At the recently concluded SinoCorrugated-IndiaCorr Expo in Greater Noida, India, from 5 to 7 September 2019, Siegwerk India promoted its range of water-based inks and coatings for the corrugated industry. For flexographic printing, Siegwerk provides printing-inks covering all types of paper and board packaging – from corrugated board, bags and sacks, paper-tissues and napkins to cups and display boxes.
“In the corrugated industry, customization of ink is very important. Since people run a host of printing machines from different brands, the type of inks required also varies accordingly. So inks have to be customized to get the desired print quality. Customizing inks according to customers’ requirements is one of our biggest strengths. One big advantage for Siegwerk is its huge footprint in the country. We have got blending centers across the country in all the metro and tier-2 cities. Because of these blending centers, we are able to match shades instantly within 24 hours, and give ready-shades to our customers. For us, customization is the strategy that we follow in India,” said Mahesh Kode, business unit head – narrow web, paper and board, liquid food, Siegwerk India.
The corrugated industry in India has been changing quite rapidly in last 3-4 years. What used to be a cottage industry with low quality printing has now evolved into an industry demanding high quality graphics, printed on imported and sophisticated high-end machines, on high-strength boards. “Siegwerk already has products ready for these kinds of machines. Our products are future-ready and to that extent we have been very successfully selling these for last few years. Right now what we have is adequate for the market needs and it is in-line with the global portfolio as well,” said Kode.
“One of the reasons why we are highly successful in the market and why we get a premium over our competition is because we have implemented global product safety and regulatory (PSR) standards. We have separate cells globally as well in India which look at how safe our inks can be. Now when you talk about safety, we are not talking just about absence of heavy metals etc. in the ink but we are also talking about migration. Migration optimized inks are the inks which have been formulated with careful selection of raw materials in accordance with legal requirements of the region, brand owners’ requirements as well as self-commitment from the ink manufacturers. Our inks are compliant to legal requirements as well as follow European Standards,” concluded Kode.