were sold
out. This included a modular flexo press displayed which was sold to Delhi based
Aar Pee Industries. 
UPM Raflatac made an elegant
display from a large and well done up stand that attracted most of the established label printers. They also arranged a fashion show on their stand
that turned their label materials into gorgeous fashion pieces. “The show was
the talk of the exhibition” says Praveen Gupta country Manger UPM. UPM also
organized a very impressive dinner and entertainment evening for their
customers. The evening was packed and printers hit the dance floor towards the
end of the evening. Other prominent exhibitors at Labelexpo included SMI CoatedPapers, Bobst, Loparex, Henkel, DuPont, GEW, HB Fuller, Konica Minolta, Manroland,
BST, Vetaphone, Lartec, Monotech Systems, SPGPrints, Webtech Engineering, UVGraphics, Reifenhauser, Kodak and Zonten besides so many more.
On the second day evening, LMAI
awards night was held at a well setup banquet on the upper floors
of the exhibition.
It was extremely convenient! One just had to take the elevators after the show
closed for the day and we were there for the fun evening which included
presentations, entertainment, awards distribution, cocktails and dinner. The
chaos of awards nights at previous shows was missing. The house was packed with
an impressive industry leadership. Lisa Milburn, Managing Director Labelexpo
group welcomed the guests and dwelled on the importance of India being a fast
growing and evoving market for all to deliver value and prosper.
Sandeep Zaveri
President LMAI made an emotional presentation that left the audience in awe! He
listed the work done by his team and his plans. The most touching part was when
he ran a video clip that demonstrated his will to deliver both to the label
industry and to the society, in one go. He has initiated a program whereby
young destitute boys from rural background who are deprived of opportunities in
the urban industrial scenario are recruited to be trained as label press
operators as the label industry is facing a shortage of trained workers. The
project is supported by Avery Dennison. The video presentation and the
expectation of what it will deliver to the industry and the society is
laudable.
Anil Sharma, Managing Director Asia Pacific, Avery Dennison took the
stage next and assured the
industry of Avery’s commitment to the Indian Label
industry. Interspaced with interesting entertainment, the awards ceremony
progressed, celebrating the printers whose work during the preceding years had
won the honours. The awards were judged this year by Dr Rajendrakumar Anayath,
Kiran P Prayagi and Rajiv Dhar, all of whom have long-standing involvement in
education and training in the print industry.
Sponsors for the awards were Avery Dennison, Omet, UPM Raflatac, Orthotec, Iwasaki and Nilpeter. The winners were as follows:
Flexo Line, Webtech; Flexo Line
& Screen Tone, Mudrika Labels; Flexo Color Process, Kwality Offset
Printers; Flexo Wine & Spirit, joint winners Kumar Labels/Ajanta Packaging;
Letterpress Line, Webtech Labels; Letterpress Line & Screen, Webtech
Labels; Letterpress color process, Sicon Packs; Letterpress Wine and Spirits,
Kumar Labels; Offset Line, Update Prints; Offset Line & Screen Tone, Update
Prints; Offset Color Process, Seljegat Printers; Offset Wine & Spirits,
Update Prints; Combination Line, Universal Print Systems; Combination Line and
Screen Tone, Kumar Labels; Combination Printing Color: joint winners Any
Graphics/Kumar Labels; Combination Wine & Spirits, Pragati Pack/RP; Digital
Printing, Any Graphics; Digital Printing Wine & Spirits, Pragati Pack;
Screen Printing, Wine & Spirits, Any Graphics; Rotogravure, Mudrika Labels;
Booklets & Coupons, joint winners LetraGraphix and Unick Fix-A-Form.
The Innovation Award went to Mudrika
Labels and the special Jury Award to Any Graphics.
The four day show ended on a
positive note with exhibitors and also visitors departing with satisfaction
looking forward to return to the show in 2018. Exhibitors unanimously declared
their resolve to be at the show in the next edition but as Tapan Patel of BST
said, “They have to re-strategise and market it well”. In absence of the unfocussed
inquisitive visitors who visit shows to evaluate new investment and
diversification, exhibitors felt these new expected customers for capital
equipment were few. Yet in words of Manish Desai past president LMAI, “It was a
good show and quality of exhibitors and visitors was excellent”. The most
interesting comment I got was from Josep Roca of Bobst “The distance from
downtown or city centre is challenging since international visitors prefer to
explore the city in free time” he added “Inspite of Modi working! Which is for a
good cause, the show was worthwhile and delivered value”
Written by Harveer Sahni, Managing Director, Weldon Celloplast Limited
New Delhi India. December 2016 exclusively
for Narrow Web Tech Germany.
For advertising enquiries please email to; harveersahni@gmail.com
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