[dropcaps style=’2′]On 24 November 2017, the Association of Label Printers & Suppliers (ALPS) organized a seminar ‘Going Digital – When & How’ at India Habitat Centre, Delhi. The objective of the the seminar was to have an open discussion on digital label printing and finishing technology as well as to brainstorm into various pros and cons in moving towards digital label printing and share latest invention, ideas and views of industry experts. The event was co-sponsored by HP, Vinsak and the FIG Group and witnessed a record turnout of printers, converters and media dignitaries from Delhi/NCR.[/dropcaps]
The seminar started with an welcome speech by Gururaj Ballarwad, president – ALPS, who shared his views on how ALPS will be going to support the entire label printing industry by starting magazines, organizing seminars and conferences. The event was moderated by Ashish Gupta, MD of Rational Business Corporation, New Delhi.
Gaurav Roy of FIG Group had given a presentation on how printers can enter digital printing business, tackle the entry barriers and discussed various benefits of digital and inkjet printing. He shared a very interesting journey of an Indian converter from the late 1990s to present and also talked about the role Mark Andy is playing in offering affordable digital and hybrid solutions to the India market. Roy also spoke about Digital One – the all-in-one solution needed to support the rising demands for lower costs, shorter delivery times, and reduced run lengths in label printing.
Shamim Alam of Hewlett Packard gave a presentation on how printers can generate unique labels in digital printing at optimized costing. Alam also shared how big brands such as Coca-Cola or Oreo biscuits are using digital printing technology to create unique labels.
Ranesh Bajaj of Vinsak India gave a presentation on short-run inline converting and embellishments. He had shared his opinions on how to optimize digital finishing costs and save on turnaround time on short to medium run jobs. Bajaj emphasized on variable data personalization on wads, lottery tickets, scratch cards etc. saying going digital could mean by starting as small as adding a variable data printing head to the existing presses, finishing lines etc.
The presentations were followed by a panel discussion where leading label converters like Sanjiv Sondi of Zircon, Harish Gupta of Sai Com Codes, S Prabhakar of Ikon Labels, Girender Kumar of Shree Ram Vertitech brought forward their point of views in terms of the entry level barriers such as high cost of industrial digital equipment, high cost of running of digital versus conventional as well as the reluctance of the brand owners to pay the premium for digital printing. The vendors tried to offer solutions and advise on these but a key thread that came out of the discussion was that unless both convertors and equipment suppliers join forces and work towards educating the brand owners and the packaging development teams of corporates, digital is going to be a hard sell.
Ajay Aggarwal of Syndicate Labels, also vice president ALPS, confirmed that subsequent events in the West and South India are planned in the very near future.
